ESCAPES Conference “Transits, barriers, freedoms: seeking refuge in the Mediterranean and in Europe”

EA will participate in the first ESCAPES official conference “Transits, barriers, freedoms: seeking refuge in the Mediterranean and in Europe” to be held at the University of Milan on April 10th and 11th, 2014.

ESCAPES is a research group based at the University of Milan with the aim of investigating different aspects of migration, paying special attention to the experiences of those who are usually included in the category of forced migration: asylum seekers, refugees and subsidiary protection holders, internally displaced persons, stateless persons and others forced to flee or to leave their countries or places of habitual residence.

This two-day event will open with a series of international panels, starting with an opening session focusing on Syria and the refugee crisis with contributions from the following speakers: Guita Hourani (Notre Dame University – Louaize, Lebanon), Madeline Garlick (Head of the Policy and Legal Support Unit at the UNHCR European Bureau) and Roger Zetter (Refugee Studies Centre, University of Oxford).

A round-table on the asylum system in Italy run by Daniela Di Capua (Director of SPRAR and Head of the Delegated Authority for the European Refugee Fund, Central Service of the Protection System for for Asylum Seekers and Refugees), Laura Cantarini (UNHCR, Territorial Commission of Trapani, Italy), Roberto Guaglianone (Regional Coordination Asylum in Lombardy Region) and Paola Ottaviano (Borderline Sicily) will then follow.

The second day will be open with a plenary session with Nando Sigona (University of Birmingham) and Enrica Rigo (University of Roma Tre), discussing the narratives of exile and belonging entitled “The Politics of Voice” and will conclude with 7 different panels (some of them at the same time) where more than thirty papers submitted by scholars from different disciplines and accepted in response to the call for papers published in January 2014, including Anna Lodeserto, who will present her research work “Walls and borders of Europe: the challenges and limits of the freedom of movement” at the ESCAPES conference as part of the “Institutions of the Frontier” sub-session.

You can find a detailed programme of the conference HERE.

Participation in the conference is free, but registration is required by April 4th, 2014. You can register by filling out the form at the following link: http://users2.unimi.it/escapes/transiti-barriere-liberta/iscrizioni/

Event page on Facebook: “Transiti, barriere, libertà: cercare rifugio nel Mediterraneo e in Europa”