27 August 2025, University of Bologna
New Pathways to Refugee Admission and Integration in Europe: Exploring the Legal Underpinnings of Community Sponsorship
WA-S04
27 Aug 2025
09:00 – 10:30
Aula P, Belmeloro building
In an era marked by unprecedented levels of displacement, different models of community sponsorship (CS) of refugees have emerged as a powerful tool to complement resettlement and enhance refugee integration. This panel explores the multidimensionality of CS in Europe, focusing on its legal underpinnings with the aim of disentangling the main features of a European model. It will depart from the contribution of the EU to the design and standard setting of sponsorship-based pathways in the UN Global Compacts, with a view to delving deeper into the conceptualisation of this tool. The difficulty of reaching a legal definition of CS at the EU level will be explained taking into consideration the twofold nature of CS as an autonomous complementary pathway and as a comprehensive integration strategy. The panel will then move into analysing the complex nexus between admission, reception and integration in CS schemes in Europe, pinpointing the impact of status/rights fragmentation on the durable solutions for the beneficiaries. Whether and how the recent reform of the New Pact on Migration and Asylum tackles this issue will be debated, to further explore the potential and hindrances of a European model of CS. The panellists will also tackle the topic of responsibility sharing within a prospective European model of CS and outline the multifaceted role that the dyad solidarity-responsibility can play. This analysis will lead to conclusive remarks on the normative premises of CS in Europe, considering the aim, principles and values underpinning the creation of a common European sponsorship model. The panel’s aim is to contribute to an emerging field of legal scholarship, by identifying potential improvements and highlighting the contribution that the EU experience could make.
On 27 August 2025, the CoSME project presented a fascinating panel on community sponsorship at the 18th Pan-European Conference on International Relations, held at the University of Bologna from 25 to 29 August 2025. The panel, titled ‘New Pathways to Refugee Admission and Integration in Europe: Exploring the Legal Underpinnings of Community Sponsorship”, featured presentations by leading scholars and experts who will be contributing to the forthcoming book “A Legal Appraisal of Community Sponsorship for Migrants and Refugees: In Search of a European Model’ (Giappichelli-Routledge, 2026). It was a very inspiring and challenging occasion to reflect on key legal and policy issues such as:
– the design and standard setting of sponsorship-based pathways
– the relationship between admission, reception, and integration in CS schemes;
– the conundrum of responsibility sharing and the role of the principles of additionality and solidarity.
First, Prof. Elspeth Guild (University of Liverpool) introduced the topic from an international legal standpoint, discussing the relevance of complementary pathways and sponsor-based mechanisms in the Global Compact on Migration, as well as the challenges of implementation. Dr Chiara Berneri (The Open University) then navigated the definition of community sponsorship in the European Union legal system, taking into consideration the similarities and differences with legal definitions of private sponsorship in other regions. Finally, Dr Petra Hueck (Vrije Universiteit Brussel) presented the key findings of her empirical study of community sponsorship schemes in Europe, providing an overview of the various legal frameworks that have emerged over the past decade.
This panel also provided an opportunity to announce the final conference of the CoSME project, which will take place at the University of Tuscia on 24–25 November 2025. This two-day event will bring together leading national and international scholars, experts, institutions and stakeholders to advance knowledge on resettlement, complementary pathways, and community sponsorship.
Last but not least, the panel supported the conference organisers’ initiative to share a short statement for panel openings titled ‘NO CONFERENCING AS USUAL DURING GENOCIDE’. The statement recalled that ‘there is no academic neutrality in a genocide. We urge you to stand in solidarity with Palestinian scholars and students, to name this for what it is — genocide and scholasticide — and to amplify their calls for justice, freedom and the right to remain, return and rebuild.’
As lawyers and international/EU law scholars, we think it is important to recognise our responsibility to call it for what it is.
CoSME 2025 - Sito creato e sviluppato da Matteo Arrotta