Dear List members,



we are looking for a panelist for the session on the "Reception of refugees

in Central and Eastern Europe" which is part of the Workshop on migration in

Central and Eastern Europe to take place from 25 to 27 August 2005 in

Prague. We are looking preferably for a researcher who would be able to

bring insights from the Western experience and compare it with that of

Central and Eastern Europe. Unfortunately we would not be able to cover the

travel expenses and would ask the panelist to seek funding at his/her

institution or elsewhere. However, we can provide for accommodation in the

historical centre of Prague. The description of the panel is below. For more

information on the workshop see www.migrationonline.cz/workshop.shtml.



Marek Canek, [log in to unmask]





Reception of refugees in Central and Eastern Europe



Most Central and Eastern European countries joined the 1951 United Nations

Refugee Convention and the 1967 Protocol relating to the Status of Refugees

in the first half of the 1990s. Turning from predominantly refugee-sending

countries into the countries of transition and destination, they have not

been among the most generous receivers of refugees. The region has been

labelled as a “buffer zone”’ or a “waiting room” which holds migrants

unwanted in the EU. Moreover, asylum and immigration policies have

represented some of the main areas of EU harmonization process in the new

accession countries from Central and Eastern Europe. An influx of refugees

was expected after the accession to the European Union in 2004. However, the

numbers of refugees applying for asylum have actually decreased along with

national and EU asylum regulations getting more and more restrictive.



In this panel, we wish to discuss what patterns and developments of refugee

reception and integration could be identified in the region and how they

have changed since the beginning of the 1990s. Moreover, how did the EU

harmonization in the field of asylum policies influence the current

developments and how have the respective countries negotiated this process?

Did it undermine the protection of refugees in the region? We would also

like to open the discussion about the identification of the countries of

Central and Eastern Europe as refugee receiving countries and to what extent

they still perpetuate the label of a transit country, the country where

refugees do not really intend to stay.



Another question to be raised in this panel is how are various patterns of

refugee reception and integration “imprinted” in refugees’ experiences and

everyday survival strategies? And finally, what is the future research

agenda for the research on refugee issues in the Central European countries?



Session coordinator: Alice Szczepanikova, [log in to unmask]





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