Scholarships for Refugees At the Odysseus Network Summer School 2017

REFUGEE VOICESFrom the BeneFiciaries oF the odysseus

academic network’s “scholarschips For reFugees” initiative

thursday, 6 July 20178.00 pm - 8.30 pm

AMANUEL ABRAHAERITREA

Areas of Study:Amanuel is an interpreter for Eritrean and Ethiopian asylum seekers and assistant editor at Eyes on the International Criminal Court (Eyes on ICC). He drafted, with a colleague, Integrated Coastal Area Management law for Eritrea, thought Law of the Sea at the College of Marine Science and Technology, Eritrea. He holds LL.B in national and international laws from University of Asmara and LL.M on human rights from Maastricht Univer-sity. After I finished my studies in human rights law I wanted to focus on one area. I have been through refugee process and as I started working as an interpreter for asylum seekers I decided to specialize in this area. Odys-seus Summer School provides the most relevant and comprehensive topics of interest within a very short period of time. This is an ideal opportunity to master asylum and immigration law. And I believe this study will help me find a job.

Profession in My Country of Origin: He is a former judge at sub-regional and later at regional courts, presided over civil and criminal cases on first instance and appeals.

Date of Arrival as an Ayslum Seeker: May 2013 to the Netherlands.

Reason for Leaving my Country of Origin: I left my country to escape from a repressive regime.

Foreword - PréfaceThe “Odysseus” Academic Network for Lega l Stud ies on Immigrat ion and Asylum in Europe decided to launch after the cr isis of 2015 an in it iat ive to help refugee-students to part icipate in its yearly summer school. The object ive is to a l low them to ga in knowledge on EU immigrat ion and asylum law and to further their educat ion which may have been interrupted by their forced departure from their country of or ig in.

This in it iat ive enta i ls costs which the Odysseus Network - a non-prof it organ isat ion - cannot cover a lone as the summer school is ent i rely self-f inanced and does not benef it from any f inancia l support other than the fees pa id by the part icipants.

Thanks to our crowdfunding campaign, we are for the second t ime able to host severa l refugee-students at the 17th ed it ion of the Odysseus Network Summer School tak ing place in Brussels from 3 to 14 Ju ly 2017. These scholarsh ips cover the costs of t ransportat ion, da i ly expenses in Brussels, and a port ion of the tu it ion fees. The Odysseus Network is gratefu l to a l l the donors as wel l the Université l ibre de Bruxel les (ULB) that accommodates the refugee-students.

This book let a l lows the recipients of the scholarsh ips to tel l thei r story - to have their voices heard.

Le Réseau académique « Odysseus » d’études jur id iques sur l’immigrat ion et l’asi le en Europe a pr is l’in it iat ive après la cr ise de 2015 de permettre à des réfug iés-étud iants de part iciper à son cours d’été annuel . L’object if est de leur permettre d’acquér i r des connaissances en droit européen d’immigrat ion et d’asi le et de poursu ivre leurs études qu i peuvent avoir été interrompues par leur départ forcé de leur pays d’or ig ine.

Ce projet engendre des coûts que le Réseau Académique Odysseus ne peut supporter seu l en tant qu’organ isat ion sans but lucrat if, le cours d’été étant ent ièrement auto-f inancé par les droits d’inscr ipt ion payés par les part icipants.

Grâce à une campagne de crowdfunding, le cours d’été a pour la seconde fois pu accuei l l i r des étud iants-réfug iés. Les bourses couvrent les fra is de t ransport , les dépenses quot id iennes à Bruxel les, et une part ie des droits d’inscr ipt ion. Le Réseau Odysseus expr ime sa grat itude à tous les donateurs a insi qu’à l’Université l ibre de Bruxel les (ULB) qu i offre le logement aux réfug iés-étud iants.

Cette brochure permet aux bénéf icia i res de raconter leur h istoire - de fa i re entendre leur voix.

