York University’s Centre for Refugee Studies (CRS) will host a unique conference examining issues of forced migration and refugee rights, from June 18 to 22, at York’s Keele campus.
The 10th Biennial Conference of the International Association for the Study of Forced Migration will bring together academics, including York researchers; NGOs; policy makers; government representatives; and forced migrants themselves from a wide array of disciplinary and geographic backgrounds. It is the first time the conference will be held in North America.
Right: Forced migration in West Africa
The theme of the conference is “Talking across borders: New dialogues in forced migration studies”. Monte Solberg, federal minister of citizenship and immigration, will speak at the opening plenary session June 18.
Topics for discussion include:
- Gender, education and forced migration in Afghanistan
- New perspectives on migration and security
- Forced migration in Africa, East and Southeast Asia
- How migration policies command lower human rights protection
- North-South dialogues
- The Red Cross movement and people on the move
- Internally displaced people
- Somali refugees
- The Women in Conflict Zones Network (WICZNET)
- Child survivors of trafficking for sexual and labor exploitation
- Children as forced migrants
- The role of NGOs
- Resettlement
The conference is open to anyone with an interest in the field of forced migration.
The International Association for the Study of Forced Migration (IASFM) is the preeminent international body for those interested in forced migration. The IASFM is an independent, self-governing community of scholars and practitioners who are concerned about understanding forced migration and about improving the formulation of policies and administration of programs dealing with refugees and other displaced persons.
York’s Centre for Refugee Studies was founded in 1988 and was the second centre of its kind in the world, following the Refugee Studies Centre at the University of Oxford. CRS remains one of the largest and most active refugee studies centres to date.
For more information about the conference, or to register, visit the conference Web site.