THE PECULIARITIES OF LEGAL REGULATION OF THE REFUGEE INTEGRATION SYSTEM IN LITHUANIA

In recent years the European Union has experienced an unprecedented influx of refugees and asylum seekers that has continued up until now. This issue is relevant to Lithuania as well, since the country has committed to host 1105 asylum seekers from Greece and Turkey, and their successful integration to large extent depends on legislation adopted by the Government. The present article analyses the concept of the international asylum law and the peculiarities of legal regulation of the refugee integration system in Lithuania. Both the analysis of legislative documents and experience in working with refugees has disclosed a gap between the existing theoretical system and its implementation in practice. The author discloses the problems of the refugee integration, when regulation of the social relationships is required; however there is no relevant legal norm that could be applicable in a particular case. The article also discusses the priorities and regulatory documents of the Lithuanian policy on integration; however the main focus is made on the theoretical analysis of the Description of the Procedure for Providing State Support for the Refugee Integration and – referring to the practical experience – on insights into its implementation measures. The analysis has disclosed that implementation of the refugee integration measures is hindered due to lack of a long-term policy on the refugee integration in Lithuania, lack of collaboration between the state and private sector and prevalent negative attitudes in the society; the above factors result in loss of interrelation between the legal norms and the social relationships that are to be regulated.KEY WORDS: refugee integration, law regulation, description, asylum law.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.15181/tbb.v79i2.178