We started the Introduction day by going to the Ru Paré Community Center in Amsterdam to meet ASKV workers and Ambassadors. After getting to know the organization and the work they do with people whose asylum application was denied but there is a prospect of applying for a second time, we had the chance to listen to the Ambassadors’ stories on how migration law has impacted their lives. They shared their endless journeys seeking asylum from their country of origin, where Europe was not the easiest part – telephone calls to apply for asylum that the authorities never answered; interviews where intimate questions were being asked with no preparation for it; sudden homelessness when the asylum claim is rejected, or the residence permit is suddenly discontinued… These are only some of the obstacles faced by the speakers since the moment they reached Europe. We then had a delicious vegan lunch together, and the ASKV workers offered the students to apply for internships at the organization, and to come to the Ru Paré Community Center whenever they want – to have a tea/coffee, to meet people, or to study.
In the afternoon, the students attended the presentation organized by the VU to all Master´s degree students, and then to the one organized by the ACMRL members. Janna Wessels guided us through our identities as migrants or as belonging to a migrant family, and reflected upon what it means to us. Betty de Hart shared the job opportunities for the LLM’s new generation of students, and Isabella Leroy introduced the Migration Law Clinic, an exciting opportunity for the LLM students to apply their knowledge of the law and become experts. Finally, after Jordan Dez showed us the events coming ahead (already quite a few!), we had the chance to hear about Lisa-Marie Komp’s exciting case of a Syrian family that was wrongly sent back by FRONTEX and the Greek authorities to Türkiye after having formally applied for asylum in Greece, and that has become the first case against FRONTEX before the CJEU.
The program ended in the evening with a walking dinner at the house of Thomas Spijkerboer.