We’re pleased to invite you to our second session in the UM6P Research Chair’s 2025 Webinar Series, titled “(Re)Framing Migration: Examining Migration Narratives in the Global North and the Global South.â€� The webinar will take place on Wednesday, July 9th, from 1.00 p.m. to 2.30 p.m (GMT+1), via this .

The session will explore how divergent narratives on migration in the Global North and Global South shape practice and policy responses, influencing both the governance and experience of migration and forced displacement. Please view the scene-setting brief introducing the webinar topic.

Our speakers for this webinar include:

• Nando Sigona, Chair of International Migration and Forced Displacement, University of Birmingham
• William Allen, Assistant Professor of Political Science, University of Southampton
• Gibril Faal, Visiting Professor in Practice, Firoz Lalji Institute for Africa, London School of Economics and Political Science
• Paula Banerjee, IDRC Research Chair on Gender and Forced Displacement, Asian Institute of Technology

The webinar will be moderated by Myriam Cherti, IDRC Research Chair on Forced Displacement at Mohammed VI Polytechnic University (UM6P).

Over six days, the event critically examined structural inequities exacerbated by environmental crises, focusing on the lived experiences of women in the Global South. Thematic modules blended theoretical frameworks with empirical case studies, providing a multidimensional and interdisciplinary understanding of climate-induced migration.  Sessions progressed from foundational concepts to detailed regional analyses of South and Southeast Asia, emphasizing the gendered dimensions of displacement. It addressed global governance frameworks, including the Refugee and Statelessness Conventions, Sustainable Development Goals, and domestic policy contexts.

, IDRC Endowed Chair and Director of the CGFD, stated, “Climate change has a profound impact on everyone, displacing thousands of people in South and Southeast Asia each year. However, there is a significant lack of policies to assist people in coping with its effects. Climate change affects women and men differently, and finding solutions requires innovative thinking. This course is designed to encourage creative approaches that can help shape equitable policies for women, acknowledging that when women suffer, the entire society suffers.�

We are pleased to announce the successful proposals of the AIT Workshop and Conference
Seed Grants 2024, which were selected based on their evaluation across the assigned
eligibility criteria as mentioned in the document circulated earlier.

The approved AIT-WS&C projects are the following:
1. Professor Paula Banerjee, Centre on Gender and Forced Displacement/ Gender and Development Studies
Title- “Impact of Climate Induced Forced Displacement on Women in the Global South:Their Protection under International and Domestic Laws� Type: workshop
2. Dr. Indrajit Pal, Disaster Preparedness, Mitigation and Management
Title- “Leveraging Higher Education Industry Partnership (HEIP) for Disaster and Climate Resilience in Thailand� Type: workshop
3. Natthachet Tangdamrongsub, Water Engineering and Management (WEM)
Title- “Advancing Agriculture, Climate, Environmental, and Disaster Monitoring Through Satellite-Based Soil Moisture Retrieval and Applications� Type: Workshop
4. Sushil Kumar Himanshu, Assistant Professor, Agricultural Systems and Engineering, Department of Food, Agriculture and Bioresources, School of Environment, Resources and Development, Type: Workshop
Title- Empowering Farming Communities on the Adoption of Regenerative Agriculture as Nature-Positive Solutions for Rice Production Through Knowledge Sharing and Capacity Building Workshop
5. Sponsored and Contracted Projects Unit
Title- “Industry-Academia Business Incubation Conclave (IABIC) 2024� Type: Conference

We shall be having a meeting with all the proponents who will present their ideas and plans under the assigned projects and discuss how SCPO and other offices can support them to make a very productive and successful event.
We would like to take this opportunity to thank all the Faculty and Service/Responsibility centers who applied for the call and look forward to receiving
submissions for the next round for 2025.
With warm regards,
————————————–
Prof. Nitin Kumar Tripathi
Vice President for Academic Affairs
Asian Institute of Technology
58 Moo 9, Klongnueng, Klongluang,
Pathumthani 12120, Thailand
www.ait.ac.th
Tel: +(662) 524-5577
Tel: +(662) 524-5002 (Direct)
nitinkt@ait.asia

Hosted by the Centre on Gender and Forced Displacement (CGFD) at the , the conference featured four panels with active participation from IDRC Research Chairs.

