National Plan for Integration of Migrants

The Council of Europe and the European Commission’s Directorate General for Structural Reform Support (DG REFORM), in partnership with the Civil Registry and Migration Department of the Ministry of Interior of the Republic of Cyprus, will launch a new 2-year project entitled “Building structures for intercultural integration in Cyprus”.

For this reason an online press conference scheduled from 09:00-10:30 AM on 22 June will present the final version of the National Plan for the Integration of Migrants in Cyprus.

A Council of Europe press release said the Republic of Cyprus currently has the highest number of arriving migrants per capita in the EU. As a result, it faces new challenges, trying to ensure the successful inclusion of non-EU nationals who are already residing in the country and simultaneously enabling the integration of new migrants.

The “Building structures for intercultural integration in Cyprus” project will support the Republic of Cyprus in implementing its National Action Plan on the Integration of Third-Country Nationals 2020-2022, by empowering local authorities, NGOs, and migrant organisations to be part of the integration process.

The Council of Europe’s Intercultural Cities programme offers conceptual, analytical and policymaking tools to address the challenges of migrant integration, in particular related to building trust, fostering community cohesion and managing diversity as a resource. The project will build upon significant and positive changes which have resulted from the implementation of the Intercultural Cities programme in Limassol since 2010, such as the creation of an Intercultural Council and the city’s first Intercultural Strategy.

The project will contribute to the integration of migrants in a range of areas including participation, education, cultural and social life, urban planning, business, access to the labour market, anti-discrimination and multilingualism.

Five regional integration networks – based around the cities of Ammochostos (Paralimni), Larnaka, Limassol, Nicosia, and Paphos – will be established and will include local authorities and officials, NGOs, public organisations and agencies (welfare, employment, education, culture, sport, safety, urbanism etc.), migrant groups and organisations, professionals and private organisations.

These networks will play a key role in implementing the project’s activities, which are:

• Conducting an overview and assessment of integration policies and community cohesion/social integration in each region
• Developing an Intercultural Strategy outlining the vision, goals, and actions of each of the regional networks and the central authorities
• Developing a methodological tool for monitoring regional integration activities and a prototype tool (Social Trust Barometer) for monitoring cohesion/social integration in regional and national communities
• Designing a multi-level coordination mechanism on integration policies for the Republic of Cyprus

The “Building structures for intercultural integration in Cyprus” project is being carried out with funding from the European Union, via its Structural Reform Support Programme, and in co-operation with the European Commission`s DG Structural Reform Support.