Heidelberg – ESI at “Cook Your Future” event on migration and integration

20 November 2023
Video: RBEMediaTV

ESI’s Gerald Knaus was invited to speak at the Cook Your Future event and discussion on migration, flight, humane control, and successful integration through vocational training.

Cook Your Future is a project initiated in 2017, designed to provide young refugees with educational and work opportunities in the fields of gastronomy, hospitality, and home economics. The target group for this initiative includes refugees, migrants who have recently arrived in Germany, and EU migrants. The main aim of the programme is to facilitate the integration of these individuals into the workforce, predominantly in the hotel, gastronomy, and household management sector.

Gerald spoke about the debate in the German government on how to control and reduce irregular migration and how complicated it to address the issue, especially with the far-right AfD party having such high support in the German states.

He described how complicated it has become for EU states to accept refugees, process, and host them, which should not depend on a few EU member states. Gerald argued that this burden should be a shared responsibility to achieve humane control and fair asylum decisions.

Gerald said countries across the world have sought to create tighter borders and policies to limit asylum seekers access. He therefore stressed the importance of humane border management that respects human rights and protects asylum seekers.

He also discussed the role of safe third countries, advocating for partnerships with non-EU countries to shelter asylum seekers and process their claims. This strategy requires these countries to meet EU standards for protection and rights, sharing responsibility while safeguarding vulnerable migrants.

heidelberg
Photo: ESI

Other panellists were: Theresia Bauer, Uschi Hummel, Friederike Hanel, Ali Rezan, Bisola Mustapha, Frank Nuscheler, Dennis Ugursal, Mohamed Ori, Gerd Schaufelberger and the kitchen team from Cook Your Future. The event was moderated by Bernward Geier.

heidelberg
Photo: ESI