Suggested Contribution: INR - Rs.220/-   US -   $ 20 - Including Postage  

The International Seminar on Cross-Border Movements and Human Rights , was organized by the Centre for Feminist Legal Research (CFLR) on the 9^th and 10^th of January 2004 at New Delhi, India and supported by the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. Through a discussion on cross-border movements, the seminar sought to examine the conceptual and practical linkages between the various forms of transnational migratory patterns including, irregular migration and trafficking on the one hand, and the violation of human rights of the migrant by diverse actors, on the other hand. Special attention was given to female migrants who now constitute a large percentage of those transnational subjects who cross borders, through regular and irregular processes.

The report encapsulates the discussions of the seminar. Capturing a conversation that consciously seeks to decentre dominant categories, veer away from the mainstream anti-trafficking discourse, push the envelope, speak from a postcolonial perspective, centre the transnational female migrant subject, and simultaneously tread the path of human rights, is not an easy task. It becomes all the more complicated when critical conversations happen on the side, on the margins of the seminar room, or in words which are repeatedly being framed by parenthesis through the act of waving two fingers in the air while speaking.

The report constitutes a departure from the usual way of reporting such events. It does not aim to present the proceedings or even the crux of the presentations of the participants. This report is more in the form of an analytical presentation of the issues, challenges and questions raised during the seminar. Consequently, it is structured thematically.

 Suggested Contribution: INR - Rs.220/-   US -  $ 20 - Including Postage