UNU Update: WIDER conference on Poverty and Migration

	UNU Update
	The newsletter of United Nations University and its network of research and training centres and programmes
		Issue 15: March - April 2002

WIDER calls for papers on Poverty,
International Migration and Asylum

UNU World Institute for Development Economics Research (UNU/WIDER) is calling for papers for presentation at its conference on Poverty, International Migration and Asylum, scheduled for Helsinki, September 27-28. The conference will focus on the economic consequences of immigration and issues associated with asylum migration.

Download the conference poster ( 200kB)

It will seek to expand the focus of existing studies on the economic consequences of legal and illegal immigration to other host countries, to source countries, to place the economic study of immigration in a global context, and to enhance our understanding of those migratory movements that are undertaken for the purpose or with the consequence of seeking asylum in another state.

In recent years, large numbers of people have migrated, or have tried to migrate, from regions afflicted by poverty and insecurity to more prosperous and stable parts of the world. By the year 2000, the United Nations estimated that about 140 million people – roughly two percent of the world's population – lived in a country where they were not born.

Such population flows, often involving long and dangerous journeys, have been both prompted and facilitated by a variety of factors associated with the process of globalization: a growing disparity in the level of human security in different parts of the world; improved transportation, communications and information technology systems; the expansion of transnational social networks; and the emergence of a commercial (and sometimes criminal) industry, devoted to the smuggling of people across international borders.

Those interested in presenting a paper at the WIDER conference are invited to send a title and one-page abstract of their proposed contribution. Selected papers, together with a policy summary, will be included in a conference volume, edited by Professor George Borjas (Harvard University) and Dr. Jeffery Crisp (UNHCR Evaluation and Policy Analysis Unit).

Those interested in participating in the conference should submit the downloadable application form by April 30. The form can be sent by e-mail, fax (+358 9 615 99333) or mail to WIDER, Katajanokanlaituri 6B, 00160 Helsinki, Finland.

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