How does European asylum policy work – and how do we want it to work? In this interactive session, we examine it by tackling different topics, supported by experts from the field.
Thousands of people die on Europe’s external borders. The growing number of refugees coming to Europe has put the Schengen Agreement under pressure, redistribution is (to date) not very successful and European solidarity seems far away.
On the basis of sub-themes (solidarity between member states, harmonizing the EU Asylum system and shelter in border countries) we explore the possibilities together to improve European asylum policy. The topics and brainstorming sessions are initiated by different experts.
About the speakers
Evelien Brouwer is a committee member of the Advisory Committee on Migration Affairs and associate professor of immigration law at the VU University of Amsterdam. In January 2016, the committee brought out the report ‘Delen in verantwoordelijkheid, voorstel voor een solidair Europees asielsysteem’.
Stefan Kok teaches immigration law at the University of Leiden. From 2000 to 2010 he worked as a senior (international) policy worker and as senior strategic analyst at the Dutch Council for Refugees. In his work, Stefan Cook followed closely the creation of the Common European Asylum System (CEAS).
Hanne Beirens is vice president of the Migration Policy Institute Europe. She specializes in EU policy on asylum and migration, human trafficking and youth. Prior to joining MPI , Beirens worked as a consultant for ICF Consulting. She focused on impact assessments, feasibility studies and evaluations for the European Commission, in particular on EU migration and asylum policy.
Mohammad Abdulazez is a Syrian photographer from Homs. He first fled to Turkey and then came to Europe. Along his journey, he kept a diary for the Volkskrant.
Further with a skype interview with Julia Ivan of the Hungarian Helsinki Committee and a column by Wim de Wagt, art historian and author of a.o. “Wij Europeanen”.
The moderator of this program is Patrick van der Heijden.
About program
Humanity House wants to contribute to The Asylum Search Engine cross-media project by examining the external influences on Dutch asylum policy. We organize two meet ups: one on European Asylum Policy (May 19) and one on learning from Non-European countries in sheltering refugees (May 26). The results of these and other meetings in several other Dutch cities (for example the one in het Nutshuis on May 17) will be presented to Dutch policymakers on June 21 at Theater aan het Spui. From April until the end of 2016, the exhibition of the The Asylum Search Engine is presented at Humanity House.