Tag Archives: Danish Institute for International Studies

by | 25 Sep 2011 · 02:49

DIIS Seminar: “The Lesser Evil”? Policy Logics and Practices of Removal and Detention in the Euro-Mediterranean Area (Copenhagen, 6 Oct)

The Danish Institute for International Studies (DIIS) will hold a seminar (English) in Copenhagen on 6 October 2011, 14.00-17.00.  Advance registration is required.  Registration deadline is Wednesday, 5 October 2011 at 12.00 noon.  Click here for more information.

From the DIIS announcement:  “The arrival of more than 45,000 African boat migrants and asylum seekers in Italy this year has caused much public and political attention in Europe. One response is to call for increased sea patrols to prevent irregular crossings of the Mediterranean Sea. Another response is detention, deportation and forced removal of irregular migrants and rejected asylum seekers who have reached Europe. Such practices are already important objectives in European migration management and policies but are likely to become even more significant in coming negotiations with North African migrant sending and transit countries.

This seminar examines practices of deportation, readmission and detention from a policy and migrant perspective. It will address the following questions: What are the policy logics and readmission agreements in the Euro-Mediterranean area? How is detention and deportation of irregular migrants carried out? And how do deported migrants deal with their situation?”

Click here for more information.

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by | 07 Oct 2010 · 05:34

DIIS Seminar on Political Asylum in the 21st Century (19 October, Copenhagen)

DIIS (Danish Institute for International Studies) is holding a seminar on 19 October: Political Asylum in the 21st Century.

The seminar will be conducted by Carol Bohmer, Visiting Associate Professor at the Department of Government at Dartmouth, and Thomas Gammeltoft-Hansen, DIIS Project Researcher, external lecturer in international refugee law at the University of Copenhagen, and author of the forthcoming book entitled “Access to Asylum: International Refugee Law and the Globalisation of Migration Control” (April 2011).

Description: Few issues have remained as politicized as asylum in the past few decades. Most nations recognize the moral and legal obligation to accept people fleeing from persecution, but political asylum applicants in the twenty-first century face restrictive policies and cumbersome procedures. Competing discourses of protection and control are predominant in present day asylum rhetoric. Governments need to address the conflicting needs of the state to protect their citizens from terrorists and the influx of hordes of unwelcome economic migrants, while at the same time adhering to their legal, moral and treaty obligations to provide safe haven for those fleeing persecution. Satisfying these conflicting goals at the same time may ultimately prove impossible, yet states continue to struggle to find ways to appear to meet both. How do they do it?  This seminar will attempt to answer that question and illustrate the sometimes absurd effects of this process. The seminar will further compare different policy approaches, notably the cases of the United States, the United Kingdom, the European Union and Denmark.

Participation is free of charge, but registration is required. Register online no later than Monday, 18 October 2010 at 12.00 noon.

Click here for more information.

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by | 25 Jul 2010 · 04:25

DIIS Working Paper: Sovereignty at Sea: The Law and Politics of Saving Lives in the Mare Liberum

DIIS (Danish Institute for International Studies) has published a paper by Thomas Gammeltoft-Hansen and Tanja Aalberts, Sovereignty at Sea: The Law and Politics of Saving Lives in the Mare Liberum (DIIS Working Paper 2010:18).

The paper addresses “the complicated politics and law of ‘rescue at sea’, and the legal duty to render assistance to migrants in distress at sea that falls upon all sovereign states. Yet, exactly because this takes in international waters, the precise division and content of this sovereign responsibility remains contested and subject to varying interpretations. As a result, ‘the drowning migrant’ finds herself subject to an increasingly complex field of governance, in which participating states may successfully barter off and deconstruct responsibility by reference to traditional norms of sovereignty and international law. …  The … paper was presented at the first international workshop in this framework titled ‘Sovereignty, Territory and Emerging Geopolitics’ held at DIIS, 3-4 May 2010.”

Click here for the Paper.

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