HIAS Europe

EU Legislative Interests

HIAS is dedicated to refugee protection, and conducts advocacy for the protection of refugees and asylum seekers. Founded in the 1880s to help Jews fleeing persecution, HIAS is the world’s oldest refugee agency. Today, guided by our Jewish values and history, we bring more than 130 years of expertise to our work advocating for laws that protect refugees and asylum seekers in need of assistance, regardless of their national, ethnic, or religious background.   At the EU level our main interest is the fair and equal treatment of the most vulnerable refugees in the EU Member States where they first arrive. We also advocate on behalf of increased resettlement slots within the EU and additional humanitarian funding to assist the 79.5 million refugees and displaced persons in the world today. In addition, we promote the involvement of European Jewish communities in welcoming and integrating refugees. Subsequently, we are interested in following EU migration and asylum policy (in particular the upcoming new Pact on Asylum and Migration), integration policy (i.e. the Action Plan on Integration of Third Country Nationals), as well as humanitarian aid for those forcibly replaced, and social cohesion (i.e. combatting anti-Semitism and xenophobia).

Communication Activities

HIAS Europe raises awareness and support for HIAS’ international humanitarian operations in the European Commission and with European governments and provides a Jewish perspective to European policymaking on refugees and asylum seekers. To this end it joins other civil society initiatives, through a number of umbrella organizations. At the same time, it engages European Jewish communities, supporting their efforts across Europe to protect and assist refugees. Most of our communications target European Jews interested in refugee and humanitarian aid issues. For our advocacy and community engagement ends we use social media but also Jewish press throughout Europe. We also have campaigns that are connected to religious holidays, for example refugee Shabbat and refugee seder.

Interests Represented

Does not represent commercial interests

Member Of

HIAS Europe is part of the HIAS-branded family of entities, with its main counterpart as HIAS Inc. HIAS Europe is a member of the ECRE and VOICE networks, and is also a member of the European Network on Statelessness.

Organisation Members

HIAS Europe is part of the HIAS-branded family of entities, with its main counterpart as HIAS Inc. HIAS Europe participates in the European Platform on Migration and Asylum (EPAM) and some other informal networks, including PaRD (International Partnership on Religion and Sustainable Development).

Additional Information

Most funding comes from structural partnerships with DG ECHO and the German Federal Foreign Office for humanitarian programming outside the EU. Additionally, funding has been received from HIAS Inc for addressing the needs of Ukrainian refugees inside the EU.