Call for Papers : Workshop on Forced Migration Studies

Calcutta Research Group (CRG) will hold a series of Research Workshops on Forced Migration Studies. The first in the series will be held in Kolkata from 16 March to 21 March 2015. The five themes to be addressed in this workshop are; (a) Violence in the borderlands and forced migration in West Bengal-Bangladesh border; (b) Violence in the borderlands and forced migration in Central Asia and West Asia; (c) Rohingya Refugees in India; (d) Research Methodology in forced migration studies; (e) Conceptual issues in forced migration studies.
Research papers relevant to the five themes are invited to be presented and discussed in the workshop. Selected research papers will have to reach the CRG office by the last week of February 2015. Papers will be circulated in advance. Those desirous of presenting research papers may kindly send their applications along with respective CVs, proposed titles, and abstracts (between 500 to 700 words and with clear reference to the theme) by 26 December 2014. The language of papers and abstracts will be in English. Research fellows, teachers, and practioners with at least 5 years experience will be given priority in selection. Selected participants will be given accommodation and train travel by economy class. Applications may be sent to the Office Secretary, Mahanirban Calcutta Research Group, GC-45, Sector–III, First Floor, Salt Lake, Kolkata 700106 (e-mail: forcedmigrationdesk@mcrg.ac.in phone: 91-33-2337-0408; Fax: 91-33-2337-1523). Applications should mention clearly the themes being addressed.

The workshop is being held in collaboration with the ICSSR, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad Institute of Asian Studies, and Taft Fund.

Call for Papers: Refugee and Asylum Law: Theory, Policy and Practice

Dates: 31 March-2 April 2015
Venue: University of Warwick, United Kingdom
The deadline for the submissions is Monday 19 January 2015.

This stream welcomes papers that focus on any issues relating to the theory, policy and practice of refugee and asylum law at an international or national level. In view of the current global refugee crises, and the apparent failure of the “international community” to address the problems confronting millions of asylum seekers and refugees, papers that address the following are particularly welcome:
• Conceptualising asylum and refugee protection
• The role of law in achieving or diminishing (access to) protection
• The role of the UNHCR and NGOs in refugee protection
• Regional protection regimes and access to asylum
• The search for durable solutions
• Future challenges for asylum and refugee protection

Abstracts may only be submitted via the Easy Chair system. They must be no longer than 300 words and must include your title, name and institutional affiliation and your email address for correspondence.


For more information see: http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/law/research/events/conferences/slsa/streams/raaltpap/

Call for Papers: Advancing Protection and Fostering Belonging in a Global Era of the Criminalization of Migration

8th Annual Conference of the Canadian Association for Refugee and Forced Migration Studies (CARFMS)

Hosted by: Department of Criminology, Ryerson University in collaboration with
Ryerson Centre for Immigration and Settlement (RCIS)
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Dates: 13-15 May 2015

The United Nations Member States recently acknowledged the need to promote and protect effectively the human rights and fundamental freedoms of all persons, regardless of their migration status. Similarly, there is recognition of the importance of addressing international migration through a comprehensive and balanced approach, recognizing the roles and responsibilities of countries of origin, transit and destination in promoting and protecting the human rights of all migrants (Declaration of the High Level Dialogue on International Migration and Development, 2013). While the international community’s aim to promote a balanced and human-rights-centred approach to migration is laudable, it is also highly challenging to achieve due to the increasing criminalization of migration. Over the past decades, countries of the Global North have resorted to criminal law measures to deter and punish irregular migrants, including those in need of international protection. They have imposed criminal penalties on forced migrants for entering or staying in their territory in an irregular manner, or using false documents or for unauthorized employment. Detention has not only become increasingly common but pervasive. Transport companies and employers as well as other persons who come into contact with or help forced migrants, such as health professionals, humanitarian workers, landlords, family members and friends have also become the targets of criminal sanctions. Asylum systems have become stricter for refugee claimants arriving in the destination countries with the help of smugglers. These developments fuelled by negative political and popular discourses have significant repercussions for the situation of not only forced migrants whose fundamental rights have been constrained, but also for legal migrants who become tainted by suspicion and face ever stronger selection barriers to entry. This practice of criminalization is counterproductive: it may result in rising levels of discrimination against migrants and xenophobia; it may hamper the implementation of integration and settlement policies; it may discourage forced migrants who are the victims of human trafficking, sexual assault, labour exploitation, abuse by employers or domestic violence and other crimes from coming forward, receive adequate protection and denounce the perpetrators of such crimes; ultimately it may contribute to driving forced migration underground, enhancing the possibilities of exploitation, oppression and infringement to their human dignity.
The 2015 CARFMS Conference will bring together students, instructors, researchers, academics, governmental officials, decision-makers, practitioners (including non-governmental organizations), refugee lawyers and members of community organizations, from diverse disciplinary and regional backgrounds to discuss changes, achievements, challenges and short and long-term options for advancing the protection of migrants and fostering their belonging in their receiving societies. The conference will feature keynote and plenary speeches from leaders in the field and from people with direct experience of forced migration. We invite participants with a wide range of perspectives to explore practical, social, legal, policy-oriented and theoretical questions related to the general theme outlined above. We welcome proposals for individual papers, organized panels and roundtables structured around the following broad subthemes:

