>
> European Conference on Gender and European Migration
> Law to be held at the
> Free University, Amsterdam, May 13-15, 2004
>
>
> Project proposal by:
> Dr. Thomas Spijkerboer, professor of migration law
> and
> Dr. Sarah van Walsum, senior researcher in migration
> law,
> Law Faculty, Free University, Amsterdam
>
> February 2003
>
>
>
> 1. Why a European conference on Gendered Borders?
>
> Since the Treaty of Amsterdam entered into force in
> 1999, the harmonisation
> of immigration law with regard to third country
> nationals stands high on
> the European political agenda. The European
> Commission has already proposed
> a number of directives and regulations (some of
> which have already been
> adopted), which are presently subject of debate
> within the European Union.
> It is of great importance that, in reaching
> agreement on shared policy,
> sufficient attention be given to relevant gender
> issues. Already in 1987
> the European Parliament passed a resolution on the
> effects of immigration
> law on the position of women within the member
> states of the European
> Community. The assumption of the organizers of this
> conference is that the
> issues that were raised in that resolution remain
> relevant to this day.
> Moreover, while some of the problems that were
> signalled in that resolution
> have by now been dealt with in some member states
> for example the problems
> resulting from the dependent status of third
> country immigrant wives new
> issues have also emerged that still need to be
> addressed, such as those
> concerning third country immigrant women working
> in domestic service.
> The present project seeks to analyse and evaluate
> existing legislation in
> Europe (European legislation in, or based on, the EC
> Treaty, as well as
> national legislation in European countries), as well
> as to develop ways in
> which this legislation can address gender issues.
>
> The rest of this proposal covers the following
> topics:
> - Aims of the proposed conference
> - Intended participants
> - Workshop themes
> - Proposed programme
> - Publicity
> - Conference publication
>
> In a separate set of documents, the budget for this
> conference is given. In
> total, the organisers seek funding for 130.000,
> which is being sought
> from the European Commission, the Directorate
> Co-ordination Emancipation
> Affairs of the Dutch Ministry of Social Affairs and
> Employment, and of the
> Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
> 2. Aims of the proposed conference
>
> The purpose of the proposed conference will be:
> - to analyse European immigration policies
> regarding third country
> nationals from a gender perspective,
> - to compare the specific implications of
> these policies for women
> within the concrete context of the various member
> states and
> - to develop strategies that can ensure that
> gender issues will be
> included in the debates leading to harmonisation.
>
> In particular the conference will focus on the
> implications of immigration
> law for the following categories:
> - women who have come to Europe to join their
> husband or partner
> - women who have entered Europe to work in
> legal employment
> (including au pairs)
> - women who work illegally in Europe,
> particularly prostitutes and
> domestic workers
> - women refugees
> - women who are victims of trafficking
> - women who are permanently resident in an EU
> country and who wish to
> be joined there by a partner, spouse, child or other
> family member from a
> third country
> - elderly women who are (partially) dependent
> on family in EU
> countries for housing, care and financial support
>
> The aim of this project will be pursued by (a)
> holding a conference and (b)
> publishing a book, of which the main part will be
> the texts of talks and
> papers presented during the conference.
>
> 3. Intended participants
>
> The conference is primarily meant for practising*
> and academic lawyers
> engaged with issues related to gender and
> immigration law. However, social
> scientists as well as persons practically involved
> with these issues can
> also participate. In order to ensure a fruitful
> exchange of expertise,
> ideas and experience, the number of participants
> will be set at a minimum
> of fifty and a maximum of one hundred.
>
> 4. Workshop themes
>
> Workshops will be organized around the following
> themes, with a maximum of
> two to three workshops per theme. How many workshops
> per theme will depend
> on how many participants register per theme. There
> will be a minimum of
> five participants per workshop and a maximum of
> nine. No more than two
> papers will be presented per workshop.
>
> A: Gender, violence and immigration law.
