European Conferenceon Integration and Migration

Bringing people together is the key to improve the integration
and that is what happened on 1 October 2004 in Rotterdam.
English and Dutch Government institutions, social
organisations, self organisations and researchers came
together at Engels Conference Centre to talk about the
integration policies in general and the position of the Somali
community in particular. This international conference was
focused on the United Kingdom and the Netherlands because
of the massive migration of Dutch Somalis to the United
Kingdom that has taken place. The question is of course why
so many Somalis moved and are still moving to the United
Kingdom. The Somalis themselves name several reasons and
these reasons were discussed during the conference. The
reasons are quite diverse, from a negative attitude towards the
Islam to less regulation in the United Kingdom. They all have
one thing in common and that is that they are very hot issues
at the moment in the United Kingdom and the Netherlands and
perhaps also in many other European countries.
According to the Dutch Somalis in the United Kingdom, the
United Kingdom is a better place to live than the Netherlands,
but is this really the case? Different experts and concerned
parties addressed this assumption and debated on issues like
education, work, entrepreneurship and politics.
 
This conference is the first in a series of European
conferences concerning integration and minorities. These
conferences are one of the few places where all parties
concerned with integration are present. By discussing several
issues and formulating recommendations, the conferences
should stimulate the integration of minorities. It is our hope that
we will be able to announce some concrete results at the next
conference in the United Kingdom later this year.