Immigrant children best performers at school

Three out five best students at the Sassetti Peruzzi Professional Institute in Florence are second generation immigrants. 

The excellent performance of Brisa Lutaj, Francesco Cheng and Anna Wiktoria Redel disapproved those who have been claiming that the presence of foreign students lowers class performance. “We take our studies seriously because we consider them our only way out,” said Brisa, adding that: “I see many Italian students not taking their studies seriously, that makes me hungry.” 

“As it happened to the second and third generation Italians abroad, even the children of immigrants in Italy can attain higher education and even obtain higher grades than Italians,” said Carlo Melegari, Director of Centro Studi Immigrazione (Cestim) in Verona. He said foreign students face many difficulties but they should be helped to better integrate themselves into the education system. Their ability to overcome obstacles together with their parents’ higher expectations can be added advantages to their becoming model students, Mr. Melegari said. 

The determination of second generation immigrant students is clearly evident for example, during summer Italian language courses organised by Cestim. So many children of immigrants go to school for four hours a day in July and August when their Italian counterparts are having fan at the beach.

Foreigners make up 6.4% of EU population

By 1st January 2009, 31.9 million foreign citizens were living in the 27 EU Member States (EU27), of which 11.9 million were citizens of another EU27 Member State. The remaining were citizens of countries outside the EU27, in particular from other European countries (7.2 million), Africa (4.9 million), Asia (4.0 million) and the American continent (3.3 million). Foreign citizens accounted for 6.4% of the total EU27 population, a report by Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union shows.

In 2009, the largest numbers of foreign citizens were recorded in Germany (7.2 million persons), Spain (5.7 million), the United Kingdom (4.0 million in 2008), Italy (3.9 million) and France (3.7 million). More than 75% of the foreign citizens in the EU27 lived in these Member States.

Among the EU27 Member States, the highest percentage of foreign citizens in the population was observed in Luxembourg (44% of the total population), followed by Latvia (18%), Cyprus and Estonia (both 16%), Spain (12%), Ireland (11%) and Austria (10%). The percentage of foreign citizens was 1% or less in Poland, Romania, Bulgaria and Slovakia.

In 2009, 37% of the foreign citizens living in the EU27 were citizens of another EU27 Member State. The largest groups were from Romania (2.0 million or 6% of the total number of foreign citizens in the EU27), Poland (1.5 million or 5%), Italy (1.3 million or 4%) and Portugal (1.0 million or 3%). Among the citizens of countries outside the EU27, the largest groups were from Turkey (2.4 million or 8% of the total number of foreign citizens in the EU27), Morocco (1.8 million or 6%) and Albania (1.0 million or 3%).

On average in 2009, foreign citizens living in the EU27 were significantly younger than the population of nationals (median age 34.3 years compared with 41.2 years). This was true in all Member States except Estonia, Latvia and Poland. The largest differences were recorded in Italy (32.3 compared with 43.9), Finland (33.0 compared with 42.1) and Denmark (32.1 compared with 41.0).

Amongst foreign citizens, those from countries outside the EU27 were younger than those from other EU27 Member States (median age 33.0 years compared with 36.9 years).

Call for joint efforts to fights human trafficking

Partnership among public institutions, non-governmental organizations, and international organizations is essential to effectively fight trafficking in human beings, the OSCE Special Representative and Co-ordinator for Combating Trafficking in Human Beings, Maria Grazia Giammarinaro, has said.

Addressing a high-level meeting at the Council of Europe on 13th September, Ms. Giammarinaro announced the plans to expand the Alliance against Trafficking in Persons, a unique platform of over 40 partner organizations, to address more effectively the new features of trafficking.

"It is vital to join efforts in order to tackle the main problem we face nowadays," Ms. Giammarinaro told the Committee of the Parties to the Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings.

"Today we are launching a broad discussion on expanding Alliance membership. A larger partnership is crucial to step up our anti-trafficking action, especially in the field of trafficking for labour exploitation, which to date has not been adequately addressed worldwide,” she said.

Ms. Giammarinaro observed that human trafficking “shows a growing trend and affects many economic sectors, including agriculture, construction and domestic work."

The OSCE has worked actively promoting multidisciplinary and multi-stakeholder partnership in anti-trafficking action. The Alliance against Trafficking in Persons, established in 2004 and hosted by the Special Representative, is an informal forum for stronger co-operation for mutual benefit, based on shared goals and voluntary participation.