REGINE Regularisations in Europe Final Report - European ...

such cases should be treated differently; (iii) sanctions should only be the last resort if it is clear that
the employer acts repeatedly and fully aware that his employment practices are in breach of the law. 225
On the whole, UEAPME has a much more pronounced position on EU policies vis-à-vis irregular
migration, reflecting the fact that it is small and medium sized businesses that are the main employers
of irregular migrant workers and would be most affected by measures adopted at the level of the
European Union. The negative evaluation of the incentives for irregular migrants to co-operate with
authorities and the protection provisions in the proposal for a directive on employers’ sanctions
suggests a possible negative attitude towards regularisation measures aimed at addressing informal
work and combined with sanctions and increased obligations for employers. However, like
BusinessEurope, UEAPME welcomes the procedural elements of the proposed framework directive
on a single application procedure as potentially greatly increasing transparency and reducing
bureaucracy.
5.4 Positions of Non-Governmental Organisations and migrant
organisations
5.4.1 Introduction
Non-governmental organisations have long had a pivotal role in representing migrants’ interests,
promoting migrant rights and providing services to migrant communities, and in particular also
undocumented migrants with or without limited access to public services. In many European
countries, NGOs also are the most active actors regarding campaigns for regularisation, 226 notably in
Belgium, France, Portugal and Spain, where NGOs have successfully mobilised around regularisation
programmes. Similarly, the current pro-regularisation campaign “Strangers into Citizens” in the UK is
led by an alliance of NGOS, although it also includes other societal actors. In Ireland, NGOs, together
with trade unions, currently campaign for regularisation, as do NGOs in Belgium 227 and Germany. 228
Although NGOs in other EU Member States have been less successful in promoting regularisation
campaigns, they nevertheless have played and continue to play an important role in providing legal
counselling and advice to irregular migrants. Migrant organisations – organisations run by and for
immigrants – have, on the whole, a much lower profile and only a few migrant organisations have
taken on a more pronounced role in promoting regularisation or providing legal advice. However, as
advocacy NGOs, migrant organisations have played an important role in disseminating information
about ongoing regularisation campaigns. An overview of current NGO activities with regard to
regularisation is presented in Table 6. Their role – actual and desired – in regard to regularisation
policy is described in Table 7.
The following review of NGO positions is based mainly on responses to a short questionnaire
developed by the research team and disseminated among NGOs specialised or otherwise working on
225 Ibid., pp.1-2
226 See Laubenthal, B. (2006): op. cit. on the emergence of pro-regularisation movements, mainly led by civil
society organisations, in France, Spain and Switzerland.
227 See for example the activities undertaken by the Belgian NGO Coordination et Initiatives pour et avec les
Réfugiés et Étrangers (CIRE) on regularisation under http://www.cire.irisnet.be/appuis/regul/accueil-regul.html
228 See for example the „Bleiberechtsbüro“, an initiative of the Bavarian refugee council (Bayrischer
Flüchtlingsrat e.V.), online at http://www.bleiberechtsbuero.de/
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