South Asia Network for Communication, Displacement and Migration

06/12/2023

Migration is one of the most important, multifaceted, and sometimes controversial issues of our time, and films are a great way to delve deeper into these topics and engage people in open dialogue. SAN-CDM member Debasree Sarkar put together this collection of long and short films that highlight many aspects of migration. This is the second installment of the collection.

Film is one of the most powerful means of conveying stories as well as reflecting, shaping and challenging people’s perceptions and beliefs. Visual representation of a particular situation is able…

03/11/2023

The second- in person conference of the SAN-CDM, Connecting the Dots: Debating Displacement in South Asia is now live at Kathmandu, Nepal. With DW Akademie Asia and Nepal Institute for Peace

11/09/2023

Media Conference in Nepal: Call for Applications
Connecting the Dots: Debating Displacement in South Asia
The South Asia Network for Communication, Displacement and Migration (SAN-CDM) aims to connect journalists, community members and researchers interested in (forced) migration across South Asia. The intention is to improve the representation of refugees and migrants in the media in South Asia. We would like to discuss with you how this could be achieved! Therefore, SAN-CDM invites you to the second in-person network conference from November 3-6, 2023 in Kathmandu, Nepal.
"Connecting the Dots" aims to connect the dots between local, national, regional movements and protracted, silent migrations, across and within borders and boundaries, due to acts of violence, disasters, and conflict, and the way they are reported. The conference will challenge notions such as regularity and irregularity in migration practices, safe and unsafe routes, and the interplay between agency and trafficking.
This conference is a platform for exchanging ideas across borders, making connections and creating collaborations. To this end, we invite refugees, migrants, journalists and researchers from the South Asian region to participate in this conference by organizing hands-on workshops, sharing a current project, share lived experience/narrative, or share a performance.

Please apply here https://forms.gle/eQFmtZ11TQUkWrHi9 by 23.09.2023

Three stories/ news published as a result of the conference will be awarded a prize by DW Akademie on a competitive basis.

You will find more information here: mcrg.in/san-cdm

25/08/2023

Webinar: "Taking Stock: Refugee and Migration Situations in South Asia"
Date: 30th August 2023
Time: 6.30 PM IST
Platform: Zoom

Concept note:
The South Asia Network for Communication, Displacement and Migration (SAN-CDM), in collaboration with the Calcutta Research Group (CRG) and DW AKADEMIE is organising a roundtable discussion taking stock of refugee and migration situations in South Asia. Network members from the different South Asian nations will discuss the current political events, economic crisis and climate disasters that have led to massive human displacement and movements in the region. Focusing on any one instance from each nation, the discussants will reflect on the way traditional and non-traditional media have covered the human movements, the difficulties and the road ahead.

Moderator:
Bharat Bhushan, 360 Info and member CRG
Panellists:
Iqbal Khattak, Journalist and Media Development Expert, Freedom Network, Pakistan
Shafqat Munir, Political and Security Risk Analyst, Bangladesh
Shambhu Kattel, Journalist, Annapurna Media Group, Nepal
Greeshma Kuthar, Journalist, India
M. C. Rasmin, Centre for Media and Information Literacy, Sri Lanka

Registration Link:
https://shorturl.at/nDZ46

You will receive the joining link after registration.

26/06/2023

DEADLINE EXTENDED TO 01.07.2023

Movements and Migration: An Online Training Workshop on Reporting about Refugees and Migrants in South Asia



In June 2023, India and Pakistan together evacuated more that a hundred and seventy thousand people before the landfall of cyclone Biparjoy. Cyclonic and tidal storms, and resultant displacements are commonplace in the South Asian region, as are earthquakes, cloud burst, landslides, droughts, floods and famines. Apart from cataclysmic climactic events (increasing in frequency and severity) political upheavals/ unrest, insurgencies and struggles for autonomy, financial collapse and myriad other reasons make South Asia both a migrant and refugee producing and receiving region. Historical connections and the legacy of the partition also enable movement across national and international borders—making the refugees and migrants in and from South Asia some of the most vulnerable people on the planet.

The planned online training workshop, organized by Calcutta Research Group in collaboration with DW Akademie, under the aegis of the South Asia Network for Communication, Displacement and Migration (SAN-CDM) will focus on creating well-researched news items with a focus on refugees and migrants in South Asia. It will familiarize the trainees with relevant data, protocols, frameworks and nomenclature important to the field. The training will identify hidden and obvious biases present in mainstream reportage and indicate ways to tackle them.

Applications are invited from journalists across South Asia for this interactive online workshop. Apply here: https://forms.gle/Eu838aDLwbPaRFB49

Last date for submitting applications: 01.07.2023

Date of intimation to selected participants: 02.07.2023

Dates of training: 6, 7, 8th July, 2023

Mode: On zoom.

Deliverables: One collaborative news item (report/ photo essay/ podcast, video story) to be published before 31st July 2023.

To learn more about SAN-CDM please check https://mcrg.in/san-cdm/

For enquiries, write to [email protected]

03/02/2023

Join us for this exciting four day conference on Displacements and Vulnerabilities in South Asia.

