In the past few years, humanity has been confronted with what the UN calls “the largest humanitarian crisis since the creation of the United Nations”: starvation, war and political oppression have forcibly displaced a record number of over 65.6 million people worldwide, leading to major social and political turmoil across the globe. Refugees from developing countries such as Syria, Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, Yemen, South Sudan, Ethiopia, Uganda and more are risking their lives in perilous journeys to escape certain demise, only to often find themselves trapped in precarious conditions in refugee camps across Europe, facing the ill sentiments of disgruntled locals. At the same time, the EU and USA are struggling to balance their immigration and asylum policies between their professed commitment to upholding human rights and the growing pressures from increasingly popular and vocal nationalistic movements.
All these recent developments have also added to the levels of uncertainty faced by the millions of economic migrants, in search of a better life. Developments built on nationalistic sentiment and aversion towards immigrants, such as the British Brexit or the attempted US travel bans and waves of deportations have made members of Diasporas reconsider their options and renegotiate their identities.
According to the UN and the International Organization for Migration, there are around 250 million migrants worldwide and the number is quickly rising. If they were to make up a nation, it would be the fifth largest in the world. Migration is becoming a more and more pressing social and political matter, one that will reshape the world as we know it and the way governments and societies decide to handle this crisis will be defining a new era for human rights and international relations.
Our second interdisciplinary Migrations and Diasporas conference seeks to build on the success of last year’s event and create a lasting network of professionals in all fields related to this topic, to isolate, discuss and explore the main issues, pressing matters and recent developments in this field of research and activity, to identify areas to be subsequently explored in further depth and to generate collaborative action that will lead to real, lasting change in the way migration and migrants are perceived and approached in institutional and informal settings.