Reader Caution, Quartz reporting.[Quartz] Omar and Mohammed are cousins from Damascus, and they’ve traveled a long way to get here.
The two men, both in their early 20s, fled their native Syria to avoid military conscription. They embarked upon the same journey as millions of other refugees, first arriving in Turkey and then taking a boat to the shores of Greece. But unlike many other refugees, they got lucky. They were resettled in Nancy, France, in 2017, as part of the European Union’s migrant relocation and resettlement scheme.
Today, they’re members of a volunteer civil service program, similar to that of AmeriCorps in the US, created by the French government with the goal of helping young refugees between the ages of 16 and 25 become integrated into French society. It’s a creative solution to an issue that’s plagued many European countries in recent years: In the aftermath of an unprecedented wave of refugee resettlement in Europe, what can be done to strengthen ties between refugees and their communities?
A civic way to help the most vulnerable
At the height of the refugee crisis in 2015, an estimated 42,500 people were leaving their native countries every day because of war, persecution, and oppression. That year, over 1 million migrants and asylum seekers arrived in Europe. The subsequent political backlash against refugees has brought anti-immigrant politicians to power in countries like Germany, Austria, Hungary, Italy, and Poland.
France is no exception. In 2017, far-right leader Marine Le Pen made it to the runoff of the presidential election partly because of her anti-immigration views (paywall). That same year, 100,755 people requested asylum or legal protection (link in French) from the French government. Of those, 31,964 were granted asylum or subsidiary protection status‐21% more than in 2016 (pdf).