THE WELFARE OF THE CHILD IN ASYLUM AND RESIDENCE LAW

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THE WELFARE OF THE CHILD IN ASYLUM AND RESIDENCE LAW
A DISCUSSION OF THE REPORT OF THE CHILD WELFARE COMMISSION

Flight and exile almost always mean severe and lasting burdens for children. The protection of children's rights is therefore defined as a priority principle in all international and national legal norms. However, the way this is dealt with in the reality of everyday political life is usually different and accepts the traumatisation of children. In this country, the issue of respecting the best interests of the child in asylum and right of residence procedures became the centre of public attention at the end of January this year when three underage schoolgirls living and well integrated in Austria were deported to Georgia and Armenia. Subsequently, a panel of experts was entrusted by the Ministry of Justice with the task of evaluating and reporting on the practical handling and significance of the best interests of the child and children's rights in Austrian law as well as in administrative and judicial decisions, in an international comparison. As a continuation of the first symposium on the topic held in May What flight and migration do to children, which examined psychological and legal issues, this second event, with an expanded line-up, analyses the recently published Report of the Child Welfare Commission.

Prof Dr Ernst Berger is a child psychiatrist, psychotherapist and development researcher; member of the Child Welfare Commission.
Em. Prof. Dr DDr.h.c. Ruth Wodak is a linguistic sociologist and discourse researcher.

A symposium in collaboration with the Austrian Society for Exile Research.

13:00 Introduction: Ruth Wodak, Ernst Berger

13:15 Panel 1: Can the report of the Child Welfare Commission change anything in Austrian practice?

Lecture: Irmgard Griss
Discussants: Lisa Wolfsegger, Nora Ramirez-Castillo, Christoph Reinprecht

15:00 Panel 2: International perspectives on children's rights in asylum and immigration law

Lecture: Maria Berger
Discussants: Gerald Knaus, Philipp Ther

Participants:

Professor Dr Ernst Berger, child and adolescent psychiatrist, Medical University of Vienna, member of the Child Welfare Commission
Dr Maria Berger, lawyer, former Minister of Justice and former judge of the European Court of Justice
Dr Irmgard Griss, lawyer, Head of the Child Welfare Commission, former President of the Supreme Court, Head of the Child Welfare Commission
Dr Gerald Knaus, sociologist, European Stability Initiative, Berlin
Dr Nora Ramirez-Castillo, psychologist and psychotherapist, Hemayat
Professor Dr Christoph Reinprecht, sociologist, Vice-Rector, University of Vienna
Professor Dr Philipp Ther, MA, Historian, University of Vienna
Em. Distinguished Professor Dr DDr.h.c. Ruth Wodak, sociologist of language and discourse researcher, University of Lancaster/University of Vienna
Lisa Wolfsegger, expert on child refugees, Asylum Coordination Austria