Integration and the Rights of Immigrants	Events > Event Announcement Event Summary

On both sides of the Atlantic, an uneasy discussion about immigrant rights and immigrant integration is taking place, although the focus is on different issues. In the United States, the effect of the on-going "War on Terrorism" on immigrant's civil liberties is high on the agenda. In Europe, integration issues often seem to conflict with personal liberties, with controversies including the wearing of headscarves and other religious symbols in schools in France; trying to prevent forced and arranged marriages in Denmark; requiring language proficiency prior to arrival in the Netherlands; and dealing with the presence of radical clerics in the UK.

Integration is a hot political issue across Europe, but there is little discussion of how the rights of the migrants fit into the integration agenda. Do immigrants have to "earn" full membership and rights by integrating, or is the protection of their rights a necessary condition for integration?

Speaker:
Dr. Morten Kjaerum, Director of the Danish Human Rights Institute and Denmark's Representative to the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racism and Discrimination

Moderator:
Joanne van Selm, MPI Senior Policy Analyst

When:
Tuesday, May 4, 2004
3:30-5:00 p.m.

Where:
MPI Conference Room
1400 16th Street, NW, Suite 300 (third floor)

RSVP:
Acceptances only to Fancy Sinantha at fsinantha@migrationpolicy.org or 202-266-1929.

This briefing is a part of MPI's "Migration Policies and Processes in Europe" visitor series funded by the European Commission Delegation in Washington, D.C.

For directions to MPI, please click here.

For more information on MPI's policy research on Immigrants and Integration, please click here.