> A1 Women, political violence and immigration
> law
> A2 Women, violent family relations and
> immigration law
> A3 Women, violent (sex)work relations and
> immigration law
>
> B: Gender, transnational family bonds and
> immigration law
> B1 Transnational (marriage) partners
> and immigration law
> B2 Immigrant mothers, their children,
> and immigration law
> B3 Elderly migrant women, transnational care,
> and immigration law
>
> C: Gender, regulated labour and immigration law
> C1 gendered inclusion: women
> immigrants on the legal labour
> market
> C2 gendered exclusion I: illegal sex workers
> C3 gendered exclusion II: illegal domestic
> workers
>
> D: Women, immigration law and public health
> D1 Women, health and safety in asylum
> seekers centres
> D2 Immigrant status and access to
> anti-conception, treatment of
> venereal disease and the necessary medical support
> during pregnancy,
> delivery and the post-natal period
>
>
>
>
>
> 5. Proposed programme
>
> The conference is to last two and a half days,
> starting on a Thursday
> afternoon and ending the following Saturday
> afternoon. The programme will
> include four plenary sessions, two workshops and one
> excursion to visit
> NGOs in Amsterdam, actively involved in issues
> related to the workshop
> themes. Because the organizers anticipate that the
> majority of participants
> will be more focussed on practice than on theory,
> the workshop sessions
> will largely focus on practical issues. Next to
> these workshop sessions, a
> number of plenary sessions will also be held where
> the invited speakers
> will be asked to present various theoretical
> approaches to the issue of
> gender and immigration law. The proposed programme
> is as follows:
>
> Thursday May 13, 2004
>
> 13:00 registration opens
> 16:00 Short plenary session to welcome
> participants, provide practical
> information etc. Followed by an informal reception.
>
> 18:30 Dinner in downtown Amsterdam at or near De
> Balie
> First plenary session: in De Balie : Gender and
> refugee law
>
> 20:30 This talk, together with the following
> discussion, will be open to
> a broader public. The idea is that in this way,
> conference participants
> will have the opportunity to engage with others in
> the Netherlands who are
> interested in the issue of gender and immigration.
> With this in view, this
> session will be organized in cooperation with De
> Balie and relevant
> organisations and institutions in the Netherlands
> (for example: CWI, FORUM,
> NGOs, EUTOPIA, EQUALITY, IMES, Belle van Zuylen
> Institute) will be
> explicitly invited to attend.
>
> In order to maintain the link to the rest of the
> conference, the lecture
> will be preceded by a brief introduction provided by
> the conference
> organizers.
> Following the lecture, conference
> participants can mix with the
> general public in the café annexed to De Balie.
>
> Suggested speaker: Jacqueline Bhabha.
>
> Friday May 14, 2004
>
> 09:00 Coffee
>
> Second plenary session: Free University
> Gendered aspects of family and labour migration
>
> 09:30 Short introduction by the conference
> organizers
>
> 09:45 Two speakers (twenty minutes each).
> Topics:
> a. Intimacy and borders. Suggested speaker: Ann
> Stoler, Yuval Davis
> or Elsbeth Locher Scholten
> b. Transnational chains of care. Suggested
> speaker: Bridget Anderson
> or Helma Lutz
> or:
> Women on the transnational labour market. Suggested
> speaker: Saskia Sassen
> Koob, M. Morakvasic or Annie Phizacklea
>
> 10:20 discussion
>
> 10:45 coffee
>
> Workshops: Free University
> Charting the issues
> 11:00 participants will be divided into workshops
> according to the above
> mentioned themes: violence, transnational family
> bonds, labour market,
> public health.
> In each workshop, two participants from two
> different countries
> will present a fifteen minute paper. Each paper will
> provide a short
> discussion of the situation in the country in
> question, analysed in terms
> of gender relations.
> The workshop chair will take ten minutes to review
> the similarities and
> differences between the two countries, and to relate
> the given analyses to
> the present European debate on the harmonisation of
> immigration policies.
> The workshop participants will subsequently take
> twenty minutes to discuss
> o gender issues that are already on the
> European agenda but that may
> disappear from sight in the course of negotiations
> o gender issues that have not yet reached the
> European agenda
> and to choose one or two gender issues that should
> be spearpointed during
> the process of harmonisation.
>
> 12:30 Lunch
>
> Excursion: various locations in Amsterdam
>
> 14:00 participants convene for (public)
> transportation to any one of the
> following
> organisations or institutes for a field visit:
> Lawine, Komitee Zelfstandig
> Verblijfsrecht voor Migrantenvrouwen, Vrouwen Tegen
> Uitzetting, VON, Rode
> Draad, committees or church organisations that
> support illegal immigrants,
> organisations active on the issue of au pairs and/or
> domestic workers, CWI,
> etc.
