Hamburg Integration Council General Information Fragen und Antworten zum Wahlverfahren 1. What is an Integration Council for? Integration is an interdisciplinary task for the whole of society, in which all groups of society e.g. from the areas of politics, the economy, the labour market, education, social affairs, culture, religion, sport and media should participate, with the involvement of the regional stakeholders. In 2002, the Hamburg Integration Council was convened for the first time as a committee in which people with and without a migrant background work together to find new paths for a peaceful coexistence in our city on the basis of equal rights. For more than 13 years now, it has been the forum for open discourse by various stakeholders on matters relating to the integration of immigrants in Hamburg. In this legislative period, the Integration Council will consist of 35 elected representatives with a migrant background (11 for the European Union, 5 for the rest of Europe, 6 for Turkey, 8 for Asia not including Turkey, 3 for Africa and 2 for America). In addition, representatives of institutions that play a key role in the success of the integration process are to be consulted regularly (without voting rights). 2. What tasks does the Integration Council have? The Integration Council at a state level has the task of: - advising the Authority for Employment, Social Affairs, Family and Integration and the Hamburg Senate constructively and critically on matters of integration policy and projects, - supporting the implementation and further development of the Hamburg Integration Concept - Participation, Intercultural Opening and Cohesion, - addressing current topics from the area of integration, - submitting statements on integration-related topics and projects and - submitting proposals for appointing people with migrant backgrounds to committees in Hamburg s city administration. The council also reaches into all relevant areas of society as an integration disseminator with a focus on implementation, by the members actively contributing to the promotion of integration in their respective areas of responsibility. 1
3. How does the Integration Council work? In the future, the Integration Council will meet once a year in a plenary session, chaired by the President of the Authority for Employment, Social Affairs, Family and Integration. If necessary, extraordinary meetings can be scheduled. In addition, the implementation of the key areas of action of the Hamburg integration concept, the success of the initiated measures and the conclusions drawn will be discussed in three one-day specialist forums. At the end of the event, there will be consultations with the chairman of the council on the results of the discussions. The specialist forums will take place under the auspices of the authority responsible for the field of action, in accordance with the integration concept. Furthermore, the elected members of the council can hold up to three region-based meetings of their communities in any one year. Three elected spokespersons of the committee shall take on the representation of the Integration Council vis-à-vis the Authority for Employment, Social Affairs, Family and Integration and other technical authorities and offices, as well as the external representation of the Integration Council. The team of spokespersons will be elected for one year at a time in a plenary session. 4. What is the composition of the Integration Council? The council has 35 elected members. In addition, representatives of the institutions that play a key role in the success of the integration process, with respect to their significance and scope, are regularly called into the specialist forums. These include the State Senior Citizens Council, the State Youth Council, the Refugee Centre, various religious communities (the Protestant Church of Northern Germany, the Catholic Church, the Jewish Community, SCHURA, DITIB, the Association of Muslim Cultural Centres, the Alevite community, the Russian Orthodox community, the Ahmadiyya community) and the social welfare organisations. Members of district integration councils and other experts may be involved in relation to specific topics and events. The people called in have no voting rights. Questions on the electoral procedure 5. Who can be elected? 2
Any person of full legal age with a migrant background 1 can be elected who has had his/her main residence in Hamburg for at least three months and is registered in the public list of candidates (see Question 7b). The person does not need to belong to any organisation. All the candidates are elected as individual persons and not as representatives of an organisation. Instead, it is a matter of finding people who, on account of their expertise on integration issues, are supported by as many organisations as possible, have the broadest possible range of experiences and contribute their knowledge constructively to the work of the Integration Council. 6. Who can vote? Migrant organisations which meet the following conditions can vote: - It must be a registered association or federation. - The association/federation must have its registered place of business or a branch office in Hamburg. - The association/federation must have been established before 1 st June 2014. - The association/federation specifically champions the interests of people with a migrant background, in accordance with its statutes. - The association/federation is managed predominantly by people with a migrant background. - The association/federation is registered in the list of organisations eligible to vote (see Question 7a). 