On 3rd Oct, we hosted together with our partners - MiCLU, ECPAT UK, The Children’s Society and The Helen Bamber Foundation - a one-day conference for front line practitioners (police; social workers; lawyers, health workers), policy officers and academics to explore the causes and consequences of trafficking on children and young people. The conference aimed to promote the development of holistic integrated interdisciplinary approaches to working with young people who have been trafficked from overseas and to stress the importance of finding durable solutions for them, increasing their protection in the present and for the future. Our young community members played an important role in voicing their experiences and in advocating for change. A film that they made for the conference can be found at:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/ifyi3bt7sd2as3i/BAOBAB%20FINAL%20HD%20WITH%20END%20BOARD.mp4?dl=0
15 March 2017
Professor Ravi Kohli gave a Baobab Talk on: ‘Working with unaccompanied asylum seeking children: some thoughts from the field’ on Wednesday 15th March 2017.
In his seminar, Professor Kohli reflected on the various ways young people seeking asylum are defined by the movements (and borders) in their lives – movements from place to place, the movements of growing up, and the psychological movements that they make to find some internalised balance in their lives. He touched upon what ‘home’ means in the context of such movements, and how they build, and can be helped to build sheltered and sustainable lives. A PDF of the presentation can be accessed here.
5 of July 2017
Dr Zoe Given-Wilson gave a talk on: ‘'Remembering and telling: A psychological perspective on young asylum seekers’ testimonies.'
Zoe Given-Wilson is the child researcher for the Centre for the Study of Emotion and the Law. Her talked looked into psychological and developmental issues pertinent to decision making in young people's refugee status claims. She is a clinical psychologist and has both research and clinical experience working with children from a range of cultures and backgrounds.
15th of November 2017
Dr John Campbell (see biography below) gave a talk on:
'What prospect for asylum in the 21st Century' on Wednesday 15th November 2017.
Dr John Campbell, Reader in the Anthropology of Africa and Law is a social anthropologist at the School of Oriental and African Studies, London. Dr Campbell has carried out extensive research into the British Asylum System. Between January 2007 and January 2009 he undertook a research project "Refugees and the Law: An ethnography of the British Asylum System". This sought to follow refugees from Eritrea and Ethiopia who were seeking asylum in the UK. At the beginning of 2017, he published ‘Bureaucracy, Law and Dystopia in the United Kingdom's Asylum System’, based on ethnographic research over a two-year period. The book analyses numerous asylum appeals as they go through the British courts and draws on a myriad of interviews with individuals and an examination of many state and non-state organisations with a view to understanding how the asylum system in the UK works. In addition, Dr Campbell has undertaken research in Ghana, Tanzania, Ethiopia and the UK and development consultancy work in Ethiopia, Kenya and Botswana. He provides expert reports for Ethiopian and Eritrean asylum applicants.