DIIS seminar: Afghanistan 2014 – migationskrise: overgange og udfordringer

TID: Torsdag den 4. september kl. 15-17

STED: DIIS, Danish Institute for International Studies, Main auditorium, Gl. Kalkbrænderi Vej 51A, 2100 København Ø.

TILMELDING: Participation is free of charge, but registration is required. Please use online registration form no later than Wednesday, 3 September 2014 at 12.00 noon. Sign up

Afghanistan 2014 – Migration Crisis, Transitions and Challenges

2014 is a year of political transition in Afghanistan. The planned withdrawal of most NATO troops and the upcoming presidential election will have repercussions for peace, security – and not least migration.

Today Afghanistan is characterized by a protracted refugee situation with more than 2.4 million Afghan refugees, an equal number of undocumented migrants in insecure situations in Iran and Pakistan, and over 630,000 internally displaced persons within the country.

While repatriation of refugees was significant during the last decade, it has dwindled during the last years. Yet there are increasing pressures for Afghan youth to return. Likewise deportation of Afghans is ongoing.

This seminar analyses the environment and operational context of “2014 Afghanistan” in relation to this situation. Focusing on the broader context of intervention, deportation and re-integration, it addresses the following questions: 

What situation do Afghan deportees return to? What is the broader economic context? And what are possible areas of intervention to assist them?

Nassim Majdi examines the situation for Afghan deportees. Most of Afghanistan’s migration is youth-based: yet, they is a left-out category in terms of the assistance received. There are increasing pressures for Afghan youth to return home – whether from refugee/migranthosting countries, asylumproviding countries, or from host country communities.

Pressure to return, but to return to what? Building on earlier work on deportees from the United Kingdom to Afghanistan, this presentation will offer new material on deportee youth in Afghanistan’s capital city. What is the experience of forced return, and what are the challenges to deportee youth’s wellbeing?

Hervé Nicolle focuses on the context of aid and actors currently working in Afghanistan, pointing to specific bottlenecks and lessons learned.

He will put in perspective the social and economic changes impacting main urban centers, reviewing the job market situation and providing a concrete perspective on what it means to speak about (re-)integration for returnees – whether refugees or deportees – in a society like Afghanistan, or Kabul, today. What are the options at a time of renewed crisis?

Speakers

Nassim Majidi and Hervé Nicolle are founders and directors of Samuel Hall Consulting. They have carried out a number of studies in Afghanistan in relation to return migration, re-integration of migrants, and programme interventions.

Nassim Majidi, an expert in Afghan return migration and re-integration, is also a PhD Candidate at Sciences Po, Paris. She has published in e.g. Migration Studies, Forced Migration Review, and Journal of Internal Displacement.

Hervé Nicolle’s areas of specialization are development economics, humanitarian and development programme evaluation, and strategic programme design. He has monitored and evaluated programmes in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran, Yemen, Kenya, Ethiopia and Somalia.

Nauja Kleist, Senior Researcher, DIIS

Read the full programme