On June 13, the UCM Global Order Project was joined by the migration experts Sophie Schellens and Liselot van Zantvoort from the human rights organisation Justice & Peace in The Hague. We discussed the global order of international refugee law in the context of recent EU refugee policy. Participants critically examined the Dublin system and the EU-Turkey deal. Conclusions were that functioning of Dublin might be enhanced by an EU-centralized asylum application entity, and that the EU-Turkey deal undermines international refugee law in diverse respects. A big thanks to our experts and participants!

Exploitation of Ethiopian domestic workers in the Middle East

On April 20, UCM kicked off its Global Order year 2016 with a talk by migration expert Dr. Katie Kuschminder from the Maastricht School of Governance. She provided new insight on the Global Order of migration, poverty structures and international law by sharing her findings from reseach in Ethiopia. She had interviewed Ethiopian women upon their return from the Middle East, where they were exploited as domestic workers in many cases. According to a recent ILO study, there are more than 50 million domestic workers worldwide. Their precarious conditions of labour must be addressed. Dr. Kuschminder explained that oftentimes personal ties, not agencies, offer the best chances in finding decent employers. In the end, however, the migration experience of domestic workers depends largely on the personality of their employers - a leak in the dense web of Global Order. Future research could e.g. revolve around effective use of employer rating systems. We warmly thank Dr. Kuschminder and all of you who attended the lecture!