1. Advancing Protection in a Global Era of the Criminalization of Migration: Local, National, Regional, Comparative and International Issues and Concerns

2. Fostering Belonging in a Global Era of the Criminalization of Migration: Local, National, Regional, Comparative and International Issues and Concerns

3. New Approaches, Research Methods and Theories in Advancing Protection and Fostering Belonging

For more information, please contact:
Michele Millard
Coordinator, Centre for Refugee Studies 8th Floor, York Research Tower
4700 Keele Street Toronto, ON M3J 1P3
Tel: 416-736-2100
GRATUIT 416-736-2100 ext. 303391
Fax: 416-736-5688
Email: mmillard@yorku.ca
www.yorku.ca/crs
www.refugeeresearch.net

Conference 2015: Human Migration and the Environment: Futures, Politics, Invention

Date: 28th June - 1st July, 2015
Venue:Durham University, Durham, United Kingdom

Concept Note

Human migration and the environment are two of the most pressing issues of our times. Migration is a defining attribute of the human condition, and yet all across the world negative attitudes towards migration are intensifying. Meanwhile, our natural environment is undergoing such profound transformation that the future habitability of Earth is regularly called into question. But what is stake when these two phenomena – human migration and environmental catastrophe – are articulated as a singular relation? In popular media, this relation is often said to be one of mass migration which culminates in religious or ethnic violence, whereas contemporary liberalism poses it as a problem of international cooperation or state managerialism. But how else might we conceive of this relation? Is it enough to understand it as a binary between alarmist rhetoric and managerial reason? Or does our of understanding of human migration and the environment require entirely new concepts? Are we to conceptualise migration in the context of climate change as a matter of in/justice, law and sovereignty? Or does it pose something more fundamental to the human condition? What does it mean when future environmental catastrophe conjugates with prejudice, inequality and difference? What ontological, epistemological and methodological challenges arise when environmental change and migration are characterised as a single relation? How are we to conceive of the Human, Nature, the State, the migrant and the citizen when human migration and environmental change are conjoined? What political, sociological, cultural and legal challenges does this relation pose? And what futures does it make possible? How should we conceive of migration in the Anthropocene?

By asking these and many other questions, this conference provides a multidisciplinary forum for scholars, policymakers, practitioners and artists to chart out the next generation of research on human migration and the environment. Whereas the first generation of research on environmental migration focussed squarely on problems of causation and on questions of law and policy, our starting point for the conference is that the relation between environment and migration is multidimensional, touching on all aspects of human and non-human life, including economy, social institutions, politics and culture, as well as bio- and geo-physical processes. The aim of the conference is to expand the debate on human migration and the environment beyond its current configuration as a problem of causation, law and policy towards a more pluralist debate that acknowledges the multidimensional nature of environmental change and migration. The conference should appeal to social scientists, humanities and legal scholars as well as to scientists committed to working with and within the social sciences, humanities and law.

The conference is organised around three interrelated themes of Futures, Politics, and Invention.

For more information please see: http://www.geography.dur.ac.uk/projects/ccmcostaction/Conference2015/tabid/4035/Default.aspx

International Summer School on Forced Migration

Dates: Monday, 06 July 2015 to Friday, 24 July 2015
Venue: Oxford Department of International Development, 3 Mansfield Road, Oxford OX1 3TB / Wadham College, Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3PN

The International Summer School in Forced Migration fosters dialogue between academics, practitioners and policymakers working to improve the situation of refugees and forced migrants.

The Summer School offers an intensive, interdisciplinary and participative approach to the study of forced migration. It aims to enable people working with refugees and other forced migrants to reflect critically on the forces and institutions that dominate the world of the displaced.

The three-week course combines the very best of Oxford University’s academic excellence with a stimulating and participatory method of critical learning and reflection.
The Summer School is intended for:

Mid-career and senior policymakers and practitioners involved with humanitarian assistance and policy making for forced migrants. Participants typically include host government officials, intergovernmental and non-governmental agency personnel engaged in planning, administering and co-ordinating assistance.

Researchers specialising in the study of forced migration.

To apply and find out more information go to: http://www.rsc.ox.ac.uk/study/international-summer-school/overview