CVEK

Also during 2010 CVEK continued, together with an initiative People against Racism, to collect and analyze data on racism and xenophobia in Slovakia. Racism and Xenophobia European Information Network (RAXEN) was established by European Monitoring Center of Racism and Xenophobia (EUMC) that was changed into the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) in 2007. The main objective of FRA is to offer broad audience in the EU-25 objective, reliable and comparable data on issues of racism, xenophobia, anti-Semitism in the territory of member states and to contribute to formulation of effective measures designed to fight racism, xenophobia and anti-Semitism.

RAXEN Network consists of 25 national groups, one group operating in each member state. National groups are partners of FRA providing needed information and data on national level. Center for Research of Ethnicity and Culture together with People Against Racism form national group for Slovakia. Particular national groups carry out different tasks specified by FRA, collect information and statistical data about various activities in the area of fight against racism and xenophobia, work out general (general situation in the country) as well as specific reports (employment, education, housing, etc.).

In 2010 CVEK worked on 2 thematic studies that are even more than in the past focused on status of asylum seekers and migrants in the Slovak republic.

On September 13, 2010, European Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) released two research reports concerning the issue of quality of asylum procedures in European countries. Both research reports are partly based on interviews with asylum seekers conducted in 27 EU countries. In Slovakia, the research was carried out by Center for the Research of Ethnicity and Culture.

Both research reports can be downloaded here.

About the Summer School

Summer School of Ethnicity and Migration Studies is a two-week educational program covering topics connected with nationalism and ethnicity, de-ethnization of the public sphere, migration and integration analysis, approaches and policies. Topics connected to de-construction of national myths, analyses of public policies concerning minorities and discussions over desired migration policy models form the core of the Summer school activities. Through debates, lectures and workshops, it presents a unique informal learning space for student from the Central European countries and creates space for the participants to get familiar with each other’s ideas and initiate international cooperation. Lectures and workshops held by highly qualified experts from the region has been complemented with topical study trips.

It starts to be obvious that issues of ethnicity are becoming even more salient in 21st century than in previous ones. As the latest research conducted by CVEK has shown, the young generation tends to be even more radicalized mainly due to lack of public discussion, adequate education and negative influence provided by the media. The Summer School of Ethnicity and Migration has an ambition to influence future experts in the broadly understood ethnic studies.

The Summer school has been organized in a historical building of the Janos Selye University around four modules, lasting 2,5 days each. Topics of particular modules will be changing each year within the following modules:

1st Modul:
De-construction of the term nation in Central Europe;

Meanings of nationalism, ethnicity and identity in Central Europe;

Processes of reconciliation between Central European countries.

2nd Modul:
De-ethnization of the public sphere in Central European countries;

Changes and pluralization of identities in globalized times;

Conceptualization of post-national era.

3rd Modul:
Insight into the migration studies in Central European region;

Changes of migration patterns;

Evaluation of migration and integration policies of Central European countries.

4th Modul:
Integration of migrants and aliens in Central Europe;

Migration and social cohesion in Central Europe;

Changes of citizenship boundaries – citizenship and denizenship.

Target group

The Summer School aims to create an alternative learning platform for advanced studies for MA Students, PhD students, young researchers, young public officials from countries of Central and Eastern Europe – Slovakia, Czech republic, Hungary, Poland, Austria, Slovenia, Croatia, Romania, Lithuania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Romania, Bulgaria, Albania, Macedonia, Turkey, Latvia, Estonia, Ukraine, Belorus, Georgia and Azerbajdzan. The working language of the School is English.

Application:

Accepted participants were informed by June 5, 2010.

Application package included:
• Application form duly filled and signed
• Motivation letter (not more than one A4 format page)
• CV
• Recommendations*
*Recommendations from one person (from the academia) familiar with the applicants work. Should be in English, printed on letterhead paper and bear the signature of the issuer. No special envelope is needed; recommendations should be simply attached to the application.

Costs

Registration fee for successful candidates was 50 Euro. Costs of the program, study material, field trips as well as accommodation and board were covered by the organizer. Participants were responsible for their travel costs and insurance.

