CRS Seminar: Humanitarian Series II

Linn Biorklund Belliveau, Researcher/analyst Dahdaleh Institute for Global Health Research and Médecins Sans Frontières, CRS Affiliated Scholar
Borders, migration, exclusion: The role of civil society and humanitarian aid in an increasingly polarized political context
Linn will discuss how migration can be weaponized to serve diverse political agendas, including the growing tendency to frame refugees and migrants as political liabilities. The result isadegradation of access toadequate protection and humanitarian assistance, as well as the mechanisms they use to reach target destinations. Linn will present this perspective using first-hand experience working with Eritrean refugees fleeing towards the shores of Europe between 2013 – 2016 and sharing a critical perspective of State and humanitarian responses to the so-called ‘migrant-caravans’ from the Northern Triangle of Central America to theUnitedStates and Canada.
Linn Biorklund Belliveau is a researcher/analyst, presently at Dahdaleh Institute for Global Health Research and at Médecins Sans Frontières. Affiliated to the Centre for Refugee Studies at York University. Specific areas of knowledge include forced migration, transnational networks, border externalization, and climate politics. Extensive experience with non-governmental organizations and the UN in the fields of humanitarianism and human rights. Worked in a wide range of countries in East Africa, Middle East and Latin America. Political Science degree from Stockholm University and a Master’s degree in International Relations from Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona.