ESIL_Supported_Conference

Legal discourses on international and EU migration/refugee law in Central and Eastern Europe: emerging new narratives or business as usual?

Prague, 9–10 May 2024
Faculty of Law, Charles University

Dear colleagues

We are happy to announce the conference “Legal discourses on international and EU migration/refugee law in Central and Eastern Europe: emerging new narratives or business as usual?” which will be held on 9-10 May, 2024 in Prague, Czechia.

The conference marks the 20th anniversary of EU's large "big bang" enlargement by revisiting and reflecting on CEE countries' engagement with international / EU migration law in past two decades. Central and Eastern European countries (especially the Visegrad countries) often have a somewhat different approach to migration and refugee law and policy than Western European countries. This was the case, for example, in 2015 and 2016, when Europe was divided politically and legally on how to deal with larger numbers of people seeking protection.

We invite researchers interested in asylum and migration-related topics to submit their abstracts by February 1st, 2024.

Scope of the Conference

Changes in the Law

Changes in the laws of the Central and East European (CEE) countries and their compatibility with international/EU law and the framing of the legal changes.

Evolution of Legal Scholarhsip

Evolution of legal scholarship and doctrines on refugee and migration law issues in the CEE region.

Sovereignty v. Human Rights

Sovereignty v. human rights in the narratives and discourses of the CEE legal scholarship.

Protection-sensitive Entry Channels

protection-sensitive entry channels in the narratives and legal scholarship of CEE countries.

Breaching Law

Breaching international and European law in CEE countries and its reflection in academic debates, etc.

The themes are related to Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), but we are definitely interested in comparative perspectives from other (sub)regions of the world.

And if you are a PhD student and want to get feedback on your work from experts on refugee and migration law in Central and Eastern Europe, let us know in the abstract. We plan a doctoral seminar at the beginning of the conference.

Thursday

Doctoral session (Thursday from 9 am to 12 am)
Conference (Thursday from 1:30 pm to 6 pm)
Dinner

Friday

Conference (Friday from 9.30 am to 2 pm)
Lunch
Panel on teaching international/EU migration and refugee law (Friday 3- 5.30 pm)

Doctoral workshop

As part of the Conference, a doctoral workshop is organized to offer an exclusive opportunity for Ph.D. students to present their thesis projects to a renown scholar in the field of migration and refugee law. The workshop will be conducted before the conference at the conference venue from 9 to 12 AM. It will allow students to receive valuable feedback and recommendations on their work.

Interested candidates are encouraged to mentioned their interest in their submitted abstract or mention it in their registration (till 29 of February). Selected candidates will be asked to send up to 600 words related to their research proposal via email at 2024.prague.conference@gmail.com till March, 31. The use of PowerPoint presentations during the workshop is also possible.

Conference venue

Právnická fakulta Univerzity Karlovy (Faculty of Law, Charles University), nám. Curieových 7, 116 40, Prague, Czech Republic

By plane

If you are travelling to the conference venue directly from the airport, then you can take bus no. 59 to "Nádraží Veleslavín" metro station, take then metro line A to "Staroměstská" station. At Staroměstská take tram no. 17 or 27 to "Právnická fakulta" tram stop (1 stop).

Participants arriving to Prague by plane can also travel to the conference venue by taking a taxi. We strongly recommend using only official airport taxi provider.

By train

From the Prague Main Railway Station take tram no. 26 to "Náměstí Republiky" stop and then bus no. 207 to "Právnická fakulta" bus stop.

Prague public transport

Public transport in Prague is fast, accessible and affordable, you may also buy tickets directly at trams, buses and metro stations (and pay by card). You may check the official website for fares and tickets.