7. How can I participate in the election? a) I would like to vote. Your organisation can vote if it - meets all the conditions specified in Question 6 and - is registered in the list of organisations eligible to vote at the Authority for Employment, Social Affairs, Family and Integration (for the deadlines, see Question 8). 1 Persons with a migrant background are defined as follows, in accordance with the 2005 microcensus: - foreign nationals, - German nationals with a migrant background; these include: o late repatriates o persons who have German nationality through naturalisation, o children of immigrants of foreign nationality who receive German nationality at birth, o persons with at least one parent who is a foreign national or who is a late repatriate or has German nationality through naturalisation. 3
To register on this list, your organisation must make an application. To do this, please complete the form Integration Council Application for Registration in the List of Organisations Eligible to Vote and send it to the Authority for Employment, Social Affairs, Family and Integration, along with the statutes of your organisation. Registration in the list is based on the following regions: - European Union (EU) - Africa, - Europe (excluding the EU and Turkey) - America - Turkey - Asia (excluding Turkey). This allocation is important for your organisations for the following reasons: - Each region has a certain number of seats in the Integration Council, in accordance with the election regulations. - Your organisation can only elect candidates who have a migrant background from the region for which your organisation is eligible to vote. Example: Your organisation is registered for the region of Africa. Your organisation can only elect candidates with an African migrant background. b) I would like to offer myself as a candidate. You can only offer yourself for election as a candidate if you - meet the conditions specified in Question 5 and - are registered in the public list of candidates at the Authority for Employment, Social Affairs, Family and Integration (for the deadlines, see Question 8). To be registered in this list, you must complete an application. Please complete the form Integration Council Application for Registration in the List of Candidates and send it to the Authority for Employment, Social Affairs, Family and Integration. All the candidates will be allocated to the following regions: - European Union (EU) - Africa - Europe (excluding EU and Turkey) - America - Turkey - Asia (excluding Turkey). Your migrant background is decisive for the allocation. If you have an Asian migrant background, for example, you will be allocated to the Asia region. 4
You will receive the contact details of the organisations that are eligible to vote for the region for which you are standing, so that you can introduce yourself there. 8. What deadlines do I have to observe? The application for registration in the list of organisations that are eligible to vote must be received by the Authority for Employment, Social Affairs, Family and Integration no later than 7 th July 2015. Applications received after this date will not be considered. The applications for candidacy must also be received by the Authority for Employment, Social Affairs, Family and Integration no later than 7 th July 2015. Candidates who do not meet this deadline cannot participate in the election in 2015. The election documents (ballot paper, information about the candidates) will be sent to the registered organisations after 7 th July 2015. The registered organisations may return the completed ballot papers to the Authority for Employment, Social Affairs, Family and Integration until 17 th September 2015. In each case, the date of receipt by the Authority for Employment, Social Affairs, Family and Integration is decisive. Applications received after 7 th July, or ballot papers received after 17 th September 2015, will not be considered. 9. What happens after the election? The Authority for Employment, Social Affairs, Family and Integration will publish the election result following the election and ask the elected candidates to indicate whether they accept their election. On this basis, the elected and appointed members of the council will be elected by the President of the Authority for Employment, Social Affairs, Family and Integration. The inaugural meeting of the council will provisionally take place in November 2015. 10. Where can I receive further information? You can find the election regulations of the Integration Council and the corresponding forms on the Internet at http://www.hamburg.de/integrationsbeirat/. 5
We would be happy to send you these documents in written form. For this, and in the event of further questions, please contact Ms Wowretzko Tel. 040/428 63-7144 or Ms Neumann Tel. 040/428 63-6028 or integrationsbeirat@basfi.hamburg.de. Follow us on Twitter: #integrationsbeirathh Authority for Employment, Social Affairs, Family and Integration Office for Employment and Integration Adolph-Schönfelder-Str. 5 22083 Hamburg 6