Participants of the 1st edition of Summer School of Ethnic and Migration Studies:

Jarmila Androvičová, Slovakia     
Bojana Babic, Bosnia and Hercegovina       
Tereza Blahoutova, Czech republic     
Edita Bezdičková, Slovakia     
Graciela Boruszko, USA    
Marta Čonková, Slovakia     
Anna Júlia Donáth, Hungary     
Piotr Drozd, Poland      
Ana Simina Guga, Romania     
Teodor Gyelník, Slovakia     
Cristina Haruta, Romania      
Dorota Chabiera, Poland     
Maria Chernyaeva, Bulgaria     
Anna Jurek, Poland      
Darko Karačić, Croatia       
Shorena Kobaidze, Georgia     
Judit Kontsekova, Slovakia     
Jan Kopkáš, Czech republic      
Kateryna Kravchuk, Ukraine     
Andreea Lazar, Romania     
Bahruz Mammadov, Azerbaijan    
Miroslav Mavra, Croatia     
Salome Mekhuzla, Georgia      
Iga Mergler, Poland      
Tereza Modráková, Czech republic     
Claudia Mullauer, Austria     
Elzbieta Okuniewska, Poland     
Slávka Otčenášová, Slovakia     
Adam Puchejda, Poland     
Marija Roglić, Croatia     
Daria Ronchetti, Czech republic     
Lenka Safrankova Pavlickova, Czech republic  
Onur Sen, Turkey     
Ondrej Schutz, Slovakia     
Monika Stafa, Albania     
Ali Turunz, Turkey     
Mária Tömösváryová, Slovakia    
Anna Zamejc, Poland     
Aleksander Zdravkovski, Macedonia   
Olga Zubrzycka, Poland     
Drago Župarić-Iljić, Croatia  

Want to apply in 2011?

2nd edition of the Summer School of Ethnicity and Migration Studies will be organized in 2011. Detailed information will be announced in March 2011.

Project Testing of integration policies indicators (TIPI) presents, from the point of view of content and personally, continuing project of the previous one – High quality research – precondition for a successful integration. The above mentioned project brought set of elementary indicators that can be used in the process of measuring successes of integration policies. CVEK research team suggested that there is a need to test integration policies indicators, to differentiate them from indicators of integration and indicators of the Democratic Diversity Management. Project aimed to utilize experiences of international surveys such as EMILE, IMISCOE, TSER, WOLIWEB, and INTI. 

The main aim of the TIPI project has been to test integration policies indicators and to assess successes of particular minority groups integration within various dimensions, with a focus on economic integration.

Researchers assessed success in several dimensions:

1. Economic integration;

2. Education;

3. Social integration;

4. Political integration;

5. Language;

6. Residential integration.

Outcomes of the project:

1. International workshop for policy-makers and analysts in the sphere of minority integration and integration of third countries nationals, that took place on June 27 in the Austria Trend hotel in Bratislava;

2. Manual for policy-makers;

3. Academic publications about integration indicators.

International conference Migrations, rethinking contemporary migration events in Telč, organized in June 24 – 26, 2010 has been already a second conference in a row and followed after the successful conference in Telč in 2008. Conference in 2008 focused on theoretical reflections of migration processes and their interpretations, changes in understanding of what exactly does belong into this realm as well as possible consequences of theoretical thinking about migration policy and migration research were discussed. Conference also analyzed several research methods in order to articulate the possibilities of different approaches and special emphasis was put on the vitality of the interdisciplinary approach in studying migration and on demonstrations of innovative research approaches.

Conference Migrations, rethinking contemporary migration events developed previous topics specifically in two areas:   

Knowledge Production in Migration Studies

In this rather theoretical session conference focused on the practices that, speaking of migrations, transform an event into a research topic and interests that stand behind it. The production and circulation of knowledge on migration has a differing logic in the areas of politics, public life and the academic world. The crucial question has been what types of migration are discursively produced as a normal and deviating social process and how different discursive fields interfere.

Migrations Policymaking

Theoretical concepts and research findings are re-defined in the political sphere and thus shape contemporary migration events. Political players have usually only slight understanding for broader than a national perspective. To be part of the administration of the nation state also means in some way believing in this “real fiction” or at the very least acting pragmatically in line with it. The essential impact on migrating people’s living conditions enlightens the ethical aspects of migrations policymaking.

Keynote speakers of the 2010 conference were:  

Prof. Asa Kasher

Asa Kasher is the Laura Schwarz-Kipp Professor Emeritus of Professional Ethics and Philosophy of Practice and Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at Tel Aviv University in Israel. He is co-author of the Israel Defense Forces Code of Ethics, “The Spirit of the IDF: Values and Basic Principles,” 1994. His research covers a broad range of topics in philosophy and ethics, including military ethics and medical ethics, and philosophy of language, as well as issues of Jewish identity. He wrote an influential defense of Israel’s ‘law of return’, justifying it as a form of affirmative action, following periods in which Jews were not allowed to immigrate to many countries. In 2000, Professor Kasher was awarded the Israel Prize for his work in philosophy and ethics.

