20/05/2025 Migration, International Protection and Economic Co-operation
The Committee on Migration, Refugees and Displaced Persons, meeting in Paris on 19 May, called on member states to strengthen the co-operation between public and private actors involved in migration management, whether in terms of first assistance, reception, or inclusion of migrants, refugees, and asylum seekers.
The report by Sandra Zampa (Italy, SOC), adopted unanimously by the committee, specifies that “public actors” include the national and local public authorities, administrations or agencies dealing with the first arrival, the reception and the management of migrants, while “private actors” refer to charities, foundations and NGOs working in co-operation with the public sector, as well as private sector companies that have contracts with public authorities and are sub-contracted to manage reception facilities.
In order to respond to the needs of public and private actors involved in the reception and the inclusion of migrants, member states should, in particular, favour decentralised decision-making by empowering local government bodies and local communities to design and implement integration programmes, the committee underlined.
With a view to supporting the efforts of public and private actors to facilitate the inclusion of refugees and strengthen social cohesion within host communities, the committee called on member states to prioritise smaller reception facilities and adopt the model of “integrated reception” going beyond the mere distribution of food and accommodation, and providing individual programmes that enable people to regain an effective involvement in life in the community,
Finally, parliamentarians advocate public-private co-operation in informal contexts where the humanitarian situation is very concerning. National authorities and local government bodies should put in place specific measures to assist people living in informal settlements, to respond to their basic needs and orient them to local services, they emphasised.