The International Institute for Peace (IIP) and the Vienna Institute for International Dialogue and Cooperation (VIDC) cordially invite you to the panel discussion:
Fortress Europe? Current Migration Trends and European Responses
Date: Tuesday, February 25th, 2020
Time: 7:00 pm
Venue: Diplomatic Academy of Vienna, Favoritenstraße 15a, 1040
Welcome:
Franz Schmidjell, Vienna Institute for International Dialogue and Cooperation (VIDC)
Moderator:
Stephanie Fenkart, Director, International Institute for Peace (IIP)
Panel:
Gerald Knaus, policy advisor, director of the European Stability Initiative (ESI), Berlin
Alida Vračić, director of the Think tank Populari Sarajevo, Europe Futures Fellow at IWM and Erste Foundation, Vienna, visiting fellow at European Council of Foreign Relations
Olivia Akumu, analyst, Mixed Migration Centre (MMC), Nairobi
Content:
Refugees are living under inhuman and dangerous conditions in Bosnian and Greek camps. Migrants are dying in Libyan and Egyptian prisons, in the Mediterranean Sea, in the Sahara Dessert. East and Horn of Africa host 4.2 million refugees and 9 million internally displaced persons (IDPs). Basic services like nutrition, shelter, healthcare or education have to be cut again in 2020 if no additional funds will be available.
Due to resolute EU interventions like the EU-Turkey Statement, the cooperation with Libyan coast guards and EU imposed anti-migration laws in some African countries, irregular arrivals in Europe have decreased drastically since 2015. Furthermore, to prevent irregular migration, Frontex, the European Border and Coast Guard Agency, will be strengthened up to 10.000 guards.
According to the Austrian government program, anyone who tries to cross “illegally” any EU border should be brought back - in compliance with international law - to the country of origin, the country of transit or another safe third country. The so-called “Hilfe vor Ort” approach remains up to now general statement without the necessary resources. A fair, orderly and regular migration management – like agreed in the United Nations Global Compact on Migration - is only possible with a equal dialogue between the countries of origin, transit and destination as well as the understanding of the regional migration dynamics and the complexity of migration causes and patterns.
What are the current migration trends in the regions that might affect Europe? What is the human price that migrants and refugees have to pay for the “Europe that protects”? Why refugees face such dangerous and inhuman conditions in the Bosnian and Greek camps? To what extent do European countries support the millions of refugees in East Africa?
Registration or questions about the event? Email Franz Schmidjell at schmidjell@vidc.org
More information: www.vidc.org/en/topics/africa/fortress-europe/
The discussion will be held in English
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Event photo: © istock/seyhan