2008 Press Releases
03.04.2008
Childhood and Migration is the theme of a major international conference taking place at University College Cork on April 9th-11th 2008.
Over 100 delegates from countries all over the world will attend the event, which aims to provide a unique forum for academics, NGOs and policy makers to exchange experience and ideas in this area.
Children and young people form an important part of global migration flows, and they comprise 12 per cent of Ireland's current migrant population. However, their experiences are often overlooked in research and policy in the areas of migration and integration. While children's experiences of migration are beginning to receive attention from a variety of different perspectives, there are few opportunities to bring these together in an integrated forum. This conference aims to provide such a forum by focusing on the intersection of these perspectives and by attending to children's own experiences and perspectives of migration, diaspora and transnational life. One of the aims of the event is to facilitate a dialogue between academics, practitioners and policy-makers, and to overcome the current fragmentation between and within policy and research approaches to childhood and migration.
In an Irish context, this is an extremely timely event given the recent concerns with issues around migration, citizenship and integration in Ireland. Children and young people are at the core of many of these debates, but their own voices are usually either excluded or marginalised within them. This conference will provide a valuable opportunity for researchers and practitioners in Ireland to set these debates in a global context and to engage with international debates in the area.
The conference will be officially opened by Melanie Verwoerd, Executive Director of UNICEF Ireland, in UCC on April 9th.
The event is being hosted by the Marie Curie Migrant Children research team, which is based in the Department of Geography at UCC. The team is currently conducting in-depth research with migrant children in Ireland, exploring their experiences of moving to and living in Ireland, with an emphasis on prioritising the children's own voices in telling their stories.
Picture: Marie Curie Migrant Children Research Team L-R: Dr Naomi Bushin, Dr Caitríona Ní Laoire, Dr Allen White, Dr Fina Carpena-Méndez
683MMcS