ABSTRACT

Refugee integration is a highly politicised topic and is rarely analysed from a legal perspective. This contribution aims to address this gap by tracing the potential of the right to be integrated in legal terms, analysing its legal sources in European human rights law, and in European Union (EU, the Union) law, using a doctrinal method. It answers the question: is there a state obligation to provide integration support for refugees? And, alternatively, is there a right for refugees to be integrated? While such an acknowledgement has a high value from a practical perspective, to further the rights of refugees by legally obliging states to build inclusive societies in line with democratic values and principles, it is also important from the point of view of ensuring legal certainty. By being sensitised to the different uses and underlying principles of integration, judges could ensure a higher level of legal consistency in cases pertaining to integration. The contribution reveals that there is a right for refugees to be integrated which has its source in EU law. However, as it has not been invoked so far, the current analysis proposes an interpretation of that right in terms of both its content and level of protection.

INTRODUCTION

In recent years, the study of integration has come under a lot of criticism in social sciences, with critics disparaging the concept altogether due to its inherent bias towards imposing a vision of society ruled by majority and white-privilege power structures. In response, other scholars have argued for the value of integration research, and for the need to distinguish between the analytic and policy concepts of integration, calling for a critical approach to the latter. Integration remains a highly politicised topic and, as such, is rarely analysed from a legal perspective, as much as there is a need for such analysis. Despite remaining a political concept, integration is often used in the case law both of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) and of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), the two major supranational courts in Europe.