Global Protection of Migrants and Refugees-2020 -Concept note

2.1 Thus, while the fifth research and orientation workshop will be built on the essentials of the previous workshops, in particular the third and the fourth, it will also bring to discussion the new features of the situation in the global and regional situations of migration and forced migration requiring new strategies of protection. Some of the new features are:

(a) Migration flows have taken increasing complexity, which indeed is one of the main marks of contemporary time. Refugees, asylum seekers, labour migrants, ecological refugees, stateless groups – all are rolling into one massive and mixed phenomenon signifying population shifts in global geo-political and geo-economic context. In this context, it has become even more important to study labour flows and labour control systems regulated by institutions, infrastructures, processes, and practices. Equally important is to study the new formations of space and time effected by footloose families, transformation of cities, existence of Diasporas, global commodity chains including care chains, and migrants’ modes of encountering borders, boundaries, immigration control systems, surveillance systems, interception methods, etc. This situation – marked by (a) massive and mixed flows and (b) transformation of the migration dynamics – puts the old strategies of protection at odds with the evolving scenario. The categories of protection are found of decreasing relevance. The implications cut across legal, national, administrative lines of protection.

(b) In view of the increasing conceptual breadth and theoretical sophistication of migration and forced migration scholarship, historic knowledge of patterns and forms of mobility is even more important. As one commentary points out, contemporary migration scholarship is still deficient in historical awareness and hence unable to bring out the political and economic truths. Notwithstanding the wide range of research methodologies, and reflections on the diverse sites and subjects of migration, we lack the focus that can produce a compelling critique of conventional knowledge of migration. In the rich array of methods (quantitative, computational, qualitative, mixed-method, scalar, social network-centric, ethnographic, life-story-oriented, participatory, and visual documentation and visualization approaches and techniques) the neglect of history is pronounced. Therefore in spite of the rich methodological developments the field fails to fully explore and interrogate the realities of migration and forced migration that overwhelm our time. We need contextually grounded research yet critical in conceptual treatment. Thus new pedagogic basis must address the concerns, such as:

• How do we research new space making practices and temporalities at various levels (global, regional, national, local, etc.) caused or influenced by migration and forced migration? Related to this, how do we map migrations over time and space?

• What kinds of methodological approaches to seriously contemplate multi-sited research and develop networks of scholarship, in short transform our academic engagement from individual or group scholarship to a platform mode of investigation and cognition?

• How to enable migration scholarship for the task of boundary-crossing?

• Finally, how to devise knowledge practices that can be mobilised against institutionalized practices reproducing racism, patriarchy, and forms of global domination, and pave the way for a critical approach in our migration research that can open up new imaginations of a political society?

2.2 Migration (including forced migration) has taken centre stage in public and academic discourse, in some cases politics itself. Given the contemporary relevance of the theme, the proposal aims to engage with critical theoretical and methodological approaches to migration and forced migration studies. The workshop will aim to engage with the new realities of migration as well as various approaches to the theoretical, methodological, and legal challenges to grasp the complex phenomenon of migration. The workshop and the conference will provide a space for debate and exchange between academia and practice, and will aim at stimulating discussion between scholars, legal practitioners, media activists, representatives of what is called the “civil society”, and personnel belonging to governments and international humanitarian agencies.

2.3 This is possible, when we expand the ambit of the approach to the programme, yet keep the focus on the theme of protection. At one level, we may redesign the sub-themes partially to engage with the question of “migration and politics” through research papers and workshop module topics. However we have to maintain the focus on protection – for which the UN-initiated global compacts on refugees and migrants remain the best flag. This is a paradoxical task. But given the changing realities, this is the best conceptual template of the programme. 2.4 This also means combining “global outlook with local experiences” – both for understanding the interface of the issue of migration and democracy and politics in general, and the complexities involved in the notion of protection.

2.5 To take an instance: never before migration and migrants have become so central to democratic politics as now when we have thousands upon thousands (nearly two million) have been declared non-citizens. Are they “surplus citizens” as one analyst puts it, “residents without nationality”, “illegal immigrants to be detained in camps”, or simply a “vast army of disenfranchised labour” ready to work wherever ordered – a sort of sub-population? This question has raised its head in many countries. If this is a global phenomenon, our orientation programme must address the central question of how sections of national populations belonging to lower classes are divested of national identities. This concerns first and foremost the migrants, who are frequently organised on a national and ethnic basis, and yet will not be able to live on this basis once they are divested of any national identity. The “arc of protection” (a phrase made famous by a group of leading refugee researchers) is indeed problematic from this angle, because migration and the state of mobility challenge every foundational principle of liberal political society. The orientation programme therefore demands a self-critical theory and collective practice that eschews the easy answers of fixed collective identities and the “protection” offered by the international system, the system of nation states, and the present legal-developmental ideology. The question to be investigated is: what are the other possible sites of protection and affirmation of the rights and justice for the refugees, migrants, and mobile population groups? What are the historical resources we can draw upon?

2.6 To collectively deliberate on this question, one crucial theme requiring attention is the dynamics of migration as a theme in politics, government, and population management.

2.7 To embark on such a critical venture is to elevate the quality of the programme, make it more rigorous, and focused. Such a framework will not restrict the reach of the programme as may be feared, but expand it, because it will address the issues of the time. The research framework (of proposals submitted by the participants in particular) has to be informed by the inquiries of the programme. Likewise, the partnerships involved in the programme and the research report will be animated by these new enquiries. Guidelines for participants’ research will have to be therefore clearer. The component formed by CRG’s own research has to have similar qualities and structure.

2.8 As a whole, the programme will aim widen partnerships. It will have clear idea of the risks, the ways it can manage them, and the nature of the projected final outcomes. CRG had employed these rich techniques in other programmes in the past (for instance in WACC supported programmes on “media and conflict”, peace audits and dialogues, and survey of voices of the IDPs in camps). These methods need to be integrated in the work in migration and forced migration studies.

2.9 In view of these developments, the outcome of the programme has to be more diversified. Currently the outcome is mainly in the form of research-based papers, articles and reports for media, and visual products on a small scale. It is understandable that CRG as a critical research collective will bring out research products. However, the deliverables can be more imaginative – like television discussions, a legal compendium, specifically commissioned reports to be used as primary material, small scale dialogues, and other components coming out of follow up activities (mentioned earlier). Both digital and arts and humanities based approaches can be deployed in planning the outcomes. Thus, along with research based writings, publications, and orientation activity, the programme will aim to have more diverse components and results, such as: migration maps, various digital outputs, a reader in South Asian refugee law, media inputs, and visual and audio products. Public campaigns and publicity measures have been satisfactory. The task is, how to take these forward without jeopardising the standard and safety of the programme? .