Mahanirban Calcutta Research group

Eighth Annual Research and Orientation Workshop on Global Protection of Refugees and Migrants (16-22 November 2023)

Concept Note 

Migrants are the most vulnerable communities all over the world. There are multiple reasons behind the vulnerabilities. War, natural disasters, economic bankruptcy, state policies and the pandemic are a few of them. Several policies have been drafted to improve the living conditions of the people since the end of World War II, but the solution to the problem is yet to be solved. New challenges have emerged with time and technological progress and complicate the whole concept of worldwide migration.

Many new concepts have incorporated into the field of migration studies in recent years. Therefore, the study on the present age of migration includes governance structures of global migration. The current governance structure is based on moulded power, humanitarianism and human rights together into a governmental complex and created an order where power and responsibility share an asymmetric relationship (Samaddar, The Postcolonial Age of Migration, 2020; p.2-8). Climate change, natural disasters, disasters due to development policies, geopolitical dynamics, socio-economic conditions, and inter and intra-state conflicts play a crucial role in this relationship.

Calcutta Research Group (CRG) devote itself to the study of migration especially forced migration and the dignity of migrants in particular for more than 25 years. The two declarations on the protection of refugees and migrants (Kolkata Declaration & Afghanistan Declaration) adopted during the Research and Orientation Workshops in 2018 and 2021 are evidences of the possibilities for the intervention of the Research and Orientation Workshops and Conferences of CRG. The Declarations addressed the different dynamics of the contemporary global refugee crisis which is valuable for its understanding of the gravity and nuances of migration in the present period, its articulation in the South Asian milieu, its expression of solidarity with the victims of forced displacement, and its assessment of international efforts to improve the distress of such uprootedness. The declarations portrayed the perch from which CRG views migration and reinforced its identity as an informed interlocutor on the subject. Prepared in the wake of the Global Compacts, the matters to which the Declaration turned its attention are fundamental to CRG’s research agenda and its valued association with the Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung’s project ‘Global Protection of Refugees and Migrants’ and the Institute for Human Sciences (IWM), Vienna under its project ‘Justice, Protection and Government of the people- a two-year research and orientation programme on Protection and Democracy in a post-Covid world’. CRG’s attempt to deal with the issues through conducting media and teachers training programmes, drafting policy briefs and preparing a volume of Keywords in Refugee and Migration Studies and the Annual Workshop on the newly imposed challenges to deal with the idea of the global protection has been aimed to engage researchers, teachers, journalists and activists.

The Research and Orientation Workshop is the flagship programme of this sustained study. This annual event is pivotal to CRG’s aspiration to voice the experiences, opinions and discontents of the South in global discussions on the subject, and CRG has responded vigorously to the increased vulnerabilities of forced migrants. The event, conducted with the help of Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung and the Institute for Human Sciences (IWM), Vienna, comprises a four- and half-day workshop and a two and day conference. Deliberations during the event will centre on the below six modules. The modules are:

Module A: Shock Migration in the Wake of Crises Like War, Famine, Flood, other Natural Disasters, and Pandemic;
(visibility, scale, migrant networks, adaptability, policy response, and migrant’s autonomy)
Coordinator- Nasreen Chowdhory and Manish K. Jha

Module B: Legal Regimes and Policy Frameworks
(international human rights law, international humanitarian law; global compact, refugee protection regime, and the limits of the Convention, and Global Compacts, regional conventions, national jurisprudence, etc.);
Coordinator: Sahana Basavapatna.

Module C: Statelessness;
Coordinator – K. M. Parivelan

Module D: Gender, Race, Religion, and other Fault Lines in Protection Architecture;
Coordinators- Paula Banerjee.

Module E: Refugee and Migrant Labour, Precarious forms, and Globalisation;
Coordinators- Arup Kumar Sen and Iman Kumar Mitra.

Elective Workshop Modules (Optional) (participants have to choose any one from the optional modules)

Module F1 (Options): Climate, Ecology, and Displacement;
Coordinator- Shatabdi Das.

OR

Module F2 (Options): Ethics of Care and Protection
Coordinator- Samir Kumar Das.

OR

Module F3 (Options): Media and Displacement;
Coordinator- Samata Biswas.

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Kolkata, 16-22 November 2023

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