Teresa Buczkowska

In the last 30 years, Ireland has been elevated from a country of emigrants to a country where immigration become a constant feature of life. Today 1 in 7 Irish residents are migrants making Ireland one of the most diverse countries in the EU. Ireland is considered one of the top 10 countries with the most favourable integration policies according to MIPEX. However, there is a significant tension between policy papers and realisation of rights for migrants through the implementation of policy on the ground. What dictates the Irish integration policy creation is the tension between the State agenda and the civil society and the grassroots resistance. The Irish State’s approach to immigration and integration in the last 30 years could be considered shortsighted and avoidant. It resulted in the creation of an ad hoc immigration and integration framework that lacks long-term planning. At the same time, the robust Irish civil society sector is actively engaging with the Irish government pressing for respect of human rights and dignity of migrants and their families. During the lecture, I will provide an overview of Irish integration programs imposed by the State and the interventions of civil society and grassroots groups to amend the areas of concern. I will focus on the areas of, women’s rights, children’s rights, refuge relocation and reception, migrant voting rights, and migrant leadership.

Teresa Buczkowska is a Polish-Irish migrant rights campaigner with over 15 years of experience building and leading teams to develop platforms for advancing immigrant and refugee inclusion. Her expertise is in developing and executing programs to mentor and build the leadership of migrants andrefugees and to increase their civic and political participation. Most of her professional life Teresa spent at the Immigrant Council of Ireland, the largest migrant rights organisation in Ireland. A graduate of the Jagiellonian University with an MA in Ethnology, she also holds a Professional Diploma in Human Rights and Equality from the Institute of Public Administration, Dublin, Ireland. Teresa was awarded a Fellowship by the Social Change Initiative, Belfast, UK to research migrant leadership. She was also selected as the first participant from Poland and Ireland for the Obama Scholars program 2022/23. Teresa is the founder of the Migrant Vote newsletter dedicated to analysing trends in migrant leadership and political participation.

Wydarzenie można zaliczyć w ramach programu OSA:

• Opiekun: dr Joanna Kulpińska
• Liczba godzin OSA: 2 godziny
• Forma zaliczenia: sporządzenie krótkiej notatki w języku angielskim lub polskim (max. 500-600 znaków), przedstawiającej główne zagadnienia omawiane podczas spotkania i przesłanie jej dr Joannie Kulpińskiej - notatki należy przesłać najpóźniej 2 tygodnie po spotkaniu. Należy również uzyskać podpis na karcie OSA.