The Conference was a central scholarly event organised within the project "Crimmigration btwen Human Rights and Surveillance". The conference hosted 28 scholars and researchers from all over the world who presented interdisciplinary papers from the fields of law, political science, sociology, international relations and from practice. The conference within which the participants shared information, research findings and opinions on the increased trends of the criminalisation of migration, was highly successful (based on feed-back forms of the participants) and rich in interesting discussions, new contacts and ideas for future work. Based on the conference a collective volume was prepared which will be published by Springer (a contract has been signed). More information: http://www.mirovni-institut.si/en/international-conference-understanding-causes-and-consequences-of-the-criminalisation-of-migration/
B.01 Organiser of a scientific meeting
This volume addresses the mass arrival of migrants and refugees in Europe in 2015 and 2016, and the crisis of response that unfolded across the continent. The chapters critically discuss this crisis and help the reader to understand why the refugees and migrants fled, what kind of response they faced and what was wrong with the reactions of the states. Despite the fact that all the authors are based in Slovenia, the volume transcends this particular state and covers theoretical and practical aspects of the crisis which are not geographically limited to only one country or region. It addresses a variety of audiences, such as students, researchers, sociologists, political scientists, lawyers, geographers and philosophers, and will appeal to those who seek to understand forced migration and refugee protection, states’ responses to migration and asylum seekers, and the rise of hate speech, racism, xenophobia and authoritarianism in Europe.
C.02 Editorial board of a national monograph
COBISS.SI-ID: 3211607The lecture discussed key findings of the research in the Western Balkan countries and the role that the EU plays in the context of changes in policies undertaken by these countries to become EU member states. The lecture was held for students of the University of Bologna, Forli campus, within the interdisciplinary studies program on Eastern Europe.
B.04 Guest lecture
COBISS.SI-ID: 1261677The objective of this paper was to analyze push-back measures against Afghan refugees implemented by the Pakistani authorities in the post-9/11 era, and, consequently, to show that these measures created circumstances for involuntary returns to Afghanistan. The author presented repressive measures intended to coerce refugees to return, the legal framework that denied Afghan refugees the necessary legal protection that would protect them from repatriation, and measures that undermined the material safety of refugees. By taking into consideration all these measures and tactics, the author showed that they negatively impacted on the three core components of voluntary returns, that is, the physical, legal, and material safety of refugees.
B.03 Paper at an international scientific conference
COBISS.SI-ID: 1939534The presentation discusses the problem of neoracism, nationalism, and populist hate speech intersecting with sexist, homophobic, racist and generally intolerant discourse. Xenophobia remains primarily focused on immigrants, Roma, and Muslims who are constructed, discriminated against and persecuted as undesired outsiders, a threat to be dealt with. Immigrant integration remains caught in factually assimilationist policy measures, while crisis related responses to immigration accompany anti-immigration policies (banning of visas, tightening of border controls, limiting immigrant employment to allegedly protect the native workers). Austerity on the one and terrorism on the other hand are used as a ready-made excuse for securitisation. Serving as paradigmatic examples of how patriotism is used to legitimise intolerant and discriminatory rhetoric and practice, analysis shows them putting a special emphasis on mobilising and recruiting young people, whose slim employment possibilities due to the crisis are increasingly contributing to their social exclusion, growing poverty and general disillusionment. Considering the crisis related high shares of unemployment among the youth across Europe, the paper argues that the actual potential of radical nationalist movements is not to be downplayed or dismissed as insignificant.
B.03 Paper at an international scientific conference
COBISS.SI-ID: 1164653