27/12/2022

Som Prasad Lamichhane commented that statements made by political leaders on creating opportunities in their respective countries in South Asia do not convert into actions. It is foolish to think of containing migration in an age where the free movement of capital will necessarily have the free movement of labour. Hence, according to him, efforts should be directed at resolving issues of migrants which include the non-payment of wages to non-issuing of identification proofs and these seem to affect their mental health. Sufficient data is not available for tracking the migrant workers which affects relief efforts during any crisis. A phenomenon of “minus migration” takes place wherein migrant workers lose money in the process of migration. Reportage in the media does not follow a human rights-based approach and there is a visible bias towards protecting the vested interests of political leaders.

Supratik Sinhareports on Refugee Watch Online about the second online discussion hosted by the SAN-CDM: "The Unseen Game"

Mahanirban Calcutta Research Group, in collaboration with DW Akademie, organised the second online discussion by South Asia Network for Communication, Displacement and Migration (SAN-CDM) on “The U…

14/12/2022

Calcutta Research Group (www,mcrg.ac.in) in collaboration with DW Akademie invites you to the second online discussion by South Asia Network for Communication, Displacement and Migration (SAN-CDM)

"The Unseen Game: Infrastructure, Labour and the City"
15.12.2022, Thursday, at 6.00pm IST

In a news conference before the inauguration of the FIFA World Cup 2022, FIFA President GIanni Infantino accused Western media of bias and Western nations of hypocrisy, for their highlighting of inhuman treatment of migrant workers in Qatar and allegations of human rights violation, including the criminalisation of LGBTQ persons.
The Guardian reported that 6500 migrant workers from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Nepal have died in Qatar since the beginning of its World Cup preparations, in 2010. That is "an average of 12 migrant workers from these five south Asian nations have died each week". Segments of the South Asian economy depend heavily on remittances sent by migrant workers in the Middle East, however, the media in South Asia has failed to focus adequately on these deaths. Despite having never qualified to the FIFA World Cup, the South Asian nations participate enthusiastically in watching and discussing these matches, newspapers and prime time television news carry information related to football in great detail. The death of the migrant workers who have been instrumental in creating the spectacle of the most expensive World Cup till date has not marred the sports coverage.
"The Unseen Game: Infrastructure, Labour and the City" is a roundtable discussion organised by the South Asia Network for Communication, Displacement and Migration (SAN-CDM), highlighting the precarious existence of migrant workers, their contribution to the making of infrastructure and logistics in the modern metropolis (or should we say necropolis), the condition of South Asian migrant workers in the Gulf countries, as well as the role and responsibilities of the media. It will be moderated by the eminent journalist Bharat Bhushan.
Speakers:
1. Arup K Sen (Economist & Member, CRG, India)
2. Pavithra Jayawardena (University of Colombo, Sri Lanka)
3. Porimol Palma (The Daily Star, Bangladesh)
4. Som Prasad Lamichhane (PravasiNepal Co-ordination Committee, Nepal)
5. Francis Adaikalam (Loyola College, India)

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/85371746514?pwd=QnRSUEtsT3duajV3SU5PcnhITEdoUT09

Meeting ID: 853 7174 6514
Passcode: 275958

01/12/2022

Edit: Applications are now closed.
Thanks for the overwhelming response!

DEADLINE EXTENDED!
Thank you all for the overwhelming response to the call for applications! Owing to the volume of requests received for the deadline extension, we have decided to move the last date for application to 09.12.2022.
For more details please visit: www.mcrg.ac.in
DW Akademie
Refugee Watch Online
Calcutta Research Group

26/11/2022

We are happy to announcethe first conference of South Asia Network for Communication, Displacement and Migration organised by Calcutta Research Group in collaboration with Deutsche Welle Akademie.
Calling journalists, researchers and stakeholders from South Asia to participate in this three day workshop-cum- conference in Nepal, discussing challenges to the representration of migrants and refugees in South Asian media, and the possible ways to mitigate these challenges.
Please send your applications to [email protected] by 2nd Deccember 2022. For more information, check www.mcrg.ac.in, or, write to the media officer.

15/11/2022

A report on the recently concluded inaugural online event of South Asia Network for Communication Displacement and Migration on 'Climate Disaster, Migration, and News Reporting: A South Asian Discussion'

https://refugeewatchonline.wordpress.com/2022/11/15/a-report-on-climate-disaster-migration-and-news-reporting-a-south-asian-discussion/

Refugee Watch Online
Calcutta Research Group
DW Akademie
Sinha

Mahanirban Calcutta Research Group (www.mcrg.ac.in), in collaboration with Deutsche Welle Akademie(DWA), announced the launch of a network titled South Asia Network for Communication, Displacement …

08/11/2022

Thousands of football fans from around the globe will stay, November 20 onwards, in the neighbourhood where the hundreds of migrant workers lived. The airports, railway tracks and roads they will use to travel to the seven world class football stadiums have been built by migrant workers from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal and elsewhere in Asia and Africa. What they will not know is how they were treated, their working conditions or how many died to make the tournament possible. Bharat Bhushan writes.

Two weeks before the football World Cup begins in Qatar, the forcible eviction of migrant workers from dozens of buildings in Doha’s Al Mansoura neighbourhood made headlines. The evictions were a b…