> If logistics allow, each group will visit two
> organisations/institutes.
> Each group will be accompanied by an English-Dutch
> translator.
> The visits will include
> o information concerning the organisation or
> institute itself
> o presentation of a recent project that the
> organisation or institute
> has been involved with on the issue of gender and
> immigration law
> o time to discuss the presented information
> and to exchange views and
> experiences
> o a chance to meet informally with those
> involved with/working for
> the organisation or institute
>
>
> 19:30 Conference banquet somewhere in downtown
> Amsterdam (West Indisch
> Huis?)
> The banquet will be preceded by a short performance,
> suited to the
> conference theme (such as cabaret, poetry reading,
> music) to provide a
> change after all the discussions
>
> Saturday May 15, 2004
>
> Third plenary session: Free University
> On strategies
>
> 10:00 Coffee
> 10:30 Conference organizers open the session and
> review the issues that
> were selected by the workshops the previous day
>
> 10:45 Discussion. The conference chooses three
> priority issues.
>
> 11:00 A speaker to address the issue of
> representation as strategy: The
> victim trap. Followed by discussion.
> Suggested speaker: Halleh Ghorashi; Maria
> Blanco
>
> 11:45 Coffee
>
> Workshops: Free University
> Choosing strategies
> 12:00 participants will once more be divided into
> workshops according to
> the themes of : violence, transnational family
> bonds, labour market and
> public health.
> Again, in each workshop two participants
> from two different
> countries will present a fifteen minute paper. Each
> paper will provide a
> short presentation of strategic dilemmas that have
> been encountered within
> a concrete project, court case etc. and the choices
> that were made.
> Examples of possible strategies are: the involvement
> of NGOs; the
> application of international human rights treaties;
> challenging dominant
> representations, etc.
> - Following a short discussion, the workshop
> participants will:
> o brainstorm over possible strategies that can
> be applied at the
> European level
> o make two strategy suggestions to be
> presented at the last plenary
> session
>
> 13:00 lunch
>
> Fourth plenary session: Free University
> Looking forward
> 14:00 The conference organizers open the last
> session and present the
> strategic suggestions prepared by the workshops,
> with reference to the
> priorities that were chosen that morning and to the
> morning plenary debate
> on strategy and representation.
>
> 14:15 Discussion. The conference chooses three
> strategies.
>
> 14:30 Closing talk: Gender, citizenship and Europe
> Suggested speaker: Gloria Wekker, Barbara
> Heinrich or Seyla Benhabib
>
> 15:00 Tea
>
> !5:15 Discussion
> 15:45 The conference organizers provide a short
> review of the analyses
> that have been offered by the various speakers and
> of the choices of issues
> and strategies that the conference has made.
> Following this, they close the
> conference.
>
> 14:15 Final reception.
>
>
> 6. Publicity
>
> The press will be invited to the public session in
> De Balie and the lecture
> will be preceded by publicity, which will double as
> publicity for the
> conference itself.
>
> The press will also be invited to cover the visits
> to organisations and
> institutes in Amsterdam.
>
> Another possibility which can be explored will be to
> share in the
> production of a special issue of the Daklozenkrant,
> the Amsterdam newspaper
> made by and for the homeless. This special issue
> could feature reports on
> relief programmes and charities that cater to
> immigrant women, on immigrant
> wives with dependent status who have sought refuge
> in womens shelters or
> on women refugees who have left, or have had to
> leave, an asylum seekers
> centre. The issue could also include columns, diary
> fragments, poetry etc.
> written by immigrant women.
>
> 7. Conference publication
>
> Following the conference, a book will be published
> including:
> - an introduction written by the conference
> organizers
> - reprints of the talks given by the invited
> speakers
> - a selection of workshop papers
> - a concluding chapter written by the
> conference organizers
>
> A European publishing company will be approached to
> share in the production
> and marketing of this book.
> The book will be sent to all participants within six
> months after the
> conference. The price for the book (production
> costs) will be included in
> the total conference price. The book will also be
> marketed to a broader public.
>
> 8. Planning
>
> In order to be able to hold the conference in May,
> publicity (mainly by
> using existing electronic networks to which the
> organisers have access)
> should start in September 2003.
>
