COLLOQUIUM/WORKSHOP: Migrations, human rights and citizenship

The Colloquium/Workshop Migrations, human rights and citizenship intends to analyse, discuss, and propose solutions on the impact of migration in different citizenship contexts, in today's complex and heterogeneous societies. It is, then, presented as one of the possible achievements of measures to be implemented in the pursuit of the Millennium Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) proposed by the UN, discussing the meanings and contents of the notions of essential conditions of coexistence and sustainable livelihood, specifically having in view of the implementation of objective 16 – peace, justice and strong institutions. This objective is pursued here through critical reflection and consequent proposal for the implementation and effectiveness of legal regimes and social policies for the sustainable development of societies. Pressing social and economic transformations, regional conflicts in the European borderlands, and the consequent ongoing refugee crises that have continuously affected the EU since 2015, and even before - from the Mediterranean to the East borders -, along with mobility and health issues related to the COVID-19 pandemic and the catastrophic events related to climate change and war. The topics to be considered are mostly on the questioning of the role of tolerance in the face of social, cultural and political multiculturalism and interculturality resulting from migration and the respective legal and political-social treatments. In this context, an interdisciplinary approach is proposed, with two main dimensions: 1) Legal analysis of migration and the respective mechanisms for welcoming migrants; 2) Social and political analysis of migration in terms of access to support and social protection measures that guarantee effective integration. The main purposes of the proposal therefore lie in (a) providing a diagnosis of the current situation and (b) building innovative solutions at the legal level and, concomitantly, in social policies. The discussion will therefore focus on current migratory movements, specifically on their economic, political and environmental reasons, among others – and on the legal and social situation of migrants (in a regular and/or irregular situation), in general, and of asylum seekers and beneficiaries of refugee status, in particular – and their impact, especially in Portugal, as a host country for migrants, and in the European Union as a whole. Thus, the theoretical framework of the philosophical, political, legal and social meanings of migration, and the respective causes and practical consequences will be sought, presenting these issues from the point of view of human rights and analysing the ways in which they are dealt with by law – Public International Law, European Union Law and National Law – and projected in social policies – and, thus, how they establish and implement the relevant legal regimes –, in order to understand the reasons for the search for Portugal as a host country and the intercultural links (of tolerance) that have been established, or not, at national level as an example in the context of the European Union. The main objectives of the colloquium/workshop will therefore be: a) the analysis and criticalreflexive exposition of different social, political and legal meanings of migration, tolerance and citizenship assumed in today’s multicultural and complex societies; b) the proposal of measures to answer to practical problems identified in the context of the admission of migrants in Portugal as a host country in the European Union as a whole.

Keywords: Migrations/Toleration/Human Rights/Intercultural Dialogue/Social Inclusion/Citizenship

Abstracts of 300 words (max.) should be submitted by October 10th. 2022 to mhrc@ij.uc.pt. The papers proposals shall fit into the main objectives of the colloquium (paragraphs a and b).