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International CDCDI Conference, 3rd edition: “Changing migration policies: national perspectives and supra-national strategies”
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The third edition of the International CDCDI Conference on migration was held on 10-11 November in Bucharest. The subject of this year's edition was “Changing migration policies: national perspectives and supra-national strategies”.
The lecturers invited included Prof. Jackline Wahba from the University of Southampton, Prof. Han Entzinger from the Erasmus University in Rotterdam, Associate Prof. Jesús Fernández-Huertas Moraga from Carlos III University in Madrid, Associate Prof. Bilisuma Dito from the University of Maastricht, Katharine Jones, PhD, researcher at the University of Coventry and Abdeslam Marfouk, PhD, researcher at Universitè Libre de Bruxelles.
In addition to the main conference subject - the dynamics of migration policies - the topics approached were very diverse. The following subjects were discussed on the first day: the relation between research and migration policies; improving the mechanism for sharing responsibility among EU member states by the takeover of negotiable refugee quotas and the variable financial compensation of the difference up to the optimum number for the receiving member state; the individual determinants of migration and migration routes; and public opinion about immigrants. The second day brought together presentations on the impact of migration upon the countries of origin, and the lectures focused on return migration and the welfare of those left at home. Other topics of interest for participants were the international legislative framework on human rights and refugees and its applicability, the role of civil society in improving migration policies and practices and the refugee crisis.
Associate Professor Jesús Fernández-Huertas Moraga (University Carlos III de Madrid): "I always wanted to visit Romania because I have studied migration in Spain for many years, and Romania has been for many years the main country of origin of migrants in my country. I know many Romanians living in Spain but I had never come here before. When I was invited to the conference I was glad I could finally see Romania. It's one thing to know a country abstractly and another thing to actually see it. Now I am sorry I will only stay for 2 days. When I was invited I planned to stay for the week-end as well, to know the country better, but this was not possible.
I enjoyed the conference a lot. I didn't know what I would find here and I found NGO people, sociologists, economists. I am used to working only with economists and such experiences are good because they open our minds. As regards the discussions within the sessions, I took notice of the very strong personal opinions of some participants. Some of them are themselves refugees, have certain life experiences and speak from the point of view of those experiences. For instance at one of the conference panels covering the issue of Romanian doctors' migration there was one gynaecologist who had his own interpretation on the reasons why medical doctors leave. Opinions in the field of migration are always strong and expressed very passionately, particularly when they are based on their own or their friends' experiences. I work a lot with number analysis and I have few contacts with persons who have gone through the migration experience. I stay in front of the computer all day analysing data and now I’ve had the opportunity to associate faces to figures. I liked one of the presentations, made by Katharine Jones, citing fragments of the interviews with migrants. I also liked the presentation of an anthropologist who talked about the status of Iranians in Turkey, a theme I knew nothing about before, and which I found very interesting."
Daoud Mohamed, medical doctor of Egyptian origin, resident in Romania: "I participated in an interesting discussion on the migration of doctors from Romania. I think the interpretation of mass-media and some of my colleagues is wrong. The salary issue is not the main cause of the doctors' departure. It is mainly corruption, and we have to admit this. Medical doctors and nurses are asked for money to be hired in hospitals. The conference was very nice but we need to approach more directly sensitive issues which entail changes. I mean I would have liked to see that we attack more clearly the corruption issue."
Victor Cebotari (Department of Arts and Social Sciences of the University of Maastricht): "For six years we have developed a project to study what happens to children left behind, in Africa, Georgia and the Republic of Moldova. The main message we want to convey on the occasion of this conference is that actually children are not left behind, they remain behind. Often when someone migrates it is a salutary solution to leave their child behind. Children are left home and the migrant ensures that they stay with someone to take care of them, or a caregiver in English. For children it is sometimes better than to leave illegally, to arrive in a foreign country in an unfamiliar environment. Migration rules in destination countries are usually very strict, therefore it is better for children to stay in a familiar environment where they are better protected. We try to change the name used even in specialised literature, from "left-behind children" to "children who remain behind". The discussion within the conference was much more complex. We studied various arrangements for leaving children at home, who takes care of them and how this influences the child's welfare: education, mental health, physical health etc. And we found that when the child's caregiver is changed quite often, this affects the child more than normally, whereas if the child stays with the same caregiver who is usually a family member (father, mother, grand-mother), we see no negative effects as compared to children living with both parents. It is very good that the audience of this conference was not only academic but also from the government side. A fertile soil was thus created for our ideas to root. This was an opportunity for us to convey information to NGOs, to government and even to the academics, because academics for instance analyse migration from an economic perspective and do not normally look this way, to see children's welfare from a social point of view. Economic researchers focus more on money remittances and economic factors influencing migration. Whereas we see that social factors such as those mentioned above influence at least just as much. It is good we've had an interdisciplinary audience here. I am at my third participation and I can say the conference has the highest academic standards in terms of presentations and participants. The lecturers in the plenary sessions and the thematic discussions are among the most knowledgeable in the field, thus making it the perfect environment for disseminating ideas. I have seen this at all three editions, which is phenomenal. ”
The lecturers invited included Prof. Jackline Wahba from the University of Southampton, Prof. Han Entzinger from the Erasmus University in Rotterdam, Associate Prof. Jesús Fernández-Huertas Moraga from Carlos III University in Madrid, Associate Prof. Bilisuma Dito from the University of Maastricht, Katharine Jones, PhD, researcher at the University of Coventry and Abdeslam Marfouk, PhD, researcher at Universitè Libre de Bruxelles.
