0 review
Integration of refugees through sport : Germany, a model for Europe? / Mélisande Beckmann
Edited by AISTS - 2020
This paper analyses the impact of a national programme of integration through sport for refugees through the example of Germany and its ‘IDS’ (Integration durch Sport), as one of the most praised countries to be active in that field. Since the refugee crisis of 2015, Germany has welcomed more than a million of migrants and the issue of integration has become a priority at a political level. Rather than only using traditional tools such as language and civilisation classes, the German government has charged the DOSB (German National Olympic Committee) of promoting the inclusion of refugees into sport activities, with the long-term goal of integrating them in the German society, namely to build new labour force. More than just being pragmatically worried about its economy, Germany has also shown tolerance and openness and its investment for refugees has been considered as an example for Europe (Hillebrand, 2009), yet not a perfect one. Therefore, this paper will first examine the main assets and limits of the German IDS, by studying the perceived strengths and hurdles of its structure, then explore the potentiality to learn from this model, and eventually open up to new possibilities such as the creation of a European network of projects of integration through sport.