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Port security remains of paramount importance for Europe both due to potential threats on passenger life and the potential for crippling economic damage arising from intentional unlawful attacks on port facilities. Challenges arise due to the complexity of operational modalities of sea and hinterland traffic and the lack of efficient organisational and technological interfaces linking ports to border control authorities, the police and other intervention forces, and transport-logistics operators. Considerable progress with port security has been achieved in recent years primarily associated with adoption of the International Ship and Port Facility Security (ISPS) Code . SUPPORT is aimed at building on these achievements by engaging representative stakeholders to guide the development of next generation solutions for upgraded preventive and remedial security capabilities in European ports. The overall benefit will be the secure and efficient operation of European ports enabling uninterrupted flows of cargo and passengers while suppressing illegal immigration and trafficking of drugs, weapons and illicit substances all in line with the efforts of FRONTEX and EU member states. SUPPORT will deliver public formal specifications and open standards based tools that will aid security upgrade in EU ports and will be complementary to and usable by other EU projects and initiatives in this area. Emphasis will be given to bring together advances from research on security with results from the main EU projects in maritime and intermodal transport, specifically those concerned with security and interoperability issues. Thus, SUPPORT will address ‘total’ port security upgrade solutions encompassing legal, organisational, technology and human factors perspectives. These solutions should provide substantial improvements in the performance, reliability, speed and cost of European port security which will be demonstrated during the course of the project.

The legal framework in Luxembourg does not provide a specific legal status for unaccompanied minors (hereafter UAM), which is why the large majority of them apply for international protection. This allows them to stay in the country and to benefit from social and legal assistance, as well as from accommodation. Cases of UAMs presumed or identified victims of human trafficking are rare in Luxembourg. Overall, specific legal frameworks exist according to the status of the UAM: The Law on Asylum, the Law on Immigration and the Law on victims of trafficking in human beings. This framework is completed by general provisions of the Youth Protection Law, which applies to all minors independent of their immigration or legal status. Until the influx of applicants for international protection in 2015 and 2016, the phenomenon of unaccompanied minors has been relatively small in Luxembourg. Particularly 2015 was marked by a high number of UAMs applying for international protection, with 102 introductions of applications compared to 31 applications in 2014. Since, the number of applications has stabilised over the last two years, with 51 applications in 2016 and 50 applications in 2017. In 2015, Afghanistan and Albania were the leading countries of origin of UAMs. In 2016, Afghanistan was still the leading country of origin, followed by Morocco. In 2017, the profiles of the UAMs changed again, with Albania and Morocco as leading countries of origin. In Luxembourg, UAMs are predominantly boys and a large majority is close to the age of majority, or have already reached the age of majority, when a final decision on their application for international protection is issued. However, the Directorate of Immigration reported that they were confronted with a new phenomenon in 2017, namely the arrival of very young UAMs aged between 12 and 14. Every UAM, whether s/he files an application for international protection or not, will be assigned an ad-hoc administrator as soon as possible in order to assist him/her in all legal proceedings. In addition to the designation of an ad-hoc administrator, the organisations that accommodate the UAMs applying for international protection usually request the guardianship (either institutional or personal guardianship) of the UAM who has introduced his application. Different from the ad-hoc administrator, the guardian is assisting and supporting the UAM in all daily life affairs, such as social guidance, integration, education, medical care, acquisition of language skills, leisure activities, etc. In regard to education, the overall aim in Luxembourg is to integrate migrant children, independent of their immigration status, into the general educational system as soon as possible. The latter has experienced a diversification of its offer with a number of specialised measures and services. Together with leisure and extracurricular activities, school is considered to be one of the main contributors to the overall well-being and integration of UAMs into the Luxembourgish society. There are no integration measures that specifically target UAMs. There are no specific transition measures or procedures for UAMs who are approaching their majority, neither in regard to the accommodation and guardianship arrangements, nor in the general context of integration. The organisations responsible for the accommodation and care of the UAMs