Online Lecture Series: "Critical Reflections on Afro-European Relations in Migration Governance" (September - November 2021)

Migration on the African continent is multifold, complex with varying effects. One angle in particular is the European efforts to control migration, which has reached far beyond its external borders to the African continent. For example, there has been an attempt to increase ‘cooperative agreements’ between the European Union (EU) with African states. This online lecture series critically discusses Afro-European relations that arise from EU-migration governance and the African responses in the multiple entanglements of border control, development and security. 

Part I Securitisation (September 2021) highlights that under the misnomer of fighting the root causes of forced migration there is a political agenda to reduce irregular migration from Africa to Europe. As a result, migration and border control has become increasingly interlinked with development and security policies. 

KEYNOTE LECTURE I: Migration in Public Policy in Niger: Between European Interventionism and Opportunistic Logics
8 September 2021, 16:00-17:30 GMT / 18;00-19:30 CEST

Presenter: Harouna Mounkaila, University Abdou Moumouni of Niamey, Niger
Moderator: Abena Oduro, University of Ghana, Ghana          

RESEARCH LAB I
15 September 2021, 11:00-12:30 GMT / 13:00-14:30 CEST

Presenter: Almamy Sylla, University of Bamako, Mali &
Amanda Bisong, University of Nigeria, Nigeria
Discussant: Leonie Jegen, Arnold Bergstraesser Institute,
Germany & University of Amsterdam, Netherlands
Moderator: Anja Jetschke, Centre for Global Migration Studies, Germany

PANEL DISCUSSION I: Activism and Euro-African Migration
22 September 2021, 16:00-17:30 GMT / 18:00-19:30 CEST

Panelists: Amadou Mbow, Mauritanian Association for Human Rights & West African Network for the Protection for the Rights of Migrants, Refugees and Asylum Seekers and for Free Movement (ROA PRODMAC); Lisa Richlen, Ben Gurion University, Israel &
Moctar Dan Yayé, Alarmophone Sahara Niamey
Moderator: Sabine Hess, Centre for Global Migration Studies, Germany

Sessions will be held via Zoom, with simultaneous translation from English to French and French to English.

For the program as well as more information on how to participate, please visit our website:

https://ammodi.com/critical-reflections-on-afro-european-relations-in-migration-governance/

Save the date:

(Im)mobilities, Human Rights and Climate Justice

5th CeMig Migration Research Lab with Carol Farbotko (Griffith University) and Monika Mayrhofer (Ludwig Boltzman Institute of Fundamental and Human Rights)

Migration in the context of climate change has often been defined as a problem to be solved through research and policies. Critical voices, however, call for going beyond such a narrow framing of the issue in order to promote the human rights of those most affected and to achieve climate justice. A persistent problem is defining who is addressed in research and policy on the climate change - migration nexus and how those most affected by climate change become part of the debate. This Migration Research Lab aims to initiate an exchange on the current state of research on climate change and human (im)mobility in order to discuss what an (im)mobility perspective has to offer in terms of human rights and climate justice. It is primarily aimed at PhD students and postdocs from different disciplines to critically debate the challenges and open questions in their research designs and analyses in light of the global reality of climate change and human (im)mobility.

Save the date: 15 October 2021, 10:00 - 12:00 CEST

For more information about the Research Lab and how to register for the event please click here.

THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE ISTANBUL CONVENTION IN RELATION TO REFUGEE WOMEN AND GIRLS IN GERMANY. Shadow report for GREVIO

New report by CeMig director
Prof. Dr. Sabine Hess, University of Göttingen together with PRO ASYL, Bayerischer Flüchtlingsrat, Flüchtlingsrat Brandenburg, Hessischer Flüchtlingsrat, Flüchtlingsrat Niedersachsen, Flüchtlingsrat Sachsen-Anhalt

Abstract: 

Germany is not meeting its legal obligations to protect refugee women and girls from discrimination. This is the conclusion of a "shadow report” by the University of Göttingen, the association Pro Asyl and the refugee councils of Bavaria, Hesse, Lower Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt. Shadow reports are a useful tool to present important information in parallel with official government reports. Based on current research results and a survey of 65 women's counselling centres, psychosocial counselling centres and institutions working with refugees from all 16 federal states, the study finds that Germany does not adequately protect refugee women and girls and does not meet the requirements of the Istanbul Convention.

"The Istanbul Convention – also known as the Council of Europe convention on preventing and combating   violence against women and domestic violence – has been in force in Germany for over two years," explains migration researcher Professor Sabine Hess from the University of Göttingen. "With its ratification, the Federal Republic of Germany made a binding commitment to protect women from all forms of violence, regardless of their residence status, to contribute to the elimination of discrimination against them and to promote their equality and rights.”

The authors of the report criticise the situation in Germany. In particular, they highlight: long periods of time in holding centres for refugees; the lack of strategies for protection against violence in these camps; the lack of expertise with regard to vulnerable people and those affected by violence; inadequate healthcare for women and girls as well as inadequate counselling and support structures.

"The German government is really not fulfilling its legal obligations, under the Istanbul Convention, to protect women and girls from violence, regardless of their residence status," says Hess. "On the contrary, the recent tightening of German asylum and residence law is emphatically at odds with the concept of protection against violence. It is absolutely essential that action is taken to change this."

For more information and the PDF visit our webpage.

https://www.uni-goettingen.de/en/3240.html?id=6343

Erfolgsgeschichten des Ankommens

Interdisziplinäres Lehrforschungsprojekt in der Flüchtlingshilfe

Leitung: Prof. Dr. Alexander-Kenneth Nagel

In den vergangenen Jahren hat eine große Anzahl von Menschen aus unterschiedlichen Ländern in Deutschland Zuflucht vor Verfolgung und wirtschaftlicher Not gesucht. Soziale Träger und die Zivilgesellschaft bemühen sich darum, die Geflüchteten beim Ankommen zu unter-stützen. Das Lehrforschungsprojekt „Erfolgsgeschichten des Ankommens“ zielte darauf ab, durch qualitativ-empirische Forschung die Bedingungen für eine erfolgreiche Integration und Teilhabe geflüchteter Menschen besser zu verstehen und diese Erfolgsgeschichten breiter bekannt zu machen.

Die Ergebnisse des Lehrforschungsprojekts können Sie in der Ergebnisbroschüre und im vollständigen Ergebnisbericht nachlesen.