Prof. Endre Sik

Endre Sik is a professor at the ELTE University, Department of Minority Studies, the director of the Centre for Refugee and Migration Studies at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences and of the National Focal Point of the European Union Centre for Monitoring Race and Xenophobia. For ten years he was the chairman of Refuge – Association for Helping Migrants. He served as the president of the Hungarian Sociological Association, of the Sociology Committee of the National Research Fund. He is a project manager at TÁRKI Research Institute Inc. His main fields of research are: migration, Diaspora; xenophobia, labor market, informal economy, households’ economic behavior; social network capital.

Further information can be downloaded at http://ivris.fss.muni.cz/migrations

Conference took place in Convict of Holy Angels

In 2010 CVEK co-organized already 9th edition of the V4 Summer School at the Willa Decius in Krakow. The 9th edition of the Visegrad Summer School brought together 50 young Czech, Hungarian, Polish and Slovak students, as well as some students from other countries of Central and Eastern Europe. The program consisted of lectures, panel debates and seminars on issues and challenges relevant to the Visegrad Group region, the European Union and beyond. School offered many opportunities to learn about each other and start an international co-operation between the people and the countries.

The program of the ninth edition of the Visegrad Summer School included debates on current political, cultural and social challenges in the global and European perspective, e.g. extremism, migration issues, Eastern Partnership, environmental protection, energy security policy, climate crisis and also regional and Euroatlantic cooperation. Global poverty, stabilizing missions at Afghanistan, Balkans and Africa have been discussed as well. An important part of the democracy section were lectures on the integration role of countries and a presentation of the regional responsibility for global problems. Students applied the theoretical knowledge in practical activities during workshops – they developed, political, social and cultural projects that aimed at establishing collaboration between them and their countries. On the weekend participants visited borderlands of Malopolska region and students also attended artistic events and learned about the culture of Krakow.

The organizers provided: 

– educational programme and materials
– special events
– accommodation and board

Participants covered:

– travel costs to/from/in Krakow
– their own insurance
– registration fee of 75 EURO

Call for applications for the Visegrad Summer School opened on 1 March 2010,  

the deadline for applications was 31 March 2010.

Slovakia has been represented on the 9th edition of the Summer School by 9 participants:

Edita Bezdičková, FSS, Masaryk University, Brno
Pavol Kobárik, ESF, Masaryk University, Brno
Katarína Lokšová, FMV, University of Economics, Prague
Michal Polgár, FMV, University of Economics, Bratislava
Lívia Cseresová, FSEV, Comenius Univesity, Bratislava
Mária Nicolauvová, FF, Comenius University, Bratislava
Jana Hrčková, PF, Charles University Karlova, Prague
Jana Kočová, PF, Trnava University, Trnava
Katarína Klingová, FSEV, Comenius University, Bratislava

Project High quality research – precondition for a successful integration has been supported by the European Fund for Integration of Third Countries Nationals, part of the Program “Solidarity and Management of Migration Flows”.

Main goal of the project was to increase quality of integration policies. Project aimed to compare integration policies in various countries of the EU; to prepare set of new indicators for evaluation of integration policies; to analyze particular bodies involved in integration policies; to analyze perception of migrants on integration policies; and to assess strengths and weaknesses of integration policies in Slovakia. 

In order to achieve goals of the project researchers conducted nine activities that were interconnected:

1. Comparative research of integration policies in other countries with a focus on managed migration;
2. Proposal of new indicators of integration policies in order to improve evaluation and further development of integration policies;

3. Analysis of activities of particular key-players within integration policies;
4. Qualitative research focused on experiences of legal migrants with integration in the Slovakia;
5. Analysis of integration level of particular groups of legal migrants;
6. Summary analysis of weak and strong dimensions of integration policies in Slovakia;
7. Research in the sphere of relevance and interconnections between integration policies and state policy in the sphere of social inclusion focused on autochtonous minorities and marginalized groups;
8. Publication with all research findings and with recommendations how to improve integration policies;
9. Seminar on research findings in the sphere of integration policy.

Altogether 16 authors has been working  on the final publication of the project “Integration of migrants – do we know what we want? Policies of integration in the Slovak republic in a comparative perspective“: 

Zuzana Bargerová, 

Lucia Bezáková, 

Peter Brnula, 

Michal Cenker, 

Elena Gallová-Kriglerová,

Alena Chudžíková,

Marek Harakaľ, 

Daniela Jankelová,

Judit Kontseková, 

Ctibor Košťál, 

Ľudmila Malíková, 

Juraj Mišina, 

Tereza Modráková, 

Alexandra Suchalová, 

Michal Vašečka, 

Robert Žitňanský.

