Development of joint principles, procedures and standards on integration policies between the Russian Federation and European partners - ERIS
The ERIS project, led by the Czech Republic, the Russian Federation and Austria, implemented in the period February 2013 - January 2015, was seeking to contribute to the further development of migration management systems in the area of integration of legally residing immigrants.
ERIS project specifically aimed to facilitate the exchange of knowledge on integration policies between project partners regarding the legal, institutional, procedural and organisational requirements for functioning integration policies; to establish and maintain institutionalised cooperation between participating partners’ migration and integration authorities, and to jointly develop principles, procedures and standards on integration policies for all project partners and all States participating in the Prague Process.
Challenges and opportunities linked to integration show a number of similarities for all migrant-receiving States and societies. At the same time, the respective situation regarding immigrant integration differs when it comes to the size of the immigrant populations; the social, cultural and religious backgrounds of migrant communities; and the given immigration history. Thus, states have developed their own answers to general and specific integration challenges, and the exchange of corresponding Good Practices and Lessons Learned will add value to the further development of integration policies in participating states. But being embedded in the Prague Process framework, ERIS went a step further. It has been implemented by use of the agreed common format and standardised procedures for implementing the Prague Process Action Plan and resulted in the Joint Manual on principles, procedures and standards on integration policies. The manual was endorsed by the leading states of the Prague Process Senior Officials´ Meeting and today serve as a point of reference in national capacity building for all Prague Process participating states.