Dear Members,
We have received an invitation to attend the conference detailed below.
10 free spaces have been offered to NAIRO members and spaces are available on a first come first serve basis.
Members can book using the Eventbrite link below.
Non-members can join NAIRO by clicking the following link:
Invitation to Conference
Precarious Citizenship: Young People Who are Undocumented, Separated and Settled in the UK
A one-day conference at Birkbeck, University of London for academics, front line practitioners and activists interested in how precarious citizenship and hostile immigration laws impact the lives of separated children and young people as they live and transition to adulthood in the UK.
Organised by Birkbeck, University of London Birkbeck Institute for the Humanities, and Migrant and Refugee Children’s Legal Unit.
Significant numbers of young people who are settled in the UK (some 120,000) do not have British citizenship. Many have no ‘lawful’ status to remain in the UK whilst cuts to legal aid and fast-paced changes to immigration laws fuelled by a hostile anti-immigrant climate mean that this trend may indeed get worse with numbers rising. Many of these young people may have lived in the UK for many years and consider themselves to be British. Indeed, they may not be aware of their precarious citizenship until they leave school and try to apply for bank accounts, jobs, benefits or university or when they are leaving care or following a family breakdown. Their precarious status arises from the combination of their transition out of childhood and the discriminatory character of immigration law that means for many of these young people, despite being settled in the UK for many years, once they reach adulthood they cannot secure their ‘citizenship’.
The purpose of this conference is to increase awareness of the precarious citizenship of this group of young people in the UK; to share empirical and theoretical knowledge about contemporary and historical forms of precarious citizenship at the intersection of youth and immigration; to raise awareness of the needs, rights and entitlements of this group of young people and explore barriers to education, health, housing, social care support and access to justice; to develop a network of academics and practitioners who can take forward the study of precarious citizenship in young people’s lives, and to contribute to theoretical and policy development focused on this vulnerable group.
The full conference programme will be published in due course.
We will be joined by young with the lived experience of precarious citizenship and youth activists from migrants rights and anti-racism movements to explore effective political mobilisation of young people.
Keynote speakers include: Nando Sigona, (IRiS), Lilana Keith (PICUM), Roberto Gonzales (Harvard). Presenting Organisations also include: British Association of Social Workers; Doctors of the World; Baobab Centre for Young Survivors in Exile; Prince’s Trust; Centrepoint, The Children’s Society and many more.
When
Wednesday, 1 June 2016 from 09:00 to 17:00 (BST)
Where
Birkbeck, University of London, Clore Lecture Theatre, Clore Management Centre, Torrington Square, Bloomsbury, London WC1E 7JL
Register
