(NEWS) WMU Marks International Migrants Day and Announces its Symposium on Sea Migration

December

2015

International Migrants Day

WMU Marks International Migrants Day and Announces its Symposium on Sea Migration

The sea serves as one of the most dangerous routes for migration. In the Mediterranean region alone, almost a million people have crossed the waters this year in search for a better home. Thousands of lives were swept away tragically by unseaworthy vessels or poor navigational support and awareness.

As the world community grapples to respond to a crisis of huge proportions, a report issued today by the UN Refugee Agency warns that 2015 is likely to break records for forced displacement.

“On this International Migrants Day, the World Maritime University (WMU) expresses its full solidarity with the call by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) for holding the #iamaMigrant Candlelight Vigil to Remember Lost Migrant Lives. WMU takes up the challenge of addressing the migration crisis by holding the WMU Symposium on Migration by Sea, which will be hosted in Malmö, Sweden, on 26-27 April 2016. With the adoption of the UN 2030 Sustainable Development Goals in 2015, the world community has definitively acknowledged the significance of human and social well-being to our lives, economies and environment. Migration represents both a wealth of opportunities, as well as a challenge,” stated WMU President, Dr. Cleopatra Doumbia-Henry.

The Symposium will provide an international forum for an exchange of information and for advancing knowledge on migration and, in particular, on migration by sea, with a view to exploring the complex issues and challenges that arise, and the lessons learnt. Topics covered by the Symposium will range from trends and data connected with migratory flows, through to the legal and operational inadequacies which are allowing tragedies to unfold at sea. Human rights, maritime safety and security, organised crime, and private maritime law liabilities and insurance will be addressed.

In the words of Mr Ban Ki-moon, UN Secretary-General, in his Message on the occasion of International Migrants Day 2015, “let us commit to coherent, comprehensive and human-rights based responses guided by international law and standards and a shared resolve to leave no one behind.”

EVENT DETAILS

Dates: 26-27 April 2016

Location: World Maritime University (WMU)

Fiskehamnsgatan 1
Malmö, Sweden

Event’s website address: http://wmu.se/events/wmu-symposium-migration-sea

Hashtag: #migrationbysea

Interested journalists will be approved to cover the symposium provided they have a specific commission for coverage of the event (and not just of speakers or others attending). A media pass entitles entrance to the symposium and associated events. Members of the press are responsible for their own travel and accommodation costs. If interested in attending as a member of the press, please contact WMU Communications Officer, Maia Brindley Nilsson, mbn@wmu.se.

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