For a Humanitarian Asylum Policy in Europe

What We Do

With our activities and events, we foster partnerships with local authorities and community groups to strengthen local governance and build capacities to contribute to humanitarian practice. City conferences are the main platforms for our intercity exchanges and strategic alignments (e..g, Palermo Conference 2021 and Villeurbanne Conference 2023). Besides IASH organizes workshops and webinars, working meetings, and lobbying events with its partners. Together we facilitate knowledge exchange and peer learning among member municipalities and civil society organizations.

In the period of 2022-2024, four of our member cities joined two civil society organizations from FS2C in the European Cities4Refugees (see Cities4Refugees Conference in 2023).

In October 2023, a lobbying event in the frame of Cities4Refugees project was organised in Brussels to broaden the alliance for a humane asylum governance in Europe, bringing together 10 cities (Munich, Berlin, Utrecht, Amsterdam, Ghent, Liege, Cascais, Villeurbanne, Wrocław and Zagreb) to exchange views and voice their concerns about the New Pact on Migration and Asylum with EU representatives.

In November 2023, twenty-one cities and the French city network ANVITA (in representation of over 80 French municipalities) signed the Villeurbanne Declaration. Despite the challenges for many municipalities posed by the increasing number of refugees across Europe, the signatories reinforce the positions as adopted with the Palermo Declaration.

Concerning the agreement on the reform of the Common European Asylum and Migration System (CEAS), the Villeurbanne Declaration reminds that any legislation that favors illegal pushbacks and closed camps at the EU’s external borders is incompatible with Europe’s humanitarian values. Instead, municipalities collaborating with civil society can offer experience and expertise in questions of reception, integration, inclusion, and participation.

In 2024, the year of the European Parliament elections and the reform process of the Common European Asylum System (CEAS), we emphasize our commitment to universal human rights and the right to asylum.

In October 2024, the two-day conference “Cities as Change Makers in European Asylum and Migration Policy” took place in Berlin. More than 100 participants from politics, administration, civil society and academia discussed the CEAS reforms and its potential impacts on municipalities. The conference presented an important networking platform for exchanging ideas with stakeholders from various sectors, finding out about the current status of the implementation of the CEAS reform and exploring opportunities for cooperation and involvement in the decision-making processes.