provide them with a supervision and support according to their specific individual needs. This is also true for the respective legal framework of the UAM, including eventual extensions of residence permits. The return of UAMs is considered to be rare in the Luxembourgish context. As mentioned earlier, this is related to the fact that the large majority of UAMs applying for international protection are close to the age of majority or have already reached majority when a final decision on their application is issued. Furthermore, although foreseen by the Immigration Law, Luxembourg does not carry out forced returns of persons considered to be unaccompanied minors. The International Organisation for Migration (IOM), responsible for (assisted) voluntary returns, reported that they have approximately one voluntary return of an UAM every two years. In 2017, following the recommendation of the evaluation of the Schengen acquis in the area of return in Luxembourg, the government adopted the creation of a new commission with the function of assessing the best interest of the child in the context of return of UAMs. This commission entered into force at the beginning of 2018 and is composed of members of the prosecution service, the National Childhood Office (ONE), the Luxembourg Reception and Integration Agency (OLAI), and finally the Directorate of Immigration, which is chairing the commission. In addition, the ad-hoc administrator is invited to attend the commission meeting for the minor s/he represents. Based on the elements of his/her application, an individual opinion assessing the best interest of the child, in the context of his/her return, will be given for each minor. One of the major reported challenges is the appointment of legal representatives of UAMs (ad-hoc administrator and guardian), as well as the lack of precision of the legal provisions in this context. In the context of return, the Directorate of Immigration reported that they are faced with challenges in regard to getting in contact with the respective countries of origin as well as in regard to cases of applicants not telling the truth. One of the main good practices that has been identified by a number of stakeholders are the new care and accommodation arrangements, allowing to house UAMs in specifically dedicated reception facilities with a 24/7 supervision, depending on the availability of these facilities. In the same context, it was reported that it is of great importance to provide the minors with an environment of trust and support, to listen to them and to reassure them in order to be able to understand their current situation. Particularly the approach of supporting them in elaborating a life plan or life project (“projet de vie”) is considered as being very important for the stability and general well-being as well as for the integration of the UAMs. In addition, it is also important to support them in other matters of integration, such as education, acquisition of language skills, extracurricular activities, etc. In the context of return, Directorate of Immigration reported the newly concluded agreement with IOM in order to conduct family assessments of UAMs in the countries of origin as a good practice. On the one hand, this assessment is one element that will be taken into consideration in the examination of the application of the minor. On the other hand, it helps in assessing the best interest of the child in the event of a return if the application is rejected.

Mit der Entwicklung des Gemeinsamen Europäischen Asylsystems (GEAS) wurden die rechtlichen und politischen Weichen eines koordinierten Vorgehens bei der Behandlung von Asylanträgen geschaffen. Die Etablierung eines europäischen bürokratischen Feldes hängt jedoch nicht allein von der Existenz eines solchen supranationalen Referenzrahmens ab, sondern vielmehr von der Genese einer horizontal strukturierten Verwaltungspraxis. Denn die Mitarbeitenden auf dem ¿street-level' sind es, die direkt mit Asylantragstellerinnen und Antragstellern interagieren, Sachverhalte bewerten und autoritative Entscheidungen fällen. In der ersten Projektphase wurden bereits die transnationale Entwicklung europäischer Wissensbestände und Referenzrahmen sowie Veränderungs- und Konvergenzprozesse auf der Deutungs- und Handlungsebene in deutschen und schwedischen Asylbehörden ländervergleichend untersucht. Nun soll der Hauptfokus auf die genuin transnationalen Strukturen und Prozesse des behörden- und länderübergreifenden Verwaltungshandelns gelegt werden. Unser Ziel ist es, die arbeitsteilige Verwaltung von Flucht und Asyl zwischen verschiedenen Behörden, sowohl in Kerneuropa als auch an den Außengrenzen, qualitativ zu erheben und mit Blick auf die Veränderungen des bürokratischen Feldes, des faktischen Verwaltungshandelns und der damit einhergehenden Restrukturierung staatlicher Herrschaftsausübung und Ordnungsstiftung in Europa zu ergründen. Damit rücken die von der Forschergruppe ¿Europäische Vergesellschaftung" in der zweiten Förderphase anvisierten Fragen auch in unserem Teilprojekt in den Mittelpunkt, denn die Analyse transnational koordinierter und strukturierter Verwaltungsaufgaben und -praktiken legt den Blick frei auf die inhärenten Machtasymmetrien und Ungleichheiten, die Krisenmomente, strukturellen Widersprüche, Spannungen und Politisierungsprozesse innerhalb des europäischen Asylverwaltungsfeldes.

