Diversity Development Group kindly invites you to attend an international conference “The Policies of (Un)welcome – Regional Perspectives”.

The event will draw attention to the refugee reception and integration in the context of crisis by taking regional approach and engaging speakers from the Central and Eastern European and Mediterranean regions.

The conference aims to compare the responses to the three events – the 2015-16 Mediterranean crisis, the irregular migration from Belarus and the reception of Ukrainians fleeing the war. It will focus on the perspectives of the different countries of the EU that were affected by refugee arrivals during different points in time. Particularly, it will bring attention to the local and national perspectives of practitioners involved in responding to the needs of refugees and migrants.

The questions to be explored in the conference will involve:

• Examples and causes of solidarity or lack of it in the initial stages of reception towards refugees and migrants (policy, public attitudes)
• Mistakes made and lessons learnt from the previous migration waves (locally, nationally and EU-wise)
• Ways to better respond to migration waves in the future
• Discussion on the long-term approach towards integration of refugees
• Lessons learnt and advice on how to protect vulnerable persons from exploitation and human trafficking

Date: June 15, 2022

Time: 12:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.

Place: “Pasaka” movie theater (Paupio st. 26, Vilnius, Lithuania)

The event will be held in English.

Please register by June 14, 2 p.m. via this link: here

Full conference program is available: here 

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The conference will be held in the framework of Solidarity in a Future Europe project, co-funded by the Europe for Citizens Programme of the EU.