Migrant experts present recommendations to the Nordic integration ministers

The members of the Nordic Migrant Expert Forum have spent the last year pondering the question: What should good integration consist of? Their work resulted in 13 recommendations designed to inspire the integration ministers, which they have just presented at a meeting in Reykjavík.

The chair of the committee, Takura Matswetu, attended the meeting and had this message: “Measurable integration is a roadmap to success!” Matswetu elaborates by recommending that the ministers should come together to formulate a definition of a Nordic approach to integration. The definition should be broad and cover multiple policy areas, including education, the labour market and language acquisition. The ultimate aim is to build cohesive and equitable societies based on justice.

The Forum has members representing all the Nordic countries and autonomous territories, all of whom have twin foundations that lend extra weight to the recommendations. They have drawn on their own personal experiences of being born elsewhere in the world and of migrating to a Nordic country later on. They are also experts in the field of integration with competencies in areas such as education, the labour market, gender equality and social and health care.  

The Nordic Council of Ministers set up the Nordic Migrant Expert Forum to help ministers devise the best possible integration policies at both national and Nordic levels and, in doing so, contribute to the Council of Ministers’ Vision 2030 – in particular, the ambition to be the most socially sustainable region in the world.