Seminar: The Passenger as a risk: monitoring movement and privatising threat

On 15 and 16 March an international Joint Seminar on the theme ’passengers as a risk’ will be organised at the Centre for Migration Law of the Radboud University Nijmegen. The seminar is funded by COST action 24: the Social construction of threat; CHALLENGE and the Centre for Migration Law of the Radboud University Nijmegen in the Netherlands.

The two-day international seminar for Younger Scholars seeks to foster scholarly exchange between Young Researchers. With this seminar we are aiming at young (PhD) researchers who conduct research relevant to the subject of the day. Senior researchers, experts and practitioners will be invited to act as referents for the papers. We hope to stimulate interdisciplinary debate and in-depth discussions and welcome participants from various disciplines.

The preliminary organisation of the seminar into panels is a follows:

Panel 1: The moving of people as a threat

This panel focuses on the increasing monitoring of population flows and peoples’ movements. Several questions can be addressed here: in which cases, how and by whom are people on the move identified as threats, how are these threats (de)constructed?

Panel 2: Privatisation of threat

In this panel the privatisation of threat will be the central point of discussion. Private organisations are more and more being co-opted in the processes of migration control and security measures by making carriers liable to fines for flying in ‘inadmissible’ passengers and obliging them to transfer passenger data. Through this transfer of tasks and responsibilities to private actors, passengers are transformed into potential threats for them.

Panel 3: Consequences and Remedies for carriers and passengers

Defining passengers as a threat entails consequences for passengers and carriers. Do carriers have a choice when it comes to cooperation with states in migration control and security measures? What are the remedies for passengers and carriers?

The panels are preliminary, depending on the demand; there is a possibility that we add other panels. The seminar will be held 15-16 March 2007 at the Radboud University Nijmegen, the Netherlands. Hotel accommodation and a contribution towards travel will be covered for participants.

For more information please contact Sophie Scholten: s.scholten@jur.ru.nl, 0031-24-3615709.