On behalf of the Odysseus Academic NetworkAu nom du Réseau académique Odysseus

Prof. Ph i l ippe DE BRUYCKER Coord inator of Odysseus - Coordonnateur d’Odysseus

IBRAHIM MOHMMADSYRIA

Areas of Study:I am involved in voluntary work support ing an organ izat ion work ing with asylum seekers and immigrat ion processes in Germany. Current ly in my study program I am involved in the issues concern ing immigrat ion and asylum seekers in part icu lar unaccompanied minors and its pol icies in Ger-many and in the EU. In addit ion, dur ing my da i ly work I am support ing asylum seekers suffer ing from menta l problems and t raumas by helping the benef iciar ies to access hea lth care system and other support ing platforms, asylum process and deportat ion cases.

Profession in My Country of Origin: I come from internat ional relat ions background with exper ience on f ield in humanitar ian sector.

Date of Arrival as an Ayslum Seeker: October 10, 2015

Reason for Leaving my Country of Origin:

AHMAD ABUSAMRAPALESTINA

Areas of Study:I work with refugees in two d ifferent organ izat ion Fedasi l and Vluchtel in-genwerk Vlaanderen helping refugees to integrate to make it easier as much as possible for them.

Profession in My Country of Origin: I have stud ied Communicat ion Engineer ing in A lexandr ia , Egypt.

Date of Arrival as an Ayslum Seeker: August 2012 to Belg ium

Reason for Leaving my Country of Origin: I had to f lee my home country in 2012 to Gaza Str ips but even there the pol it ica l cl imate and publ ic freedoms were not at their best . There has been a lot of harassment and repression of every cr it ica l voice of the ru l ing author it ies there. I myself was arrested and beaten many t imes for part ici-pat ing in many demonstrat ions and post ing on socia l media to inv ite peo-ple to demonstrate and reject repression. At some point I had to f lee from Gaza after I was accused of betray ing my country which have costed me my l ife If I would have stayed there.

DIRAR ALSHWIK ALABDSYRIA

Areas of Study:During my law stud ies at A leppo Universit y I worked in a lawyer’s off ice in A leppo, Syr ia as an assistant , dur ing which I ga ined pract ica l exper ience as wel l as theoret ica l stud ies

Profession in My Country of Origin: Jur iste associé

Date of Arrival as an Ayslum Seeker: 5 February 2014 to Austr ia .

Reason for Leaving my Country of Origin: Since February 2014 I have been in Austr ia as a refugee dur ing th is per iod. I learned German as I cont inue. I received an admission from the Univer-sit y of Vienna to study for a doctorate in law but I cou ld not star t because I do not have a su itable job to study and work together. I am very interested in stud ies of European law as a role model for development.

ALMOUTASSIM AL KILANI SYRIA

Areas of Study:Consei l ler jur id ique sur les droits de l’homme – un stage en le Centre sy-r ien pour les médias et la l iberté d’expression qu i et re approuvé en tant que statut consu ltat if auprès du Consei l économique – Socia l des Nat ions Unies.

Profession in My Country of Origin: Jur iste Spécia l iste dans les droits de l’homme.

Date of Arrival as an Ayslum Seeker: June 4, 2015 to France.

Reason for Leaving my Country of Origin: Les t ravaux dans la défense des droits de l’homme est interd it en Syr ie. Depuis le début de la révolut ion syr ienne, je me su is spécia l isé dans la défense des droits de l’homme, qu i éta it la ra ison de mon arrestat ion par le rég ime syr ien pendant 44 jours. Et quand je su is sort i de la pr ison, la pres-sion du rég ime syr ien a augmenté sur ma fami l le jusqu’à ce qu’i l dev ienne impossible de cont inuer mon trava i l et mon act iv ité en Syr ie.La seu le opt ion pour moi éta it qu it ter la Syr ie et cont inuer comme l’in it ia-t ive pour documenter les v iolat ions des droits de l’homme sur le terr itoi re syr ien.

the odysseus network warmly thanks the donors who made this initiative possiBle

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