Refugee Art and 'Freedom From Persecution, the Question of Afghanistan' UTS conference

'Freedom from Persecution: the Question of Afghanistan' is the theme of a conference being held at the University of Technology Sydney, on Friday 7 October, in association with the exhibition, Unsafe Haven: Hazaras in Afghanistan’ photographs by Abdul Karim Hekmat, a UTS graduate and former refugee from Afghanistan- who returned to his former homeland in the Hazaras regions in 2010 and documented his journey through photographs and text. 

A key question raised in the conference is how can non-refugees act for refugee rights?

One way is to support refugees through supporting their art and empathetically sharing their experiences represented through art. One of the main functions of art is to process the traumatic experiences of life, and so art by refugees and exiles has a special importance and significance: as a means of processing trauma and also of bearing witness, communicating the lived events that make up history and change.
  
I hope to write more on refugee art and the newly formed Refugee Art Project, whose spokespeople, Dr Safdar Ahmed and Biquis Ghani, will give a presentation at the conference on their recent formation and initiatives to humanise refugee rights.

Unfortunately I won't be able to attend the conference due to work commitments, so instead am posting the conference program here, with information of where to find further details from the Cosmopolitan Civil Societies Research Centre at UTS.  Ruth Skilbeck 


FREEDOM FROM PERSECUTION? THE QUESTION OF AFGHANISTAN

A conference held in association with the exhibition, ‘Unsafe Haven: Hazarras in Afghanistan’, UTS Tower Foyer.

When: 7 October, 9.15am-5.30pm

Where: Room 411, Building 2 (CB02.411) University of Technology Sydney, Broadway, NSW

Access: Free. Disabled access. Places are limited. Please register: ccs@uts.edu.au<mailto:ccs@uts.edu.au>

For thirty years Afghanistan has suffered under invasions, civil wars and military rule, and millions of Afghans have fled the country seeking refuge. Many fled the civil war after the 1979 Soviet invasion, and more followed during the Taliban period. By 2001, there were at least eight million Afghan refugees, mostly in Pakistan and Iran. Following the 2001 UN intervention and occupation more than five million Afghans – twenty per cent of the country’s population – voluntarily returned to the country, to a situation of continued political instability. Since 2006, with intensifying violence and internal conflict, voluntary return has declined. In recent months countries such as Australia have made provision for the forced return of Afghan refugees.

Continued conflict and protracted displacement in Afghanistan poses in sharp relief the question of how to guarantee freedom from persecution in the world today. In a global political system that generates radically destabilised countries, where political authority and legitimacy is absent, persecution becomes systemic. How can this be addressed?

PROGRAM

9.15-11.00 Persecution and the right to protection?
The Government has provisions for the forcible return of Afghans. Is it safe in Afghanistan for returning refugees? Abdul Hekmat launches his report on the situation for Hazarras in Afghanistan, and discusses the exhibition, ‘No Safe Haven’. Liz Thompson, refugee advocate, discusses the status of Hazarras in Pakistan. Prof. William Maley, from ANU, speaks on questions of persecution in Afghanistan, and protection in Australia. Chair: Dr Nina Burridge

11.30-1.00 Refugee policy and global politics?
In an age of humanitarian intervention and border protection, what is the place of refugee policy? Prof. Sam Blay, from the Law Faculty at UTS, discusses current issues in Australian refugee policy. Dr Nour Dados, from Sydney University, contextualises refugee policy with Australian state claims to territory. Dr Wahid Razi positions state failure in the context of invasion and occupation, discussing the post-2014 scenario for Afghanistan. Chair: A/Prof. Dr James Goodman

1.00-2.00 Lunch and Book Launch 
 ‘Contesting Citizenship: Irregular Migrants and New Frontiers of the Political’ by Dr Anne McNevin, RMIT (New York: Columbia University Press). Launched by Prof Jock Collins. 

1.00-3.00 New forms of citizenship and political community?
How have refugees constructed new political communities? How may these transform existing forms of nationality and citizenship? Dr Omid Tofighian discusses the role of Afghan refugees in recasting Iranian identities. Dr Anne McNevin, from the Global Cities Research Institute, RMIT, discusses her new book ‘Contesting Citizenship: Irregular Migrants and New Frontiers of the Political’. Laurie Berg discusses the liberatory potential but also some pitfalls of transnational citizenship building. Chair: Prof. Andrew Jakubowicz

3.30-5.00 Refugee advocacy?For non-refugees, how to act for refugee rights? How can majority opposition to ‘offshore processing’ of applications for refugee status translate into new policy regimes? A/Prof James Goodman discusses mobilisation for humanitarian norms in the context of impunity for rights violations. Ian Rintoul from Refugee Action Collective discusses approaches to refugee politics taken by the Collective. Dr. Safdar Ahmed and Bilquis Ghani from the Refugee Art Project outline their recent formation and initiatives to humanise refugee rights. Chair: Prof. Heather Goodall

The conference and exhibition are hosted by the Cosmopolitan Civil Societies Research Centre at UTS. The conference program is online at: www.cosmopolitancivilsocieties.com<http://www.cosmopolitancivilsocieties.com/>