Redaccion
They come from 70 countries and among their main demands are legal issues, coverage of basic needs, training, and employment
The reception service for migrants Harreragune has added a total of 1,960 users from 70 countries in the first months since its launch in November 2024 in Bilbao. Legal, social, coverage of basic needs, housing, registration, training, employment, health care, and homologation of studies are the main demands addressed during this time.
The specialized service for the reception, information, and orientation of migrant people, created by the Basque Government and the Bilbao City Council and managed by Zehar Errefuxiatuekin, presented this Monday the balance of its first six months of activity in its facilities in the Vizcayan capital with the presence of the Councilor for Human Rights, Coexistence, Cooperation, and Interculturality, Iñigo Zubizarreta, the Director of Reception and Integration of Immigrants of the Basque Government, Ignacio Fariña, and the coordinator of Harreragune, Beatriz Gorriti.
The objective of this service, launched on November 18, 2024, is to accompany migrant people arriving in Bilbao in their process of settling in the city and accessing rights and opportunities on equal terms, as explained by the Councilor for Human Rights, Coexistence, Cooperation, and Interculturality.
In the words of Iñigo Zubizarreta, the goal is for Bilbao to not only be a «city of arrival» but a «community and city of reception.» In this sense, he highlighted «the deeply human and transformative dimension» of reception.
Harreragune works from an approach that favors the skills, knowledge, and experience of migrant people in order to support them in building their life project in Bilbao.
The service is part of the deployment of the Basque Reception Model and responds to the commitments made in the Basque Social Pact for Migration, offering «a space for reception, listening, information, and orientation,» as stated by the Director of Reception and Integration of Immigrants of the Basque Government.
«We are firmly convinced that if we are able to facilitate processes towards citizenship and social participation through reception, we will build a better country,» he emphasized.
Since its launch until May 15, 1,960 people have been registered in the Harreragune database, although, as the coordinator clarified, «many more have come» who did not meet the requirement of being residents in Bilbao and therefore have not been registered as users, but efforts are made to provide them with information.
The users of Harreragune come from 70 countries, including Morocco, Colombia, Algeria, Venezuela, and Peru. 62% of registrations are men and 38% are women, with the 26-35 age group accounting for 36% of those served. Additionally, 26% were between 36 and 45 years old, 21% between 18 and 25, and 12% between 46 and 55 years old.
The average attention time dedicated to people arriving at this service is 34 minutes. The main demands made have been related to legal issues, social issues, coverage of basic needs, housing, registration, training, employment, health care, and homologation of studies or learning Spanish.
Harreragune also offers specialized services, including legal assistance, which during this first semester has carried out 953 actions for 628 people. These mainly involve consultations related to establishing residency through education and the possibility of converting it into a residence and work permit. Additionally, there have been inquiries about the new Foreigner’s Law and the naturalization process.
On the other hand, the vocational training and employment service has carried out 516 actions for 416 people. 78% were related to training issues and 22% to employment issues.
The family reunification support service, launched on March 11, has assisted 19 families. 63% of them received assistance in the post-reunification phase and 37% in the pre-reunification phase.
Additionally, Harreragune offers a Spanish language course and has conducted various workshops on accessing health and education, as well as sessions to explain the family reunification processes.
Furthermore, 77 information and dissemination meetings have been held with other entities, both public and private, to establish stable communication channels and coordinate efforts to address the needs of migrants.
EXTENDERLO
Beatriz Gorriti emphasized the importance of people arriving in Bilbao being able to find «a friendly service that dedicates time to listen to you, ask you what you need, what you want, and connect you with public services and social entities that can address your demands.»
«That is the goal. So that people are not wandering around Bilbao, through Bizkaia, knocking on a lot of doors that may not be able to help them and also saturating services,» she pointed out.
Zubizarreta and Fariña recalled that «Bilbao is a pilot space» to launch this project and «the vocation remains to extend it throughout Euskadi.»
