The challenge of integration

Integration is not a one-way street, but always signifies rights and duties for everyone, whether they are immigrants or not. This principle is underlined in the document “the challenge of integration: considerations and requests on the part of the Churches and religious communities”, presented in Vienna on 18 January. The document was drawn up jointly by the Catholic Bishop, the Most. Rev. Michael Landau, Evangelical Bishop Michael Bünker, the Metropolitan of the Orthodox Church Michael Staikos, the President of the community of Jewish worship Ariel Muzicant and the President of the community of Islamic faith Anas Schakfeh.Integration: a reciprocal process. Bishop Landau, director of Caritas, pointed out that integration is a “reciprocal process” that obliges all those involved to take steps in the direction of their interlocutors. “In all this, the Churches and the religious communities bring with them the conviction that each person, whether a native of the country or a foreigner, has equal dignity. There is only one unit of measurement: the person”, he said. Landau also recalled that “Austria was and remains a country of immigration. A new perspective is needed to enable us to perceive that immigrants represent not a threat, but an opportunity for Austria. In this way it is possible to tackle and solve the problems that undoubtedly exist in a more constructive way”. Common rules. Lutheran Bishop Michael Bünker spoke of the “common rules” that must hold good for all those who live in Austria. “The society that admits immigrants has the duty to create structures that permit the reception and participation of new arrivals right from the start. Vice versa, immigrants must be willing to learn the language. And they are bound to recognize the universality of human rights and democracy as the foundation of co-existence, as also freedom of religion, the rule of law and equality between man and woman”, he stressed. Bünker also recalled that the question of integration is not limited to the security that is “predominant today”, and hoped for the introduction of a “positive campaign” by political leaders with the aim of fostering the opportunities posed by integration. The Evangelical bishop also appealed to politicians to take forward the debate “in such a way as constantly to clarify that what’s at issue are human persons. And we are convinced that those who love Austria do not wish to divide them”. The seven pillars of integration. The document presented by the representatives of the various faiths in Austria comprises seven fundamental points for integration: right to family life, access to the labour market, equal social security for all, education, adequate housing, political participation and access to citizenship. “The protection of children and their opportunities for development, and the right of families to live together, must take priority over quotas”, emphasized Landau, who also expressed the need to further harmonise the right to residence and the right to work. The document also urges a town-planning policy conceived in such a way as deliberately to “force” integration. It also calls for the introduction of systems to involve immigrants in the processes of formation of the political will, through the recognition of the right to vote at the local level.Integration a source of enrichment. Orthodox Metropolitan of Vienna, Michael Staikos, recalled that Austria is historically founded on the integration of “innumerable peoples and religions” that took place in past centuries. “It is unacceptable that this can no longer happen today”, he declared. Muzicant, President of the Jewish religious community, emphasized for his part that the “economic richness of Austria would be unthinkable without immigration and integration”. According to Muzicant, the government must raise the population’s awareness about this aspect with a major campaign in the media. All the religious exponents lastly re-affirmed their condemnation of the recent attacks on Islam by the Austrian political party, the FPÖ. Schakfeh, president of the Islamic community of faith in Austria, in acknowledging the solidarity expressed, praised the “positive climate between the religious communities” and between Muslims and the state institutions”; this climate “must not be upset by petty actions of disturbance like those in recent days”, he added. The problems of integration exist, “but they are soluble. The variety of cultures and languages can never be a threat to a country, but on the contrary is a source of enrichment. Even if different religious truths exist, the faiths that profess them share common values, such as that of the family”, he concluded.