Enabling immigrants to easily know and exercise their rights

Through the development and use of intelligent technologies, the project aims to make it easier for migrants to access services to which they are entitled and to extend their understanding of their rights. easyRights is under development and implemented in the pilot locations Birmingham, Larissa, Palermo and Málaga. The intention is for migrants to become more autonomous, so not only saving themselves and public service-providers time, but also cutting costs and effort for administrative agencies.

State administration procedures present even many citizens with challenges due to the legal terminology and complex processes involved. For migrants, who neither speak the language, nor are sufficiently familiar with the practices of their host country it is generally even more difficult to exercise their rights. In consequence, the majority of social services, from social housing through public healthcare to language courses, then prove to be inaccessible. The easyRights project sees such services as interfaces to these rights and thus, subsequently, as a key factor for the societal participation of immigrants.

Better Procedures and Digital Support

Fundamental barriers confronting immigrants seeking to access social services and the complex procedures they face in the process are analyzed with the targeted employment of all relevant actors and stakeholders involved in the development and dissemination of the easyRights services, e.g., service-providers, public administrative agencies, their staff and migrants. Digital solutions and add-ons for services offered by the pilot cities are developed in a continuous co-creation/co-design process, with the aim of supporting implementation of, and access to, services and helping migrants to exercise their rights. In addition, further work is underway on developing a web-based platform and mobile apps to assist migrants with acquiring language and communication skills and to improve their understanding of the framework and procedures involved in the relevant bureaucratic systems. This approach is focused on the users and their individual capabilities and characteristics.