2-3/04/2016: WUN Migration Conference, Maastricht University
In recent years, international migration has become a central element of the global policy agenda. The second WUN Migration Conference will contribute to this international discussion by taking a multidisciplinary approach. Particularly at the EU level, migration and asylum are currently at the forefront of the policy agenda. In 2015, more than one million migrants and refugees are estimated to have arrived by sea at Europe’s southern borders. Over 3,760 migrants have lost their lives on the dangerous journey, with another 244 deaths already recorded in January 2016. The scale and speed of change in the numbers arriving have uncovered policy weaknesses in migration and asylum management systems as well as in human rights protection mechanisms. A policy crisis has resulted from serious differences between the EU member states on how to respond. The WUN Migration Conference will have EU migration and asylum policy as the focus for the plenary session. Speakers will include policy-makers from the EU institutions, academics, and representations of international organisations, labour organisations, trade unions and NGOs. Attention will be given to the various funds offered by the EU to migration and asylum policies and studies influencing hereby the research agenda of academic institutions as well.