'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/>
Showing posts with label refugee art. Show all posts
Showing posts with label refugee art. Show all posts
Thursday 6 October 2011
Sunday 25 September 2011
Take a Break from Asylum Law Debate for Refugee Art
Readers of this blog will know by now that I have been attempting to cover the latest wave of controversy and events in Australia’s long-running public debate over asylum law and refugee policy that revolves around the key contested issues of onshore/offshore processing: whether or not asylum seekers arriving by boat are let into Australia to have their claims processed here - or whether they are sent to be ‘processed’ in a nearby country or Pacific Island; if they are processed here whether or not they are put into ‘mandatory detention’ (in effect a form of indefinite imprisonment whilst they await the processing of their claim which may take years); if they are accepted as legitimate refugees whether or not they are issued with Temporary Protection Visas - which allow the rights of refuge but only on a temporary basis denying the security of citizenship....Another key area is of course refugee children and how they should be treated.
Those following these events in Australia will also know that the ‘resolution’ of the Asylum Law debate in Australia has been suspended over the parliamentary break. When Parliament resumes in two weeks time a vote will be held to determine whether the Labor government has sufficient support to pass its proposed amendment to the Migration Act to allow offshore processing of asylum seekers in Malaysia, commonly referred to as the ‘Malaysia Solution’ - which the Labor government has said repeatedly is the way to ‘break the people smuggler business model,’ referring to the boats that ferry asylum seekers to Australia - for a sum of money - a dangerous voyage that has resulted in many shipwrecks and deaths at sea. This shows how desperate asylum seekers are to further risk their lives in their bid to save their lives from the situations of war and conflict and environmental disaster that they are fleeing from.
Meanwhile, for if you are in Sydney, there are two significant exhibitions of art by refugees now living in Australia that give a different view from the perspective of asylum seekers and refugees themselves, that you might like to visit in this lull, in the political ‘asylum law debate’ and that I shall discuss in my next blog entry.
The exhibitions are:
‘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. At the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) Tower Foyer, Level 4, 15 Broadway, Ultimo. Dates: 5 September- 7 October 2011.
And:
The Refugee Art Project at ICE Information and Cultural Exchange, 8 Victoria Road, Parramatta. Dates: 8 September- 29 September. 10-4pm Mon-Fri.
I will discuss these exhibitions in a coming blog entry.