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130: Changing migration landscape in Europe: geographies of segregation and integration issues of migrants and refugees from Ukraine
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| Session Abstract | |
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The geopolitical events of recent years (Euromaidan, annexation of Crimea, armed conflict in eastern part of Ukraine, full-scale Russian military invasion) have brought Ukraine into the focus of international interest. These geopolitical changes resulted in a massive influx of Ukrainian citizens to EU countries. In addition to blue-collar workers, more than 7 million refugees fled to Europe in 2022, mostly women and children. This population movement created unprecedented challenges and humanitarian crises in many countries and cities, demanding quick and flexible public policies and involvement of civic society. Socio-economic impact on host societies is profound, as divergent approaches to integration efforts, access to housing, health care and labor market, inter-ethnic relations and legislation are present among EU countries. Thus, both previous integration efforts and current policies can be discussed and their outcomes and consequences evaluated. The main aim of this session is to bring together new knowledge on migration and integration issues in Europe with a special focus on migrants from Ukraine. Taking into account different scales and geographical foci, we welcome speakers to present theoretical-conceptual reflections, methodological approaches, and empirical results that contribute to a deeper understanding of how the Ukrainian crises transformed the migration patterns and socio-economic processes in Europe. Proposed topics to address in this part of the session include (but are not limited to): -new developments in migration / refugee migration from/to Ukraine (return policies, circular migration, remittances) -impacts and responses to migration from Ukraine (demographic consequences, gender differences, settlement policies) -integration into housing, labor market, schools and healthcare of Ukrainian migrants -urban processes and demographic challenges (segregation, discrimination, exclusion, policy developments) in the host societies | |
| Presentations | |
Socio-economic impact and integration of Ukrainian refugees in Italy Italian Civil Protection department, Italy The armed conflict in Ukraine had immediate consequences on population movement from the country to many European Union members. In March 2020, Italy started medical evacuation through the European Civil Protection Mechanism to guarantee support to patients who could not receive appropriate care from the Ukrainian hospital. At the same time, on a bilateral basis, Italy started hosting refugees who arrived in the country through NGOs or the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The general coordination of the refugee's arrival was managed by the Italian Civil Protection Department (ICPD), the institution that manages natural and man-made emergencies in Italy. Considering its geographical location inside Europe, it was a different and unexpected emergency, so the ICPD created a specific Reception and Assistance Plan and established new procedures to adapt national legislation to the event. Ukrainian refugees could receive two distinct forms of support: independent accommodation and subsistence allowance. These procedures, already applied to Italian citizens in case of emergency, have supported more than 175,000 refugees. The financial contribution given directly to refugees and the hosting accommodation structures had an economic impact on Italy, and social integration became an immediate urgency for the labour market, school access and healthcare. This contribution aims to analyse how Italy reacted to the arrival and presence of such a large number of refugees and what policies best contributed to their integration into Italian society. Local welfare bricolages – Ukrainian Female Protection-holders' Subjective Perspectives on Arrival and Settlement in Berlin and Munich Deutsches Zentrum für Integrations- und Migrationsforschung, Germany This paper explores experiences and subjective perceptions of Ukrainian female protection holders vis-à-vis national and local welfare policies and institutions in Berlin and Munich (Germany). Cities play a key role in providing basic social services to newcomers, and the local material conditions, such as availability of housing or childcare, significantly shape their integration trajectories. We use data from repeated in-depth interviews with Ukrainian women conducted in the two cities between September 2022 and March 2024 to address how individual agency embedded into structural and institutional conditions shape the agentic possibilities of the protection-holders in interactions with welfare institutions. Specifically, we explore how the bespoke Ukrainian forced migrants mobilise various resources when seeking to satisfy their basic social needs upon arrival. The bricolage framework (Phillimore 2019) allows us to understand how, within the particular institutional setting, Ukrainians exploit opportunities to access welfare in the respective cities and cope with insecurities related to their legal status and the war in Ukraine. Varied integration of Ukrainian migrants in Czechia: intersections of labour market, education, health and housing Institute of Sociology of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Czech Republic This contribution report on integration of Ukrainian migrants/refugees/protection holders in Czechia in recent years, with a special focus on period after the year of 2022. First, we provide a short overview of development of Ukrainian minority in Czechia and its geography - as it is critical for explanation and for understanding of current situation. Second, we review the key changes and policy developments after 2022 that shaped presence of Ukrainian minority in Czechia. Especially the application of EU directive on temporary protection of war refugees and its local application in various policy domains. Third, we present a case study on education / school integration of Ukrainians as an example, where we illustrate the intersections between labour market position of migrants, their healthcare and housing status. In sum, our contribution aspire to provide both an overall picture of immigrant integration and a specific case study, where a particular dimension of integration is explored in detail. Migrants from Ukraine in Hungary: Mobility trends before and after the war 1HUN-REN RCAES, Geographical Institute, Budapest; 2Ferenc Rakoczi II Transcarpathian Hungarian College of Higher Education; 3Free University of Bozen-Bolzano, Faculty of Economics and Management; 4University of Debrecen, Doctoral School of History and Ethnology Hungary has been a traditional destination country of labour and educational migration for the ethnic Hungarians living in Transcarpathia, the westernmost region of Ukraine. This mobility process was boosted by Hungary's kin-state politics, especially by the non-residential citizenship available since 2011. Geopolitical events in Ukraine in 2014 and the full-scale Russian invasion in 2022 instigated further dramatic population movements. Tens of thousands of Hungarians have left Transcarpathia, most of whom resettled in Hungary as Hungarian citizens. In the meantime, the Hungarian government introduced a number of measures since 2017 to lure foreign labour. As a consequence, Ukrainian citizens represent a significant number among foreign employees in Hungary, mainly as blue-collar workers. Furthermore, over 46,000 Ukrainian citizens (arrived after 2022) live in Hungary with temporary protected status. This paper aims to outline how the above macrostructural context affected the mobility trends from Ukraine to Hungary, including its ethnic and spatial dimensions. The analysis of quantitative and qualitative data shows significant differences between the mobility trends of Hungarians from Transcarpathia and the Ukrainians arriving to Hungary. Ukrainian labour migrants arrived and found employment in Hungary in significant numbers after 2017, staying in the country as EU third country nationals. The vast majority of Ukrainian refugees also employed in Hungary. They typically reside in the capital and in the major industrial centres. Due to various social and political reasons, their mobility to Hungary might be temporary and spatially concentrated. In contrast, Transcarpathian Hungarians live in Hungary as Hungarian citizens, which grants them full access to state services, and their integration is in general, smooth. Besides living in the urban centres (similarly to Ukrainians), they also settle in the region close to the Ukrainian-Hungarian border. We argue that this can be explained by the migration based living strategies developed after 2014, which allows extraordinary cross-border mobility and a transborder life style. In the migration process from Ukraine to Hungary we highlight the ethnically different mobility, and we stress the importance of Hungary’s kin-state politics, in particular granting citizenship to transborder Hungarians, that plays a crucial role in the migration strategies of Hungarians from Ukraine. | |