Im Zuge der Debatte um das Unglück vor Lampedusa bin ich von verschiedenen Medien zur europäischen Flüchtlingspolitik interviewt worden, unter anderem im ARD Morgenmagazin, für das Bayrische Fernsehen und im WDR Radio/Funkhaus Europa.

I am looking forward to chairing a panel on 'negotiating forced migration' at 'Migrationsregime vor Ort – lokale Migrationsregime' a symposium by Gesellschaft für Historische Migrationsforschung (GHM)
in co-operation with Institut für Migrationsforschung und Interkulturelle Studien (IMIS), Universität Osnabrück 1st/2nd October 2013.

In the context of the current refugee debate, I was interviewed for the SAT1 TV show 'Akte 20.13'. An edited version of the interview is available on their homepage, here.

The online-version of Berlin newspaper Der Tagesspiegel published a commentary by me in which I argue that asylum should be viewed as a public political issue for the whole of society rather than an administrative act. In view of recent conflicts about new homes for asylum seekers across Germany I suggest that the Federal Agency for Migration and Refugees (BAMF) take a more long-term view on the arrival of asylum seekers to be more flexible with changing applicant numbers. Moreover, the building of new homes for asylum seekers should be accompanied by information campaigns for the public to better understand the situation of asylum seekers.

The newspaper Das Handelsblatt published an article on the current asylum debate in Germany in which I am quoted extensively, providing background and commentary to German refugee policies.

September 4th to 5th, I will attend Friedländer Gespräche II: Im Zeichen der Menschenrechte? Internationale Flüchtlinge und die Aufnahmepraxis in Deutschland seit den 1970er Jahren, a conference that will look at the history of the reception of refugees in Germany. I will speak about the relationship between asylum and resettlment.

On 1 July 2013 - 20 years on the day after the German asylum law reform was enacted - Netzwerk Flüchtlingsforschung was launched. It is a network  for researchers in Germany working about forced migration, flight and refuge and for international researchers interested in forced migration, flight and refuge in Germany. The goal is to collect and distribute relevant information and to facilitate exchange and cooperation between researchers in order to establish a field of Refugee Studies in Germany.
Please check out www.fluechtlingsforschung.net - register, contribute and subscribe to our newletter...

Netzwerk Flüchtlingsforschung was founded and is administered by Nora Markard, Jochen Oltmer and myself.