A Social Work Approach to Unpacking the New Pact on Migration and Asylum: Real Lives that Matter

In recent years, we have heard a lot about the new Pact on Migration and Asylum, yet political jargon often dominates these discussions.

Building on the core values of social work, this round table unpacks, in concrete ways, how the new regulations impact the lives of people on the move.

To explore these multilayered questions, Reka si, Research and Art Institute invites you to join a live roundtable on April 15th from 11:30 to 13:30 at the Faculty of Social Work in Ljubljana.
The event will be held at Topniška ulica 31, 1000 Ljubljana, in Lecture Room P12.

Please REGISTER HERE to help us organize a meaningful and accessible event that responds to our diverse backgrounds, expectations, contributions, and needs.

The roundtable will deconstruct the new Pact on Migration and Asylum through the lens of social work practices.

The speakers and moderator with various lived experiences in migration or asylum will delve into intersecting realms of activism, research, and gender mainstreaming keeping the approach of real people and real lives that matter.

Speakers:

• Manar Abulkareem Abed is an advocate who combats bullying and gender- and sex-based violence in migration from an intersectional lens. Manar migrated from Iraq to Slovenia ten years ago. Drawing from her lived experience in migration and asylum within violent gender regimes, and as a mother of three, Manar strives to combat all forms of violence through intersectional justice.
• Samer Arkawi is an activist and researcher with lived experience in migration and asylum. He completed his Master's thesis on migration autonomy and is currently a PhD candidate at the Faculty of Social Work.
• Emina Bužinkić (PhD), is a researcher, activist, and writer whose work intersects migration, education, race, and feminist praxis. Actively reimagining and practicing migration justice, Emina contributes to organizing social movements and people’s tribunals. She currently works as a postdoctoral researcher at the Institute for Development and International Relations, after graduating from the University of Minnesota in 2023.

Moderator:

• Samar Zughool, Director of Reka Si, Research and Art Institute, is an intersectional feminist researcher, intercultural trainer, and community arts worker. She conducted her Master's thesis on the role of women's rights in reforming public policies after the Arab Spring and is currently a PhD candidate at the Faculty of Social Work. Through the SIDE art collective, Samar employs community arts to recreate political, cultural, and artistic scenes from an intersectional feminist lens.

This roundtable is organized by Reka Si within:

• The Knowledge for Action program by the Anna Lindh Foundation, where Reka Si conducted a policy paper on the topic, which will be presented at the beginning of the roundtable.
• Resilience in Advocacy: The New Pact on Migration and Asylum, which is part of the PROTEUS program managed by the SLOGA, platforma NVO za razvoj, globalno učenje in humanitarno pomoč.