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Date:         Thu, 20 Jan 2000 16:15:41 +0100
Reply-To:     Forum on Immigration & Ethnicity
              
Sender:       Forum on Immigration & Ethnicity
              
From:         Wolfgang Bosswick 
Organization: efms University of Bamberg
Subject:      Call for Papers
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CALL FOR PAPERS

(please excuse eventual cross-posting)

The International Association for the Study of Forced Migration (IASFM)
invites proposals for the 7th International Research and Advisory Panel
(IRAP)

IASFM home page: http://www.iasfm.org Call for papers:
http://141.13.240.13/~ba6ef3/nextirap.htm

Local Host: University of Witswatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa

Conference Site: Eskom Conference Centre, South Africa, from 8-11
January 2001

Conference Theme: THE REFUGEE CONVENTION AT 50

  The 50th anniversary of the 1951 Geneva Convention will 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 is 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 are set out as broad categories into which papers and
panels at this meeting should fit. Each of these covers 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.

1. PROPOSALS FOR PANELS   Proposals for panels (three paper
presentations and one discussant) or individual papers (which will be
put into panels created by the organisers) are welcomed on the following
three sub-themes:

a. 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 will be particularly welcome, as
will those combining practitioners and academics.
  Panel proposals should fall under one of the above themes. They should
include three abstracts (by three authors) each of max. 150 words. It
should also be indicated whether the coordinator of the panel is
prepared to act as chair, and details of the discussant should be given.

  Individual paper proposals should be in the form of a 150 word (max.)
abstract, also falling under one of the sub-themes. Those proposing
individual papers should indicate whether they are prepared to act as
discussant and/or chair for other panels.

2. PROPOSALS FOR BRIEF PRESENTATIONS
  Proposals are also invited from practitioners and academics at all
levels (from [PhD] students to Professor) for the following:
  BRIEF presentations, a maximum of 10 minutes, of 'ideas in progress':
  This is intended as an opportunity to present a particularly
challenging idea, or the core of some new research. It is an opportunity
for discussion of a particular topic, without the need for a full-blown
paper. The themes in this section, should, primarily, be 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.
  Proposals for the ‘ideas in progress' should involve a brief statement
of the idea or question


  You may submit proposals for more than one category
(panel/individual/idea in progress).
  If you wish to attend the conference, but not to present a paper, you
should only complete and return the Accommodation and Registration form,
and not use the proposal form which is available at the IASFM home page
( http://www.iasfm.org ) at http://141.13.240.13/~ba6ef3/nextirap.htm.
  Proposals should be submitted on provided form provided at the above
URL, via email, fax or post to:

  Dr Joanne van Selm (Programme Co-ordinator IASFM)
  University of Amsterdam
  Oudezijds Achterburgwal 237
  1012 DL Amsterdam
  The Netherlands
  email: IASFM@pscw.uva.nl
  fax: +31-20-5252086 (If faxing please indicate clearly, on the cover
page, as addressee Dr Joanne van Selm, International Relations)

  Deadline for proposals is 1 April 2000

  Conference Site will be the Eskom Conference Centre, South Africa. The
local host,  the Graduate School for the Humanities and Social Sciences
at the University of the Witwatersrand has recently 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 will
offer its first Masters degree at 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 Eskom Conference Centre 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.



--
|--------------------------------------
| Wolfgang Bosswick
| european forum for migration studies
| University of Bamberg
| Katharinenstr. 1
| D-96052 Bamberg, Germany
| fon +49-951-932020-13
| fax +49-951-932020-20 or -951-32888
| http://www.uni-bamberg.de/efms
|--------------------------------------