by Sabine Hess, Bernd Kasparek, Jelka Günther | University of Gottingen

Shortly after the 5th anniversary of the events in the summer months of 2015, when the March of Hope of refugees and migrants from Budapest to the Austrian border went down in history as the so-called European “refugee crisis”, the panel (Five Years after: The European Refugee Crisis and the Political Response” /RESPOND final conference) brought together high-level policy makers, practitioners and researchers to discuss…

RESPOND Press Release No. 111/2020 – 09 November 2020

At the press briefing on November 20, 2020, the central results of the three-year project will be presented and the new migration pact of the EU Commission will be placed in the context of these results. This will be followed by the international final conference "Governing Migration in Europe and Beyond: New Perspectives and Lessons Learned", which aims at the transnational exchange between research, policy and practice.

Press Release No. 110/2020 – 04 September 2020

by University of Göttingen | RESPOND

The research report “Border Experiences and Practices of Refugees” by the EU project “Multi-level Governance of Mass Migration in Europe and beyond - RESPOND)” provides a unique documentation for the experiences of refugee-migrants with the borders of Europe. The events in 2015 which was labeled as “European refugee crisis” is still affecting the European publics and politics. Much has been said and discussed about 2015/2016 migratory movements…

by Lena Karamanidou, Glasgow Caledonian University | Bernd Kasparek, University of Gottingen

On the 12th May 2020, 102 MEPs asked[1] the European Commission to examine the findings of a joint investigation on the killing of Muhammad Gulzhar on the 4th March in Evros, the area adjoining the Greek-Turkish border. The investigation found that his death was a likely a result of live fire by the Greek forces (Forensic Architecture, 2020; Bellingcat, 2020; Christides, Lüdke and Popp, 2020a). Gulzhar, and many others, were trying to cross into Greece following the announcement of the Turkish government that it ‘opened the border’ on the 27th February 2020.

by University of Göttingen

The research report “Refugee Protection in Germany” by the EU project “Multilevel Governance of Migration (RESPOND)” paints a gloomy picture of the human rights protection for asylum seekers in Germany. Among other things, the authors speak of a “differential exclusion” of ever larger groups from German asylum law on the basis of more or less arbitrary criteria. Although the basic right to asylum in Germany is officially unaffected, the authors argue that the many legal exceptions and hurdles lead to the fact that the protection standards of the Geneva Convention on Refugees and the European Charter of Human Rights are becoming less and less applicable in Germany. Professor Sabine Hess from the University of Göttingen led the research in Germany.

by RESPOND Project

The EC-funded international research project “RESPOND: Multilevel Governance of Mass Migration in Europe and Beyond” calls for human-rights responses to the explosive situation at the refugee camp “Moria” and in the Aegean region.

After another fire in which a woman was burnt to death, on Sunday 29 September 2019, the inhuman and volatile situation of the “hot-spot” Moria on the Greek island, Lesbos attracted further worldwide publicity. The woman’s death on Sunday was the third in the last two months.

by Dr. J. Eduardo Chemin | Institut für Soziologie, Georg-August-Universität Göttingen

Germany has been hailed for its “Refugee Welcome” culture and the efficient and organized manner in which it managed the 2015 migration crisis. One important aspect of reception policy in Germany has been undoubtedly the centralized refugee housing system and the way asylum seekers are systematically “distributed” around the German territory. But although the system is undoubtedly efficient from an institutional perspective, does it offer “adequate living conditions” for the person who is seeking asylum?

In his recent publication "Turkish Origin Migrants and Their Descendants", Ayhan Kaya proposes an interesting approach to the phenomenon of migration in the context of a transnational space constructed by immigrants of Turkish descent and their descendants who manoeuvre between the countries of settlement and origin…