City Initiative on Migrants with Irregular Status in Europe (C-MISE)

Phase I: 2017-19 | Phase II: 2020-22 | Phase III: 2023-

Overview Theory Methods Outputs News & Media

Overview

The City Initiative on Migrants with Irregular Status in Europe (C-MISE) is a knowledge-exchange programme supporting European cities in sharing knowledge on city practices and policies responding to the presence of irregular migrants in their territory. C-MISE is facilitated by researchers at the Global Exchange on Migration and Diversity at COMPAS, is chaired by the City of Utrecht, and partners with the Eurocities Working Group on Migration and Integration. In addition, it is informed by extensive research at COMPAS before and during the project on national, regional and municipal policy and practice in this field.

C-MISE, which was launched in 2017, initially consisted of a working group of 11 European municipalities (including two 'associate members') from 10 European countries that met over two years with four aims: to (1) build a more substantial body of evidence on city practices concerning migrants with irregular immigration status; (2) share learning on policy and practices about service provision to adults and children; (3) develop and disseminate guidance material on critical areas of service provision, relevant to municipalities across Europe; and (4) develop a shared, city perspective on ways in which irregular migrants could be mainstreamed into EU policy agendas. The cities in the working group were Athens, Barcelona, Frankfurt, Ghent, Gothenburg, Lisbon, Oslo, Stockholm and Utrecht (Chair). In addition, the cities of Helsinki and Zurich were Associate members.

By the end of the first phase of the project, C-MISE cities and COMPAS had held knowledge exchange meetings in Utrecht, Athens, Barcelona and Ghent and produced:

Extensive Guidance for Municipalities on local responses to irregular migrants ('the Guidance');
Executive Summaries in Deutsche | Ελληνικά | English | Español | Français | Italiano | Nederlands;
A short documentary explains why city representatives consider it essential for municipalities to act on irregular migrants. Five short clips on individual cities are taken from the main video: Amsterdam, Barcelona, Frankfurt, Ghent, and Utrecht;
The 'Outputs' section contains several briefings and reports, including analyses of the challenges for city governments in managing municipal responses to irregular migrants and the impact of EU policy and funding on cities' actions in this field.

City networks, including the Council of Europe Congress of Local and Regional Authorities, the Intercultural Cities Network and Cities of Migration, have widely disseminated the Guidance and documentary.

As the first-ever Europe-wide city dialogue on irregular migrants, C-MISE and its Guidance was the first response to cities' need to find legal and effective measures to manage irregular migrants and their presence's social and economic implications. C-MISE was confirmed to continue in 2020 and 2021 to respond to cities' need to:

disseminate expertise on city practices and Guidance materials;
engage in dialogues with a broader group of cities and towns;
continue building city capacity and expertise to ensure cities' participation in exchanges and reforms;
mainstream the issue of irregular migrants across city networks.

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Europe's health, social, economic, and migratory frameworks required a rethinking of traditional approaches to responding to the social needs of city residents, including those with irregular status. However, it also highlighted the need for local responses to reach out to and keep contact with less visible populations. Therefore, C-MISE is exploring ways for cities to respond effectively to the new challenges posed by the pandemic.

C-MISE has witnessed the interest and engagement of an increasing number of cities of different sizes across Europe. They have identified the need to learn more from research and knowledge exchange on best practices with their peers in Europe and North America. Cities already engaged in C-MISE dialogues beyond the initial working group members have included Amsterdam, Bologna, Cork, Geneva, Milan, New York, Rotterdam, Sultanbeyli (Istanbul), and others.

C-MISE activities in 2020-2021 will see the engagement of new cities and towns. Rather than through a working group, city representatives are invited to join the activities according to their interest in the topic. C-MISE will also support the organisation of webinars and city-led working groups discussing the issue at the national level.

Therefore, city or town representatives interested in being on the invitation list to participate in C-MISE dialogues or who would like further information on C-MISE are invited to write to the programme lead, Myriam Cherti (myriam.cherti@compas.ox.ac.uk).

Principal Investigator

Myriam Cherti

Researchers

Sarah Spencer

Nicola Delvino

Marie Mallet-Garcia

Nathan Grassi (Administrative support)

Funding

Supported by a grant from the Open Society Foundations