"This project circles around three core questions: Does assimilation work? Does discrimination vary with exposure to competition? Do public attitudes directly translate into immigrant disadvantage? (1) Assimilation Proofs: Initially, we analyze whether the origin of immigrants and/or their level of assimilation to the host country (birth and naturalization) can explain labor market trajectories. Among the manifold domains in which individuals with a migration background may face disadvantages, we focus on labor market re-integration because it has been proven to be a key factor in fostering long-term social integration into the host country. Although empirical evidence for discriminatory practices by employers is generally difficult to provide with registry data, our design minimizes potential alternative explanations. Our study benefits from a unique dataset combining registry and survey data, which were collected in the Swiss Canton of Vaud among all newly unemployed individuals between February and April 2012. The findings are based on real labor market behavior and show that when controlling for encompassing information on human and social capital and other employability criteria, individuals whose provenience is from outside the European Union face periods of unemployment that are up to 50% (or 3 months) longer than those of Swiss natives. Surprisingly, observable assimilation proofs in the form of naturalization or birth in the host country do not improve labor market re-integration. We explain this finding by employers’ discriminatory hiring behavior. (2) Assimilation Signals: In a related study, we test whether HR managers’ discrimination against candidates with a nonnative background can be counteracted by these candidates signaling assimilation into the host society. In our study, HR managers evaluate descriptions of fictitious CVs in which we vary the nationality of the candidates and different signals of cultural attachment to their migration background or to the host country. The findings reveal that candidates with Polish- and Turkish-sounding names are evaluated worse than candidates with Swiss- or Spanish-sounding names. More interestingly, however, participating in civic engagement within a traditional Swiss volunteering organization increases the opportunities given to individuals with Polish and Turkish backgrounds, while participating in an organization connected to their origin dramatically damages their evaluation by prospective employers. We also show that candidates with Polish or Turkish backgrounds who adjust their CVs to appear native by indicating fluency in only the local language (either German or French) fare much better than those who reveal a language attachment to their country of origin. We conclude that there are limited opportunities to ameliorate the evaluation of a CV by signaling assimilation into the host country; conversely, non-adapted CVs and CVs that convey multiple signals of attachment to one’s culture of origin are heavily sanctioned in the assessment by HR managers. (3) Competition: Subsequently, we want to examine whether the prevalence of ethnic discrimination varies with a discriminator’s exposure to competition. First, we use a representative online survey experiment in Germany in order to ask participants to take over the role as a football manager and to rate players in three different tasks. First results show that participants on average prefer White (rather than Black) and Western (rather than non-Western) players, especially when they need to choose between two candidates. We conclude that discrimination likely occurs when there is pressure to select. (4) Housing: In a related study, we examine ethnic discrimination in the housing market. The progressive increase of housing prices and the depletion of affordable dwellings in Swiss urban centers have brought attention to the population's housing conditions and residential mobility. Recent studies have shown that some precarious groups have a more difficult access to adequate housing, especially lower-income households and foreign-born populations. In Switzerland, where the majority of individuals live in rental units, landlords and rental agencies act as gatekeepers and play an important role in the spatial distribution of precarious populations across neighborhoods and to what type of dwelling they have access to. As a result of the landlords’ decisions, ethnic minorities might have limited choices as for where they live. They might be stuck in more deprived housings or neighborhoods, access relatively overpriced dwellings, experience higher rates of crowding, etc. Consequently, our study proposes to investigate mechanisms of discrimination that might take place in the Swiss housing market amongst landlords, professional agencies, and private persons (renters), each of whom potentially having different incentives to discriminate. (5&6) Attitudes: Do public attitudes directly translate into immigrant disadvantage? We aspire to answer this question with two original studies on the effect of public referenda in Switzerland. Such regularly occurring votes are also directly referring to the country’s position vis-à-vis the international community and immigration and usually are heatedly debated prior to the referendum. We exploit such immigration-related referenda by linking salient public discourses to economic and political outcomes of foreigners living in Switzerland. Concretely, we investigate whether such debates, everything else equal, affect the propensity to find a new job during the months of the most heated public exchanges. We hypothesize that a group being pushed into the spotlight by a referendum experiences detrimental effects on its aggregated re-integration chances. Similarly, we expect local politicians with a foreign-sounding name to have a harder stand if the local election falls in the period prior to such a public controversy. (7) Perception: Eventually, we seek to shed light on the mechanisms of perceived discrimination: Who, among recent immigrants, is more likely to feel discriminated against and report it when asked in a survey? Social scientists typically define discrimination as an observable and unjust difference in the treatment of distinct groups. In order to personally feel discriminated against, people must be aware of the differential treatment and perceive it as unjust. We show that reporting discrimination when asked in a survey depends substantially upon individual traits, including aspects that shape whether discrimination is accepted and whether immigrants feel attached to the host society. Although respondents report less discrimination if their job situation has improved after migration, people more likely report discrimination when they originate from countries in which the national legislature represents ethnic minority groups relatively well. Earlier difficulties related to the migration process and the lack of supporting networks continue to affect the perception of unfair treatment. Moreover, we show that individuals distinguish to a surprising degree between discrimination in and outside the work environment. For instance, when they are proficient in the local language, respondents often report discrimination in the workplace but not in a public environment. This distinction between discrimination in the workplace and discrimination in public also depends strongly upon the immigrant’s origin. We conclude that contemporary individual-level measures and policy recommendations merely approximate discriminatory patterns; we urge future research to consider factors that affect individual perception of discrimination."