Moderated and introduced  by Sara Araújo (CES/ALICE project researcher)

Abstract

During the first part of his intervention, Edgard R. Gomes, lawyer and researcher who lived the journey of the refugees to learn from their experiences, will reflect on the origin of human suffering in a psychoanalytic perspective, focusing on one of its causes, namely : the inadequacy of norms that regulate human relationships in the family, the state and society. In a second moment, he will demonstrate the importance of the guarantees brought by international human rights treaties as the maximum incentive to refugees who risk their lives in clandestine crossings into Europe. Given this diapason, he will relate the absolute belief of thegood standing of human rights of the refugees to non-compliance with regulatory requirements of international treaties by the nations involved in the process, highlighting the tension created in face of this divergence. Finally, he will share  illustrative material on their actions in the field in order  to resolve this gap between the subject of law and local authorities, acting, thus, as a mediator  to safeguard the achievements and progress on human rights.

Carlos Nolasco will address the current movement of refugees. Perceived as a huge amount of people coming into Europe, going beyond the Schengen area external borders  and undermining the sovereignty of the internal borders of the EU Member States, it raises the concern of people and institutions that until recently watched this drama as something distant. Implicit in this concern is the overtaking of abyssal lines that long have delimited the world between a space of rationality, order, freedom and democracy, and another space of irrationality, anarchy, violence and restrictions. The rupture of these radical lines, meaning an arrival of those who were "on the other side", reveals the fragility of the world " on this side". This presentation aims to reflect on the consequences of the massive influx of refugees to Europe.

Bio notes

Edgard Raoul Gomes lived in New York during four months, becoming a full member of Group 11 of Amnesty International and official volunteer of the sation New York Cares. Still in 2015, he conceived the project "Hands On Human Rigths," which began in November, in Turkey and Greece, with a view to safeguarding the human rights of refugees coming from countries such as Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, Iran, Pakistan, Kurdistan, Somalia, among others. The highlight of his project is the moment that Edgard decided to travel -  from the Greek island of Lesbos to Frankfurt - as a refugee in order to ascertain human rights violations in the perspective of a refugee. This that lasted twenty-six days in a route that crossed the following countries: Greece, Macedonia, Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia, Austria, Czech Republic and Germany. After finishing the European course, Edgard went to the Middle East, in order to ascertain the situation of refugees in the following countries: Palestine, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria. After three months of research, at the end of April, Edgard finished its activities in the United Arab Emirates, sharing his trajectory at the American University of Sharjah, with the following perspective: "the loss of power of choice." As a researcher, Edgard conducts studies mainly in the area of Human Rights, and published in March 2015  the article "A dor da Gente não Sai no Jornal: Reflexões sobre os Limites entre os Direitos Fundamentais e exposição de Acusados pela Mídia", co-authored with Lia Cristina Pierson, in the book "“Direitos Humanos: Perspectivas e Reflexões para o Século XXI"

Carlos Nolasco is post-doctoral researcher at the Centre  for Social Studies of the University of Coimbra, integrating the Humanities, Migration and Peace Studies Research Group (NHUMEP). Holds a PhD (2013), MA(1999) and BA (1993) in Sociology from the Faculty of Economics, University of Coimbra. Lectured at several institutions of higher education in the field of Social Sciences also holding executive positions in scientific and pedagogical bodies. As a researcher, he participated in research projects at CES. His fields of interest are Sociology of Migration, of Sport and of Law.

Activity within the project  ALICE – Strange Mirrors, Unsuspected Lessons: Leading Europe to a new way of sharing the world experiences