The Digitalization of EU Borders and the Production of Vulnerabilities

The symposium takes a closer look at the digitalization of EU border security and to place it in the broader context of the EUI law recently adopted by the EU and the "New Pact on Migration and Asylum".

On two panels we ask: How is artificial intelligence being used and what are the consequences of this technology for people on the run? To what extent does the digitalization of EU borders endanger the fundamental and human rights of refugees? At the same time: How do those affected defend themselves? How do the expanded video surveillance, the use of robodogs, lie detectors and the intensified use of language and dialect recognition programs affect the right to asylum? And what can politicians and civil society do to strengthen the right to asylum, mobility and humanitarian aid?

It is important for us to understand these new digitalization technologies in the context of flight and asylum as a legacy of colonialism and to shed light on the extent to which they reinforce the marginalization of people and create vulnerabilities.

Program 

Welcome: 10.00 - 10.30 am

• Dr. Ines Kappert, Co-Director of the Gunda Werner Institute
• Dr. Mengia Tschalär, Professor of Anthropology, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, Co-Director Queer European Asylum Network
• Francesca Schmidt, Founding and board member of Netzforma e.V.

Keynote: 10.30 - 11.30 am

• Myria Georgiou, Professor of Media and Communication, London School of Economics and Political Science
• Moderation: Dr. Ines  Kappert

Coffee break: 11.30 - 11.45 am

Panel #1 "EU Borders in Digital Shift: AI, Migration and Fundamental Rights": 11.45 am - 1.15 pm

• Alexandra Geese, Member of the European Parliament and Vice-Chair of the Greens/EFA Group since 2022. Her focus is on digital policies and feminism.
• Lena Rohrbach, Human Rights in the Digital Age Officer, Amnesty International, Berlin
• Caterina Rodelli, EU Policy Analyst, Brussels
• Moderation: Monika Remé, Political Scientist

Lunch 1.15 pm- 2.30 pm

Panel #2 "The Colonial Legacies of Border Digitalization": 2.30 pm- 4.15 pm

• Pin Lean Lau, legal scholar and Professor of Bio-Law at Brunel University London
• Mirca Madianou, Professor of Media, Communication and Cultural Studies at Goldsmiths, University of London
• Michelle Pfeifer, postdoctoral researcher in the research project "Artificial Intelligence, Emerging Technologies, and Social Change" at the Technical University of Dresden
• Moderation: Monika Remé, Political Scientist

Coffee and cake 4.15 pm - 6.00 pm

The symposium is part of an annual series of events on flight and intersectionality and has been organized by the Gunda Werner Institute and the Queer European Asylum Network (QUEAN) since 2019. We are pleased that we were able to win Netzforma* e.V. as an additional partner for 2024.

Please contact:
Munkhzul Togmid
GWI 
E Munkhzul.Togmid@boell.de

» Participation on site

at the Conference Centre of the Heinrich Böll Foundation, Schumannstr. 8, 10117 Berlin

Please register. The number of places is unfortunately limited. If the room capacity is exhausted, we will broadcast the conference via video to other rooms. We would like to point out that there is no entitlement to a seat in the room.

» Livestream
Alternatively, you can follow the event via livestream without registering.