Organizing Committee

dr. Věra Honusková

dr. habil. Tamás Molnár

dr. Věra Honusková

Věra is a founder and a head of the Centre for Migration and Refugee law (CeMiReLa) at the Faculty of Law, Charles University in Prague, Czechia, she is also a member of the Department of International Law. Her research group focuses on issues such as temporary protection or detention in migration and refugee law.
She is a founder of a specialization programme Migration Law at the Law Faculty, Charles University in Prague where she uses the opportunity to explore teaching not only from a theoretical perspective (courses on Asylum and Refugee Law and Migration Law), but also through various experiential methods such as simulations, legal clinics and internships. She regularly organizes and participates in conferences in the Czech Republic and abroad (e.g. the Future of Europe as a Place of Refuge, Prague, 5-6 December, 2019), and publishes extensively in this fields. Her more than 20 years of experience in the field of asylum and migration law includes work in NGOs, in law firms specializing in refugee and migration law and as a member of a Commission for decision-making in matters of residence of foreigners and the Committee on the Rights of Foreigners of the Government Council for Human Rights. Věra is also the Czech representative to the Odysseus Academic Network for Legal Studies on Immigration and Asylum in Europe and a member of European Society of International Law (ESIL) or of the International Law Association (ILA).

Her latest publications include:

Honusková, Věra. "European Response to the Mass Influx of People Caused by the Russian Invasion of Ukraine: Testing the Limits of International Refugee Law" International and Comparative Law Review, vol.23, no.1, 2023, pp.53-71;
Honusková, V. "Humanitarian Smuggling: the Way Forward". In de Frouville, O., Šturma, P. Vers la Pénalisation du Droit International des Droits de l´Homme? Paris: Pedone. [2022];
Grimes, R., Honusková, V., Stege, U. (eds.) Teaching Migration and Refugee Law: Theory and Practice. Routledge. [2022].

dr. habil. Tamás Molnár

Tamás Molnár graduated at the Eötvös Lorand University of Budapest (ELTE), Faculty of Law in 2003 (cum laude) and the Université libre de Bruxelles, Institut d’Etudes Européennes in 2006 (LLM in EU law – grande disctinction); then obtained his PhD in public international law in 2013 at ELTE and his ‘habilitation’ (Dr. habil – post-doctoral research and teaching qualification) in public international law in 2022 in ELTE. He is a visiting lecturer on international migration law at the Corvinus University of Budapest, Department of International Relations and has published widely in the fields of international law, EU law and statelessness/nationality law. He has also undertaken ad hoc consultancy for UNHCR on statelessness issues since 2010 and for the European Network on Statelessness since 2014. Since September 2016, he has been working for the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights (Vienna) as a legal research officer on asylum, migration and borders, also in the field of statelessness. Previously, among others, he was head of the Migration Unit, Department of EU Cooperation, Ministry of the Interior of Hungary (2010–14), and was charged with the drafting of the Hungarian statelessness determination procedure in 2006–07. He is an associate member of the European Network on Statelessness (ENS), as well as a member of the International Law Association (ILA) Committee on International Migration and International Law, and the European Society of International Law (ESIL), where he served as the co-convenor of the ESIL Interest Group on Migration and Refugee Law (2016–22). He is also member of the American Society of International Law (ASIL), the Société française pour le droit international (SFDI), the Italian Society of International Law (SIDI), the Fédération internationale de droit européen (FIDE) and the European Law Institute (ELI).

Tamás Molnár is also author and co-author of many publications:

T. Molnár, ‘EU Member States’ Responsibility under International Law for Breaching Human Rights When Cooperating with Third Countries on Migration: Grey Zones of Law’ (2023) 8 European Papers. A Journal on Law and Integration 1013-1035.
M. Panizzon, D. Vitiello, T. Molnár (eds), Rule of Law and Human Mobility in the Age of the Global Compacts (MDPI 2023)
T. Molnár and Ch. Brière, ‘The New Review Mechanism of the UN Smuggling of Migrants Protocol. Challenges in Measuring the EU’s and its Member States’ Compliance’ in N. Levrat, Y. Kaspiarovich, Ch. Kaddous and R. A. Wessel (eds), The EU and its Member States’ Joint Participation in International Agreements (Hart Publishing 2022) 207-230
T. Molnár, The Interplay between the EU's Return Acquis and International Law (Edward Elgar Publishing 2021)
Molnár, T. The EU shaping the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration: the glass half full or half empty? (2020) 16 International Journal of Law in Context, p. 321-38.