The circular migration policy concept entered the EU’s agenda as part of a worldwide buzz among international organisations, namely that this type of migration could provide a “triple win solution” that would benefit all: the countries of origin and destination, as well as the migrant workers themselves. Yet, despite the great policy and scholarly attention that has been paid to it, little is known about the opportunities and pitfalls that circular migration schemes present for migrant workers’ rights, which will form part of our reflections during the book presentation. We will also tie such reflections to recent developments, such as the adoption of the new EU Blue Card Directive for highly skilled workers and the arrival of Ukrainian refugees fleeing the Russian invasion.

Program

Introductory comments Dr. Tamirace Fakhoury, Global Refugee Studies, Department of Politics and Society, AAU

Book presentation Dr. Zvezda Vankova, Law Faculty, Lund University

Discussant’s comments Dr. Jesper Lindholm, Department of Law, AAU

Q&A

 

Brief description of the book:

The book Circular Migration and the Rights of Migrant Workers in Central and Eastern Europe. The EU Promise of a Triple Win Solution (Cham: Springer Open Access, IMISCOE Research Series, 2020) adopts a rights-based approach to shed light on the different legal and policy instruments that have been developed to implement circular migration policies in the EU, and their consequences for the rights of migrant workers. It contributes to the understanding of the meaning of this concept in general and in the EU, as well as specifically regarding its Eastern neighborhood. The book provides a comprehensive picture of the formation and implementation of the EU’s circular migration approach that has developed through both EU and national instruments, on the basis of comparative case study analysis of Bulgaria and Poland’s migration laws and policies. By applying empirical legal research methods, it draws conclusions about the policy outcomes from the implementation of the various migration instruments falling under the circular migration umbrella and shows the consequences for the rights of migrant workers from Russia and Ukraine as a result of the application of different policy options. The presentation of the book will link the topic of circular migration with recent developments, such as the adoption of the new EU Blue Card Directive for highly skilled workers and the arrival of Ukrainian refugees fleeing the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Presenter's bio:

Dr. Zvezda Vankova is a Postdoctoral fellow at the Law Faculty of Lund University. She is the principal investigator of the project ‘Refugees as Migrant Workers. Labour Migration as Alternative for Refugee Protection in the EU Context?’ funded by a Dutch Research Council (NWO) Rubicon grant. Zvezda was previously a researcher at the Department of European and International Law and the Institute for Transnational and Euregional Cross- border Cooperation and Mobility (ITEM) of Maastricht University, as well as worked at the Migration Policy Group in Brussels and Open Society Institute in Sofia. She holds a PhD in Law from the Maastricht University. Her research interests lie at the intersection of EU migration and refugee law and empirical legal studies with a focus on legal migration, integration and complementary pathways for refugees. She has acted as a research consultant on migrant and refugee rights matters to the European Parliament, the Council of Europe’s Special Representative of the Secretary General on migration and refugees, and the UNHCR.

Discussant's bio:

Dr. Jesper Lindholm is an Associate Professor at the Department of Law at AAU-Aalborg University, and in the Research Group on Global and Transnational Law (RGTLaw) and at the Center for Displacement, Migration and Integration (MIX). He is teaching and researching within fields of human rights, migration, and public international law. He is also a board member in Dan Church Aid and Act for Life. Jesper is the former Vice-chairperson of the Board, Danish Institute for Human Rights. Former adjudicator, Danish Refugee Appeals Board. He was previously employed by, inter alia, UNHCR (Geneva, Dublin, Kosovo, Pakistan) and Amnesty International (London).

Moderator's bio:

Dr. Tamirace Fakhoury is an Associate Professor of Political Science and Global Refugee and Migration Studies at the University of Aalborg. She is the lead international investigator for the UKRI funded project on “Investigating and mobilising peace and trust for sustainable development”. Prior to joining the University of Aalborg, Tamirace was an Associate Professor at the Lebanese American University and the director of the Institute for Social Justice and Conflict Resolution (ISJCR). From 2012 until 2016, she was a visiting Assistant Professor in the summer semesters at the University of California in Berkeley. Tamirace has held several fellowships such as the Jean Monnet Fellowship at the European University Institute in Florence and the Alexander von Humboldt fellowship at the GIGA Institute in Hamburg.

Her core research and publication areas are migration and refugee governance in conflict areas; international responses to forced migration; the European Union’s external migration policy, transnational social movements, and power-sharing and ethno-sectarian conflicts.