Research workshop
28.10.2020

Centre launched the Undoing Discriminatory Borders project with two online workshops

Workshops brought together prominent academics in the field of migration and discrimination, who presented papers, discussed ideas and formulated proposals for further work ahead

The Undoing Discriminatory Borders project – led by Cathryn Costello, Professor of Fundamental Rights and Co-director of Hertie School Centre for Fundamental Rights and Dr. Catherine Briddick (Refugee Studies Centre, University of Oxford), with - hosted two online workshops on 20 and 27 October 2020.

Opening the first session, which looked at legal standards governing non-discrimination in migration controls, were presentations from Cathryn Costello and Catherine Briddick on racial and gender discrimination at borders. Next, Prof. Catherine Dauvergne’s (University of Britsh Columbia) contribution looked at women in refugee jurisprudence, followed by Prof. Shreya Atrey (Universty of Oxford) who considered the ‘comparator test’ within xenophobic discrimination. Prof. Anuscheh Farahat (Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg) discussed positive action in the context of non-discrimination and material equality and, closing the session, Prof. Michelle Foster (University of Melbourne) delivered a presentation on the mass deprivation of citizenship based on racial grounds, and whether it may constitute the international crime of apartheid.

The second workshop centred on algorithmic decision-making in migration and when this might be discriminatory. Prof. Tendayi Achiume (University of California, Los Angeles) examined ‘Digital Borders as Racial Borders’, advancing claims for how digital borders enhance racial borders and mask discriminatory exclusion. Dr. Petra Molnar (University of Toronto) reflected on the theoretical underpinnings of discrimination, technology and migration management, combining this with empirical work on the ground. Prof. Elspeth Guild (Queen Mary University of London) then considered the Council of Europe’s Convention 108+ in respect of automated decision-making, while Prof. Linnet Taylor (Tilburg University) looked at ‘Market-Making, Big Data, and the Consolidation of Migration as Risk’. Bringing the workshop to a close, Joshua Simons (Harvard University) presented a paper on ‘Equality and Non-Discrimination in Machine Learning’.