Fortress or Area of Freedom?

Diese Veranstaltungsbeschreibung existiert auch auf Deutsch.

International Conference

Attempting to escape poverty, persecution, or oppressive regimes and looking for better life chances for themselves and their dependents, every year thousands of people mainly from Africa and Asia risk their lives on the perilous migratory routes to Europe. However, for many of these migrants and refugees their dream of a better life in Europe ends in one of the refugee camps in North Africa. From the perspective of refugee protection and asylum policies, the approach of the European Union has been on the reduction of refugee migration. But although the current global financial and economic crisis will have a serious impact on the national labour markets in the European Union, the paradoxical situation remains that due to demographic changes many EU member states will have increasing problems to satisfy labour demands.

This conference addresses the causes and the background for migratory movements in the Mediterranean and takes issue with the prevalent human rights violations of the border management of the European Union as well as the North African states. It seeks to increase the awareness for the political connections between migration, border protection, human rights and development, with the aim to make relevant recommendations for a coherent approach of the EU's migration policies.