The Danish Institute for International Studies (DIIS) has the pleasure of inviting you to a book launch seminar on:
The Migration Industry and the Commercialization of
International Migration
Thursday, 21 February 2013, 14.00-16.00
Danish Institute for International Studies
Main Auditorium
Strandgade 71, ground floor, 1401 Copenhagen K
Background
Over the last few decades, a host of new commercial opportunities have emerged that capitalize both on the migrants’ desires to migrate and the struggle by governments to manage migration. From the rapid growth of specialized transportation and labour contracting companies, to multinational businesses managing detention centres or establishing border security, to the organized criminal networks profiting from human smuggling and trafficking. Migration has become big business, and international migration has become increasingly commercialized.
In the new book The Migration Industry and the Commercialization of International Migration (Routledge, 2012) edited by Thomas Gammeltoft-Hansen and Ninna Nyberg Sørensen, this growing migration industry is examined in all its facets and different geographical dimensions. As the volume testifies, it is impossible to speak of migration today without also speaking of the migration industry. Yet, acknowledging the role the migration industry plays raises a number of questions for how we think about migration in general, and how we should design migration policies. How should states work with contracting companies to attract labour migration; what are the financial, policy, and human rights consequences of the sprawling privatization of migration management functions; and what is the interplay between migration policies and the clandestine parts of the migration industry, such as human smuggling?
The seminar will take on these and many other questions. It will commence with a short presentation of the book by the editors, followed by critical interventions from Khalid Koser, contextualizing the book in the wider field of migration studies. The second part of the seminar will focus on the impact of the migration industry on migration policy and include a presentation by Henrik Ankerstjerne, and Alexander Betts based on his contribution to the volume.
Speakers
Khalid Koser, Deputy Director, GCSP, Geneva
Alexander Betts, Associate Professor, University of Oxford
Henrik Ankerstjerne, Deputy Permanent Secretary, Danish Ministry of Justice
Ninna Nyberg Sørensen, Senior Researcher, DIIS
Thomas Gammeltoft-Hansen, Senior Researcher, DIIS
Anita Bay Bundegaard, Managing Editor, Politiken
Programme
14.00-14.05 Introduction
Anita Bay Bundegaard, Managing Editor, Politiken
14.05-14.15 The Growing Commercialization of International Migration
Ninna Nyberg Sørensen, Senior Researcher, DIIS
Thomas Gammeltoft-Hansen, Senior Researcher, DIIS
14.15-14.45 The Theoretical and Practical Value of Migration Industry
Conceptualizations
Khalid Koser, Deputy Director, GCSP, Geneva
14.45-15.00 Coffee Break
15.00-15.15 Global Migration Governance
Alexander Betts, Associate Professor, University of Oxford
15.15-15.30 The Policy Relevance of the Migration Industry
Henrik Ankerstjerne, Deputy Permanent Secretary,
Danish Ministry of Justice
15.30-16.00 Open Discussion
16.00-17.45 Reception
Chair: Anita Bay Bundegaard, Managing Editor, Politiken
Practical Information
The seminar will be held in English.
Participation is free of charge, but registration is required. Please use below online registration form no later than Wednesday, 20 February 2013 at 12.00 noon. |
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