In relation to the Swedish release of Fire at Sea / Bortom Lampedusa /Fuocoammare, Panora hosts a seminar on the current state of European jurisdiction, - identity and the image of refugees. The a panel of academic scholars in the field and refugees in different stages of the asylum process discuss these issues from initiated perspectives. Read more about the participants below.

European self-image and identity has long been intertwined with liberty and human rights. Escalating internal conflicts, a hardened political climate and how Europe responds to the humanitarian crisis in nearby regions is destabilizing this.

What implications has the failure of the Dublin convention and its effects on the EU external border on European societies and those seeking refuge? What has happened regarding these issues, and what is the prognosis of changes ahead?

A simplified view of asylum seekers regarding who are they and what they are fleeing from, have led to polarized national and regional debates. Instead of introducing a widely differentiated group of people, they
are often presented as some kind of a homogeneous mass with either only good/righteous or bad/evil features and motivations.

The panel discussion will frame the effects of polarizing discourses both regarding the asylum seekers and how the EU and the individual member states react through laws and policies.

PANEL
Ioana Bunescu, Senior researcher at Malmö Institute of Migration, Diversity and Welfare (MIM) / MAH
Ioanas research area includes aspects of migration, citizenship, identity politics and inter-ethnic relations. 

Eleni Karageorgiou, PhD candidate in International Law at Lund University with a legal practitioner's background 
Eleni’s research explores the functions and implications of the principle of solidarity and responsibility sharing in EU asylum law and policies. She will provide valuable insights regarding the recent legal and policy developments within the so-called Common European Asylum System, as well as the actual situation of reception in the southern European countries.

Sajed Hanash, 22 years old, from Aleppo, Syria
Sajed has been here since the last of July 2015 and was granted asylum and permanent residence permit in March, 2016. Sajed has studied English literature at the University of Aleppo. Here in Sweden he is an intern at Bibliotekstjänst at the moment along with the usual studies at SFI.
”The decision to start the risky journey was made when death became an everyday life scene in Aleppo because of the heavy bombardment. I fled with my mum to Turkey where I left her to take a smuggler’s boat to Italy. I didn’t want my mum to risk her life on the sea, so she has remained in Turkey. I am trying to make her get asylum in Sweden now.”

Ali Alsaraf, 24 years old, from Mosul, Iraq
Ali has been here since October 2015 and is still waiting in the asylum process and for the first interview with Migrationsverket. He is an electrical engineer.
"I have decided to take the risky boat journey when the Islamic state (Daesh) took over my city Mosul and started killing people for no reason. I have left my parent in Iraq. My sister and brother have both left Iraq too. We talk on the phone everyday. I was smuggled from Mosul to Baghdad and there I fled together with Sufian after I had convinced Sufian’s father that Sufian should join me on the trip.” 

Sufian Al-Dulaimi, 25 years old, from Baghdad, Iraq
Sufian has been here since October 2015 and is still waiting in the asylum process and for the first interview with Migrationsverket. He has graduated from the Dijlah University College of Baghdad as a computer engineer.
”When it turned to be too dangerous for me to live in Baghdad I made the decision to flee to Sweden over the sea together with my friend Ali. The journey took 15 days. I left my whole family back in Baghdad. I miss them a lot.”  

MODERATOR:  Martin Joormann, PhD Candidate at the Department of Sociology of Law, Lund University.
Martin research on the legal decisions of precedent value that are written by the judges of the Swedish Migration Court of Appeal. His doctoral studies are meanwhile focused on the discursive legitimation of expulsion decisions.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 

Sayed, Ali and Sufian live all three together with a Swedish family in Skåne. The match was made by the volunteers at the NGO-organisation Refugees-Welcome.se. 
Refugees-welcome.se is a service provided by the NGO Refugees Welcome Sweden (org.nr 802497-4514).The organisation started in September 2015 with one purpose: to provide accommodation for refugees arriving in Sweden. The organisation are mainly working with accommodation in private homes for longer periods, at least three months.

Friday Sept 2nd Premiere screening w. introduction "On flight"
The introduction is in english, the film is screened with Swedish subtitles.
More about the film in Swedish here.