Taking feminist perspectives on war, conflicts, displacements, migration, and peace, the three-fold objectives of the conference are

1. To Investigate the gendered assumptions/stereotypes in the study of forced migration, displacements, international relations, and national and foreign policy making, including their explicit geopolitical and biopolitical reasoning and how political spatialization renders women and vulnerable groups even more vulnerable.
2. To examine the implications of militarized notions of territorial citizenship, using the masculinist ideas of power, space, and security and feminine representations of peace, security, and victimhood.
3. To explore how the practical everyday implications of geopolitics and biopolitics and their intersectionalities impact the causes and consequences of displacements.

Panel One: Gender, Geopolitics, and Internal Displacements

Chair: Professor Paula Banerjee (IDRC Research Chair, Director of CGFD, AIT)

1. IDP’s in Myanmar
   Speaker: Dr. Nyi Nyi Kyaw (IDRC Research Chair for Chiang Mai University, Thailand)
2. Spatial Confinement and Displacement: The Bedouins (Badu) of the Negev (Naqab)
   Speaker: Dr. Priya Singh (Post Doctoral Researcher, CFGD, AIT, Thailand)
3. IDP’s and Climate Change
   Speaker: Mr. Bradley Mellicker (Senior Regional Emergency Post Crisis Specialist, Regional Office for Asia Pacific, International Organization for Migration)

Panel Two: Gendered Vulnerabilities under the Rubrics of Citizenship and Statelessness

Chair: Professor Geraldine Forbes (Professor, State University of New York Oswego, USA)

1. LTBTQ Community in Lebanon
   Speaker: Dr. Houwayda Matta Ramia (IDRC Research Chair, St. Joshep University, Lebanon)
2. Women in 1971 Conflict
   Speaker: Dr. Purna Banerjee (Associate Professor, Presidency University, Kolkata, India)
3. Biometric Data, Identity and Refugee Protection: the Case of Rohingya Camp in Bangladesh
   Speaker: Professor Nasreen Chowdhory (Professor, Department of Political Science, Delhi University)

Panel Three: Gender, Biopolitics and Displacements

Chair: Professor Lydia Potts (Coordinator, European Masters in Migration and Intercultural Relations, Carl Von Ossietzky University, Germany)

1. “The Complex Nexus of Geopolitics and Biopolitics on the Health and Well-Being of the Displaced: Evidence from Rohingya Refugees in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh”
   Speaker: Dr. Monira Ahsan (Postdoctoral Researcher, CGFD, AIT, Thailand)
2. “Security of the Rohingya Refugees among Thai Muslims”
   Speaker: Dr. Amporn Marddent (Assistant Professor, Faculty of Sociology and Anthropology, Thammasat University)

Panel Four: Geopolitics and Biopolitics: Everyday Experiences of the Displaced

Chair: Dr. Mike Hayes (Lecturer, the Institute for Human Rights and Peace Studies, Mahidol University)

1. “The ‘abandoned’ Identities and Realities of being a Migrant Worker: The Case of the Bangladeshi Women Domestic Migrants in Asia”
   Speaker: Dr. Poonam Sharma (International Center for Cultural Studies, NYCU, Taiwan)
2. “The Compounded Victimization of Women in Assam’s NRC Process – A Geopolitical Analysis”
   Speaker: Ms. Shuma Talukder (Corporate Lawyer and Corporate Governance Professional and Director of LexED Research, Kolkata, India)
3. “Gendering Salaita: Dissent in American Academia in the Era of Zionism”
   Speaker: Dr. Debojoy Chanda (Assistant Professor, Department of English, Panskura, Banamali College, India)
4. “Brothels and its relationship with geopolitics: A case study on Migrant women in Kolkata”
   Speaker: Dr. Sangbida Lahiri (Assistant Professor, JK Lakshmipat University, India)

View the conference agenda for a full list of panel topics, keynote addresses, lectures, and speakers:

Back Row: A. Girmachew Zewdu (Ethiopia), Desiree Del Rosario (Chair, Dominican Republic), Sheila Martinez (Dominican Republic), Heather Alexander (Canada), Abebaw Minaye (Chair, Ethiopia), Roula El-Rifai (IDRC), T. Alain Ouedraogo (Chair, Burkina Faso), Opportuna Kweka (Chair, Tanzania); Front Row: Ramata Thioune (IDRC), Amal El Ouassif (Chair, Morocco), Caroline Ford (IDRC). Not shown: Paula Banerjee (Chair, Thailand) and James Milner (Canada)

