Forced (im)mobility of EU citizens of Roma ethnicity

A Workshop in Preparation of a Special Issue on ‘Forced (im)mobility of Romani Ethnics’

Circular and return migrations are essential clusters of mobility, based in the right to freedom of movement. Despite this right shared by EU citizens, states deploy strategies directed to contain Romani ethnics’ mobility. On the one hand, the intra-EU mobility of Romani is represented as a phenomenon having consequences on national and international politics, social life of communities and lives of people pushed to irregular bureaucratic interactions. On the other hand, throughout Europe Romani ethnics have been subjected to different forms of forced (im)mobility.
The workshop aims to explore the repatriation or (soft-)deportation practices (Kalir 2016), and the politics of removal and/or containment viewed through the lenses of forced (im)mobility (van Baar 2015). Papers will reflect on repatriation, such as ‘voluntary return’ practices in Spain, or internal politics of containment, such as ‘campi nomadi’ in Italy or politics of evictions in France (Carrera 2013; Olivera 2015; Webber 2014).
First, repatriation policies are a forceful measure being widely applied to non-European nationals in countries across Europe, except EU citizens of Romani ethnicity. It is hard to think of other EU citizens, belonging (or not) to a distinctive ethnicity, being forcefully removed from a national territory. Second, internal state politics leading to the containment and eviction of Romani migrants are reported by NGOs (Human Rights Watch 2010; UNICEF 2012; IOM 2012), presented to EU Court of Justice (ERRC 2012; ERIO 2011), and critically addressed by academics (O’Nions 2011; Parker 2012; Vullnetari 2012). Romani migrants’ forced removal might be analysed engaging several human and civil rights: the right to the city, the rights to free movement, the right to housing, and more. At the same time, the state practices of removal might be tackled through securitization processes or moral panic strategies.
In this workshop we would like to discuss how state practices, such as evictions, containment or even voluntary return, correspond or reinforce repatriation programs.
To what extent the desertion of Romani ethnics from state welfare can be seen as part of a broader policy to ‘eliminate’ undeserving/unfitting subjects from social benefits? It is assumed that the exit/integration strategies are one-way direction: the interest of the state prevails over the one of the migrants. To what extent the migrants’ consent becomes the ultimate proof of the benefit and legitimacy for political action?
In order to decipher the internal and external state logic and praxis of forced im/mobility directed at EU citizens of Romani ethnicity, we invite you to address this topic, considering multi-disciplinary perspectives.
Workshop format and Time-table:
25.02 – sending 200 words abstract and a short bio to ioanavrabiescu@yahoo.com
10.03 – confirmation of the participation
31.03 – sending the concept paper
07.04 – one-day workshop in Bucharest
21.04 - submission of revised papers

Workshop details:
location: Bucharest, Romania
date: 07.04.2016
Paper submissions to the journal will be decided after the workshop.
For more info, contact ioanavrabiescu@yahoo. com

Ioana Vrabiescu
Affiliated Scholar
IMES - Institute for Migration and Ethnic Studies
University of Amsterdam imes.uva.nl
----
RIO Fellowship 2015
Foundation Open Society Institute (FOSI)