The Faculty of Law, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens organises a Conference titled 'Regulating ‘Irregular’ Migration: International Obligations and International Responsibility’. The conference is part of a research project, which is implemented within the framework of the Action «Supporting Postdoctoral Researchers» of the Operational Program "Education and Lifelong Learning" of the General Secretariat for Research and Technology and is co-financed by the European Social Fund (ESF) and the Greek State.

 

The conference will be held on 20 March 2015 at the Faculty Club, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens.

 

This conference aims to address the contemporary phenomenon of ‘irregular migration’ against the background of the international law, including the law of international responsibility. We will consider the relationship between the various international obligations incumbent upon states and international organizations concerning the treatment of ‘irregular migration’ and their interplay with the law of international responsibility. Special emphasis will be placed on the measures that States and organizations undertake in order to control ‘irregular migration’, the respective obligations of States and the responsibility issues that may arise. Such measures include both those taken in the countries of origin of the irregular migrants and those in the countries of destination, involving thus a multitude of States, international organizations and private persons, which all may ‘share’ responsibility for violation of the respective rules of international law. The objective is to trigger a multidisciplinary dialogue with contributions from migration and refugee studies, human rights and law of the sea to address the legal position of ‘irregular migration’ from an integrated perspective, bridging current gaps in knowledge and policy responses.

 

Professor Guy Goodwin-Gill (University of Oxford) will deliver the keynote speech. Confirmed speakers include a number of distinguished scholars and representatives from inter-governmental and non-governmental organisations both in Greece and internationally.

 

In addition to the invited speakers, we would like to offer an opportunity to early-career researchers in the field of legal regulation of migration, including PhD students, to present their work in progress and benefit from the accumulated experience of academics and practitioners participating in the Conference. These researchers will be selected on the basis of abstracts submitted in response to this call for papers and they will be expected to have prepared a paper prior to the conference, so that the commentators may have adequate time to prepare in advance. We would particularly like to see papers addressing the following issues:

1) Who is the ‘irregular migrant’ and which are the gaps in the identification process?

2) The question of responsibility of countries of origin or transit of migrants and the ‘shared responsibility’ of third states.

3) Deploying ‘immigration liaison officers’ and imposing ‘carrier sanctions’ for counter-immigration purposes and the challenges for international refugee/human rights law.

4) Regional Protection Programmes, Mobility Agreements and Extraterritorial Processing: A look to the future?

5) Rescuing people at sea and the conundrum of disembarkation.

6) The reception of asylum-seekers and questions concerning their detention

7) Readmission and resettlement agreements and questions of international responsibility.

Abstracts, not exceeding 300 words, should be addressed by 15 January 2015 to both convenors: Professor Maria Gavouneli (mgavoun@law.uoa.gr) and Dr Efthymios Papastavridis (papastavridis@Academyofathens.gr), also indicating the author’s name and full affiliation, with e-mail address and full contact details as well as a CV, including a list of relevant publications.

A selection of the best papers will be published after the conference with an international publisher.

 

Due to restricted financial resources, we may cover only some travel and accommodation expenses. Please, indicate whether you would need financial assistance in your application.

 

 

 

 

 

 

TIMELINE

 

• The deadline for submissions is 15 January 2015

• Successful applicants will be informed by 22 January 2015

• The deadline for the submission of conference papers is 15 March 2015

• The deadline for the submission of revised papers for publication is 1 July 2015