Germany

With the aim of intensifying cooperation on migration issues, Germany and Egypt signed an Agreement on Bilateral Dialogue on Migration on 27 August 2017. Through the agreement, the two countries seek to work together to tackle the reasons why people migrate to Europe and stres the importance of investing in professional training for young people.

The Agreement includes both closer economic cooperation, as well as support for the Egyptian education sector and additional scholarships for young Egyptians to study in Germany.

The Federal Recognition Act simplifies and standardises procedures for the evaluation of foreign professional or vocational qualifications governed by Federal Law and opens up such procedures to target groups not previously entitled to pursue such a route

AIMS OF THE RECOGNITION ACT

Upon arrival, unaccompanied minors in Germany are generally assigned to a youth welfare office that acts as a preliminary representative. The child is placed into child-specific facilities and not detained while the youth welfare office conducts a primary screening considering the best interests of the child. The child is then assigned in a regular procedure of custody to a foster/family-based care.

In spring 2016, the “National Initiative for the protection of refugees and migrants living in refugee centres in Germany” was launched as a joint initiative of the Federal Government and UNICEF to improve protection, care and supportive measures of children and women living in refugee accommodation centres and to contribute to their well-being and integration.

Since the early 1990s, Germany has concluded bilateral agreements with Central and Eastern European countries for the seasonal employment of their nationals. The agreements aim to protect the rights of seasonal foreign workers in Germany and to fill labour market gaps.

Public Services International (PSI), in collaboration with ILO's European Union-funded “Decent Work Across Borders” (DWAB) project has produced seven pre-decision, pre-departure, and return migration guides for healthcare workers.

In August 2003, the German Trade Union for Building, Forestry, Agriculture and the Environment (IG BAU) and a Polish trade union representing employees in agriculture (ZZPR) collaborated on a bilingual information booklet for Polish seasonal workers in Germany.

The German price comparison portal ‘www.GeldtransFAIR.de’, which obtained World Bank certification in 2014, is currently being redesigned to make it more user-friendly. The new website (including a mobile version) is to be launched in 2018.

Culture should be considered as a factor of integration, which should make it possible to meet the societal challenge of how to live together in a context of globalization and mobility. Because culture cannot be reduced to an element of attractiveness of the territory, it is also an element of social cohesion, the foundation of a sharing of a common destiny. 

 “Making integration work: experiences from Morocco, Turkey and Germany” – this was the theme of the Integration Strategy Group (ISG), a transnational reflection group consisting of approximately twenty German, Moroccan and Turkish participants from different disciplines including politics, administration, civil society, media and research.