The book has been published by the Institute of Public Policy of the Comenius Universityat the end of 2009, with a kind support of the European Fund for Integration of Third Countries Nationals.

Also during 2009 CVEK continued, together with an initiativePeople against Racism, to collect and analyze data on racism and xenophobia in Slovakia. Racism and Xenophobia European Information Network (RAXEN) was established by European Monitoring Center of Racism and Xenophobia (EUMC) that was changed into the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) in 2007. The main objective of FRA is to offer broad audience in the EU-25 objective, reliable and comparable data on issues of racism, xenophobia, anti-Semitism in the territory of member states and to contribute to formulation of effective measures designed to fight racism, xenophobia and anti-Semitism.

RAXEN Network consists of 25 national groups, one group operating in each member state. National groups are partners of FRA providing needed information and data on national level. Center for Research of Ethnicity and Culture together with People Against Racism form national group for Slovakia. Particular national groups carry out different tasks specified by FRA, collect information and statistical data about various activities in the area of fight against racism and xenophobia, work out general (general situation in the country) as well as specific reports (employment, education, housing, etc.).

On June, 10, 2010 European Agency for Fundamental Rights released FRA Annual Report on Fundamental Rights in 2009 that CVEK collaborated on.

Since September 2008 CVEK worked on theoretical and empirical project focused on possibilities and conditions of multicultural theory application in the Slovak context. Deriving from the both multicultural theory and practice, project is based upon pilot research how to study, analyze, and understand new ethnic, religious, and race minorities in Slovakia.

The first, theoretical phase of the project, identifies potential and barriers of applying multiculturalism in the process of integration of new minorities (migrants). The second, empirical phase desires to test limits of integration and maps specificities of the Slovak context in the process of multicultural policies implementation. Methodology applied in the project allows CVEK to identify expectations of members of new minorities in the process of integration into the institutions of majority.

Project attempted to enrich existing researchers in this field and proposes a complex theoretical-empirical model of the further research of the issue. Research brought new data on minorities and contributed to the process of further public policy formation in the field of new minorities integration. 

Antidiscrimination Training Academy is a complex program for people working or cooperating with Polish NGOs that deal with the problem of human rights. The Academy included an intensive training in the field of human rights protection. The sessions of the Academy took place since October 2008 till September 2009 in form of conferences. Participants worked intensively in two groups: gender workshop and cultural sensitivity workshop. The Inauguration of the Academy took place on November 2008. 

       
The Antidiscrimination Training Academy is an original complex program designed by the Villa Decius Association and CVEK for people working or cooperating with Polish NGOs. The Academy offers intensive training and presentations of the contemporary concepts and good practices in the field of human right protection. The offer is addressed mainly to the people working for NGOs active in the human rights field, but with a regard to the needs applicants from governmental and local government institutions that provide help for discriminated groups will be accepted too. Since October 2008 until September 2009 the first edition of the Academy has been organized with an aim to provide professional training for coaches and actual knowledge from the chosen issues in the field of human rights. Participants have been trained in two workgroups: gender and cultural sensitivity, which included also the problems of minorities. 

The course consisted of 10 intensive conferences lasting for several days, with 340 hours of education and 250 hours of training in coaching. After completing the series of workshops, lectures, discussions and practical assignments the participants worked in pairs on a program of their own diploma training and following that they leaded workshops in their own companies (June 2009). Experienced trainers, supervisors of the Academy, graded the work of the graduates and provided recommendations and notes for planning the next development. After the summer break students have met at an evaluation session where they received their diplomas (September 2009).

Racism and Xenophobia European Information Network (RAXEN) was established by European Monitoring Center of Racism and Xenophobia (EUMC) that was changed into the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) in 2007. The main objective of FRA is to offer broad audience in the EU-25 objective, reliable and comparable data on issues of racism, xenophobia, anti-Semitism in the territory of member states and to contribute to formulation of effective measures designed to fight racism, xenophobia and anti-Semitism.

RAXEN Network consists of 25 national groups, one group operating in each member state. National groups are partners of FRA providing needed information and data on national level. Center for Research of Ethnicity and Culture together with People Against Racism form national group for Slovakia. Particular national groups carry out different tasks specified by FRA, collect information and statistical data about various activities in the area of fight against racism and xenophobia, work out general (general situation in the country) as well as specific reports (employment, education, housing, etc.)