In addition to the main conference subject - the dynamics of migration policies - the topics approached were very diverse. The following subjects were discussed on the first day: the relation between research and migration policies; improving the mechanism for sharing responsibility among EU member states by the takeover of negotiable refugee quotas and the variable financial compensation of the difference up to the optimum number for the receiving member state; the individual determinants of migration and migration routes; and public opinion about immigrants. The second day brought together presentations on the impact of migration upon the countries of origin, and the lectures focused on return migration and the welfare of those left at home. Other topics of interest for participants were the international legislative framework on human rights and refugees and its applicability, the role of civil society in improving migration policies and practices and the refugee crisis.
Associate Professor Jesús Fernández-Huertas Moraga (University Carlos III de Madrid): "I always wanted to visit Romania because I have studied migration in Spain for many years, and Romania has been for many years the main country of origin of migrants in my country. I know many Romanians living in Spain but I had never come here before. When I was invited to the conference I was glad I could finally see Romania. It's one thing to know a country abstractly and another thing to actually see it. Now I am sorry I will only stay for 2 days. When I was invited I planned to stay for the week-end as well, to know the country better, but this was not possible.
I enjoyed the conference a lot. I didn't know what I would find here and I found NGO people, sociologists, economists. I am used to working only with economists and such experiences are good because they open our minds. As regards the discussions within the sessions, I took notice of the very strong personal opinions of some participants. Some of them are themselves refugees, have certain life experiences and speak from the point of view of those experiences. For instance at one of the conference panels covering the issue of Romanian doctors' migration there was one gynaecologist who had his own interpretation on the reasons why medical doctors leave. Opinions in the field of migration are always strong and expressed very passionately, particularly when they are based on their own or their friends' experiences. I work a lot with number analysis and I have few contacts with persons who have gone through the migration experience. I stay in front of the computer all day analysing data and now I’ve had the opportunity to associate faces to figures. I liked one of the presentations, made by Katharine Jones, citing fragments of the interviews with migrants. I also liked the presentation of an anthropologist who talked about the status of Iranians in Turkey, a theme I knew nothing about before, and which I found very interesting."
Daoud Mohamed, medical doctor of Egyptian origin, resident in Romania: "I participated in an interesting discussion on the migration of doctors from Romania. I think the interpretation of mass-media and some of my colleagues is wrong. The salary issue is not the main cause of the doctors' departure. It is mainly corruption, and we have to admit this. Medical doctors and nurses are asked for money to be hired in hospitals. The conference was very nice but we need to approach more directly sensitive issues which entail changes. I mean I would have liked to see that we attack more clearly the corruption issue."
Victor Cebotari (Department of Arts and Social Sciences of the University of Maastricht): "For six years we have developed a project to study what happens to children left behind, in Africa, Georgia and the Republic of Moldova. The main message we want to convey on the occasion of this conference is that actually children are not left behind, they remain behind. Often when someone migrates it is a salutary solution to leave their child behind. Children are left home and the migrant ensures that they stay with someone to take care of them, or a caregiver in English. For children it is sometimes better than to leave illegally, to arrive in a foreign country in an unfamiliar environment. Migration rules in destination countries are usually very strict, therefore it is better for children to stay in a familiar environment where they are better protected. We try to change the name used even in specialised literature, from "left-behind children" to "children who remain behind". The discussion within the conference was much more complex. We studied various arrangements for leaving children at home, who takes care of them and how this influences the child's welfare: education, mental health, physical health etc. And we found that when the child's caregiver is changed quite often, this affects the child more than normally, whereas if the child stays with the same caregiver who is usually a family member (father, mother, grand-mother), we see no negative effects as compared to children living with both parents. It is very good that the audience of this conference was not only academic but also from the government side. A fertile soil was thus created for our ideas to root. This was an opportunity for us to convey information to NGOs, to government and even to the academics, because academics for instance analyse migration from an economic perspective and do not normally look this way, to see children's welfare from a social point of view. Economic researchers focus more on money remittances and economic factors influencing migration. Whereas we see that social factors such as those mentioned above influence at least just as much. It is good we've had an interdisciplinary audience here. I am at my third participation and I can say the conference has the highest academic standards in terms of presentations and participants. The lecturers in the plenary sessions and the thematic discussions are among the most knowledgeable in the field, thus making it the perfect environment for disseminating ideas. I have seen this at all three editions, which is phenomenal. ”
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