IASFM Conferences
7th International Conference 7-11 January 2001 in Johannesburg
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IASFM Conferences 7th International Conference 7-11 January 2001 in Johannesburg |
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The International Association for the Study of Forced Migration (IASFM) organized the 7th International Conference on Forced Migration in cooperation with the local host, the University of Witswatersrand. You can find the programme at the bottom this page.The Graduate School for the Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of the Witwatersrand has established a new multi-disciplinary programme of teaching and research in the area of forced migration. One of the main objectives is to build a sustainable teaching and research base at post-graduate level. The programme offers its first Masters degree since the beginning of the year 2000. The vision is to link this programme of academic education, training and research with other research in this new field of study as well as with the government, inter-governmental and non-governmental organisations that provide legal and material services to the uprooted.
The conference site, the Eskom Conference Centre, South Africa is situated between Johannesburg and Pretoria. It is set on a farm, and while the atmosphere is very park-like, both cities are easily accessible. The Centre has a variety of facilities including banking machines, convenience stores and recreational options (for further information see the Accommodation and Registration Form).Conference Theme: The Refugee Convention at 50
The 50th anniversary of the 1951 Geneva Convention was be celebrated in 2001. The Convention has become the tool of refugee protection. Its position in relation to wider human rights has raised, in the course of its 50 years of use, a wide range of questions and issues, in the areas of healthcare, anthropology, demography, geography, sociology, economics, and international relations, as well as law and politics. The rights related issues raised by the Convention exist both in its use in practice, and from its position at the heart of academic and political debate concerning status provisions, refugee rights and the image of those deemed included or excluded by those applying its terminology. In some areas of the world it is only one of several tools, as other Conventions, Declarations and agreements build on or supplement the Convention directly or indirectly; in other areas its interpretation is the subject of developing collective approaches; in still other states the Convention remains unsigned and unused. Some see its 50 years of existence as the ‘universal' basis to protection as a success, an unprecedented longevity record in this area. Others question its continuing validity as a basis or standard, and argue, for example, that it is only a standard from which states, and the real lives of refugees and displaced persons, deviate in various areas and to various degrees.
It was appropriate that in this anniversary year, practitioners and scholars join within their association to discuss the state of play - the record of the past 50 years, the current situation(s) and where the Convention, on paper or in practice, should or could go from here.
Three sub-themes were set out as broad categories for the presented papers and panels at this meeting. Each of these covered questions of the legal and political aspects of the Convention as well as the impact of its application (or the lack of it) in specific situations. These impacts can be related to inter-community or societal relations, development matters linked to all areas of displacement, health issues, the full range of human rights and the effects of each of these.
Panel Subthemesa. The Convention: problems of realisation and patterns of circumvention
Where and when does the Convention work and how? How important is status? How important are the range rights the Convention brings in the context of human rights, and how significant are the deficiencies in rights and duties of the protected and the states of origin and refuge, in the areas of employment, education, healthcare and family unity? What are the dangers and benefits of approaches towards ‘safe areas' and temporary protection? What are the security issues linked to the protection of the displaced, non-refoulement/ non-entrée and the smuggling of migrants and protection seekers? How prepared are societies around the world to accept refugees and accord them the status and rights contained in the Convention? b. Regional supplements or additions to the Convention
Are they necessary, can they and do they work - in theory and in practice? Do such variations support or challenge the rights of refugees in general and vulnerable persons in particular? Do they, or can they support state adherence to protection and rights norms, or do they give alternative (lesser) standards, or simply another set of norms which state practice can circumvent? What is the nature of inter-state relations on this issue, with regard to ‘solidarity' or ‘distribution'? Is financial ‘solidarity' simply a way of shifting responsibility, challenging other states and violating rights? Do regional solidarity and supplements to the Convention encourage acceptance of refugees, forced migrants and displaced persons in society? c. Integration, cessation, return/repatriation and resettlement
How relevant is the application of the Convention to the real life of the displaced? How relevant is it to the host society in which refugees live? How does it impact their access to rights and provisions meeting their basic needs? How relevant is status to life in a camp or centre? Who has power in the refugee's life and decision-making about remaining, returning, repatriating or resettling? What role does the language of status and rights play in those decisions for the individual, the state and the community? Inter-disciplinary panel proposals have been particularly welcomed, as well as those combining practitioners and academics.
In addition to individual presentations, sessions on 'ideas in progress' took place. This was intended as an opportunity to present a particularly challenging idea, or the core of some new research. It was an opportunity for discussion of a particular topic, without the need for a full-blown paper. The themes in this section, were in general in line with the overall theme, but could include other areas of forced migration research. In particular, this could be an arena for the discussion of methodological and theoretical issues, crossing both disciplinary boundaries and the practitioner-academic divide.A report on the 7th International Conference on Forced Migration has been published by the Journal of Refugee Studies in issue 2/2001. The full text of this report is available at the JRS web site.7th IRAP: The Refugee Convention at 50 PROGRAMME OVERVIEW 7th INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON FORCED MIGRATION JOHANNESBURG, 7 - 11 DECEMBER 2001 Final Version of December 16, 2001
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