Following their inaugural workshop in Dar es-Salaam in May, five of the IDRC Research Chairs on Forced Displacement (Desiree Del Rosario, Abebaw Minaye, Tiga Alain Ouedraogo, Opportuna Kweka, Amal El Ouassif, and Paula Banerjee) gathered to discuss the crisis of climate displacement from a Global South perspective. The forum was an informal workshop held on the margins of the Global South Summit on Climate Displacement at Mohammed VI Polytechnic University in Rabat, Morocco from 1-3 November. The debate was urgent and spirit. At stake, the need for new approaches to climate displacement.

The lively debate touched on issues as diverse as framing and terminology to the environmental impact of refugee camps. The result was a list of policy recommendations for governments and the international community, including the pressing need to mainstream climate change and the environment throughout all forced displacement policy, while also mainstreaming forced displacement into every aspect of climate change policy, breaking down the silos that impede holistic solutions.

One theme that emerged from the debate was the need to keep the focus on the inherent dignity of people and the responsibility of governments to be transparent and to protect both their own citizens, but also migrants and displaced persons. The Chairs noted that many best practices can be found not only in the practices of some governments, but in the knowledge and expertise of displaced persons, refugees, indigenous communities, and nomadic pastoralists, who often know best how to balance human activity and conservation. The discussion stressed the need for localized and local responses that are tailored to each community; what works best in a refugee camp in Tanzania might not work in an urban setting in Ethiopia. Finally, Chairs highlighted the specific issue of access to data on climate displacement, and the need to better incorporate climate displacement data into development indices.

Results and recommendations from the Workshop will be presented at the Global Refugee Forum in Geneva in December, and the Network will propose a plan of action for climate change conferences, to ensure that displacement remains a major focus of the global climate change agenda.

Climate Call to Action:

Together, we acknowledge the deeply interconnected and interdependent nature of the nexus between climate change and forced displacement.
Building on existing Global South agreements, tools, fora and knowledge; Adopting and endorsing the conclusions of the Global South Summit on Climate Displacement, held by the research chair at Mohammad VI Polytechnic University in Rabat from 1-3 November 2023; Seeking to draw on best practices from the Global South, we urge governments, international organizations and the international community to commit to:

1. Ensure that responses to climate and environmental displacement are localized, situational and country specific;
2. Encourage the comprehensive management of environmental displacement policies including the governance of natural resources, disaster response, migration and forced displacement;
3. Integrate local perspectives (refugees, host communities, migrants, displaced and stateless persons) at every level and stage of national adaptation and mitigation policymaking;
4. Centre decolonial and indigenous knowledge and practices in climate displacement and environmental policy (including natural resource and land use), and place indigenous expertise at the forefront of climate solutions.
5. Integrate considerations of race, gender, and diverse identity intersections with climate change and displacement;
6. Foster a positive narrative around climate displaced persons and host communities;
7. Promote collaboration and mechanisms for partnership among State actors, civil society, private sector and impacted individuals;
8. Capitalize on regional integration mechanisms to encourage regional solutions;
9. Promote South-South platforms on climate displacement at national, regional, and global levels for learning, coordination, and best practices;
10. Ensure that research, data and statistics on the nexus between climate and displacement are publicly available, and incorporate climate change impact analyses in all research and publications.

Professor Paula Banerjee, a renowned scholar on gender, migration, and forced displacement, will lead the center as its director and IDRC-funded Research Chair Professor at AIT. She aims to generate locally-led, context-informed, multi-disciplinary and gender responsive knowledge on forced displacement in South and Southeast Asia, to inform policies at national, regional, and global levels.

Human trafficking is a deeply troubling phenomenon that continues to plague societies worldwide, particularly impacting vulnerable populations, especially women and girls. This article critically examines the gendered nature of human trafficking, contrasting it with human smuggling, and explores the complexities surrounding the agency of trafficked individuals. Through case studies and analysis, the article challenges prevailing narratives that portray trafficked women as helpless victims, emphasizing the underlying power dynamics and agency involved in their choices for survival. The narrative underscores the need for a nuanced understanding of trafficking, advocating for a reevaluation of terminology and perceptions to empower individuals affected by this pervasive issue.