MEDIATION IN MIGRATION GOVERNANCE

THE MULTIPLE FACETS OF PROTECTION

International workshop organized by the Observatory of the Refugee and Migration Crisis in the Aegean in Mytilene (University Hill), 8-10 June 2022

 

WEDNESDAY 8 JUNE

16:00 – 16:15

Welcome by the University Authorities, The Department of Social Anthropology and History and the Observatory of the Refugee and Migration Crisis in the Aegean

 

MEDIATED INTERACTIONS IN THE HUMANITARIAN ARENA

AFTERNOON SESSION

16.15 – 16.30

Introducing the project ‘Settling in the ‘humanitarian city’: The social, cultural, and political impact of the interaction between asylum seekers, agents of humanitarian governance and local society in Greece [Human(c)ity]

 

16.30 – 16.50

Village reborn in humanity: Mediation in the making of the humanitarian arena

Evthymios Papataxiarchis (University of the Aegean) and Alexandra Zavos (University of Crete)

 

16.50 – 17.10

The ‘humanitarian town’: An overview of the humanitarian scene in Mytilene (Lesvos)

Pafsanias Karathanasis (University of the Aegean) with Kalliopi Avanidou (University of the Aegean)

 

17.10 – 17.30     

Comments and discussion

Thea Hilhorst (Erasmus University)

 

17.30 – 18.00     COFFEE BREAK

 

18.00 – 18.20

Mediating asylum seekers’ accommodation in the ESTIA program in Athens

Marica Rombou-Levidi (University of the Aegean)

18.20 – 18.40

Mediation by migrant and refugee collectivities and alternative initiatives (City Plaza) in Athens

Ervin Shehu (University of the Aegean)

18.40 – 19.00     

Spatialities of mediation? Refugee-serving NGOs and community business networks in downtown Thessaloniki

Panos Hatziprokopiou (Aristotle University of Thessaloniki) and Alexandra Siotou (University of Thessaly)

19.00 – 19.30     

Comments and discussion

Maria Kastrinou (Brunel University)

 

19.30 – 19.45     COFFEE BREAK

 

THE EXPERIENCE OF MEDIATION IN HUMANITARIAN ACTION

 

19.45 – 21.00    

First Round Table

Stakeholders and intermediators (including advisors and interpreters) in the fields of                                             humanitarian protection, accommodation, asylum, medical aid, travel and education.

 

21.15     DINNER

 

THURSDAY 9 JUNE

MORNING SESSION

THE PRACTICE OF PROTECTION AT THE BORDERLANDS OF EUROPE: A VIEW FROM BELOW

 

10.00 – 10.15        

Introduction: Studying protection at the borderlands of Europe

Evthymios Papataxiarchis (University of the Aegean)

10.15 – 10.45   ‘People are more than their migration status’: Protection beyond convention-centrism and containment

Polly Pallister Wilkins (University of Amsterdam)

10.45 – 11.05

Protection in a hostile environment: An on-the-ground study of protection practices in Lesvos and Athens (Greece)

Natasha Anastasiadou (University of the Aegean) and Alexandra Zavou (University of     Crete)

 

11.05 – 11.25     COFFEE BREAK

 

11.25 – 11.45

Protection as a spatial Issue: Politics and practices of internal mobility in Turkish forced migration Context

Ayşen Üstübici (Koç University) and Sibel Karadağ (Koç University)

11.45 – 12.05

Displaced Syrians in Lebanon: Protection amidst crises

Gabriella Trovato (Norwegian University of Life Sciences) and Nayla Al-Akl (American University of Beirut)

 

12.05 – 12.25

Protection problems of people on the move

Fabio Catini (Mixed Migration Centre)

 

12.25 – 12.45 

Comments

Rinus Penninx (University of Amsterdam) and Effie Voutira (University of Macedonia)

 

12.45 – 13.00   DISCUSSION

 

13.00 – 14.30   LUNCH BREAK

 

AFTERNOON SESSION

MEDIATION IN HUMANITARIAN PROTECTION: COMPARATIVE PERSPECTIVES

 

14.30 – 14.50   

Smuggling as humanitarian intervention

Shahram Khosravi (Stokholm University)

14.50 – 15.10   

Protection at my own terms: Human smuggling and unaccompanied Syrian minors

Luigi Achilli (European University Institute)

15.10 – 15.30   

Mediation in refugees’ pandemic responses in a Palestinian camp in Lebanon

Elena Fiddian-Qasmiyeh (University College London)

15.30 – 15.50   DISCUSSION   

 

15.50 – 16.10     COFFEE BREAK

 

16.10 – 16.30     

Mediating official refugee reception policies in the urban environment of Istanbul

Aysen Ustubici (Koc University)

16.30 – 16.50    

Mediators: Tensions in a profession in the making

Katerina Rozakou (Panteion University)

16.50 – 17.10   

Brokering care in Athens social clinics’: Informal medical protection of refugees and Greek citizens

Heath Cabot (Pittsburgh University)

17.10 – 17.30   

Solidarity and intermediation: Affinity ties in humanitarianism

Anne-Meike Fechter (University of Sussex)

17.30 – 18.00   DISCUSSION   

 

18.00 – 18:15   COFFEE BREAK

 

20.30     DINNER

 

 

FRIDAY 10 JUNE

MORNING SESSION

 

DEALING WITH GAPS IN HUMANITARIAN PROTECTION

 

10.00 – 12.00

Second Round Table (with stakeholders)

Official actors (Municipal and state authorities, EU, UNHCR, international and Greek NGOs), unofficial  actors (migrant collectivities, alternative activist initiatives), representatives of migrant associations

 

12.00 – 12.15     COFFEE BREAK

 

12.15 – 12.30     

War and migration: The management of Ukrainian refugees influx to Poland Patrycja Matusz (University of Wroclaw, Poland)

12.30 – 12.45   DISCUSSION      

 

12.45 – 13.30   LUNCH

 

All the activities of the workshop, the three main sessions and the two round tables, will take place in the Amphitheater of the Geography building in University Hill.