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Description
With each change in the Aliens Act, the standard of protection and the scope of foreigner’s rights decreases. One example is the process of family reunification: the bill limits the evidence by which a foreigner who applies for a residence permit can demonstrate sufficient means of subsistence. However in many sectors on the Slovenian labour market the majority of wages are represented by these same means, which will no longer be recognised as evidence. As a result, it is the workers who will be harmed by these amendments to the Aliens Act. Similarly, the changes in the Aliens Act will affect family reunification procedures, access to residency permits and citizenship, with foreigners having very little information on these procedures.
The proposed amendments to the International Protection Act also deteriorate the protection of migrants, as they limit the rights of foreigners in the integration process and make it impossible for the most vulnerable to receive adequate protection. Access to international protection will becomes more difficult, while in the case of rejection, the scope of repressive measures against foreigners will be broader.
The purpose of the project is to actively acquaint the direct target groups of both laws with the (proposed) changes and by that to empower them to fight for better legislation and to fight against discrimination. With Aliens Act we’ll emphasise the changes on the field of family reunification. It is very important that the direct target groups are properly informed, otherwise, there can be a lot of uninformed and also misinformed people that can be and easy target for discrimination.
Trough partnership with Councelling Office for Foreigners we will get a direct access to foreigners who are already included in the labour market and as such, often victims of discrimination.
Summary of project results
In April 2021 the Slovenian parliament adopted the proposed amendments to the Aliens Act and the International Protection Act. The organizations working with refugees and foreign workers have long warned of the harmful consequences that the amended laws will have on the lives of the people they represent. As the laws were adopted despite the pressure from NGOs and civic initiatives, the project has provided information for the people most affected by the changes - mainly family reunification for migrant workers, the conditions for asylum seekers, integration agreements for the persons seeking international protection and the procedures related to rejected asylum seekers.
The project was well presented in the media and gave an active role to the migrants. They were key speakers on media conferences and were actively included in the preparations of leaflets and other informational material.
With the set of lectures, information leaflets and the establishment of communication channels, they had inform the target groups about these changes. At the same time, they had gather first-hand feedback on how the changes are affecting migrants'' lives. The collected material has been forwarded to key institutions that could influence the elimination of these amendments, and the affected groups with whom they had establish contact were included in further struggles to eliminate the harmful articles.