Press Release
QUETTA 20 December: The International Center for Refugees and Migration Studies (ICRMS) hosted a two-day international conference on ‘Migration, Integration and Social Cohesion’ on 19 and 20 December at Balochistan University of Information Technology Engineering and Management Sciences (BUITEMS), Quetta.
The International Center for Refugees and Migration Studies (ICRMS) was established at Balochistan University of Information Technology Engineering and Management Sciences (BUITEMS) in collaboration with the UN Refugee Agency.
The ICRMS is the first national centre on refugee and migration studies in Pakistan and held this key event on much needed studies related to refugees and migrants.
The Deputy Representative of UNHCR in Pakistan Iain Hall and the Vice Chancellor BUITEMS Engr. Ahmed Farooq Bazai addressed the inaugural session of the international conference.
The unprecedented increase in the number of refugees and internally displaced people worldwide, and the responses by states pose new challenges to refugee protection and security in the 21st century. ICRMS planed the conference with an intention to present a platform to collectively identify and address challenges to refugee protection, migration management and security.
The conference brought together representatives of government, international organizations, NGOs, UN agencies, media and academia in order to promote debate and discourse on the management and impact of forced migration and refugee protection by 
bringing discussions within the broader framework of international refugee regimes.
The conference discussed a wide range of topics including socioeconomic impact of migration, migration and demography, globalization and migration, social cohesion of migrants and refugees, conflict and human mobility and refugees and state-building, among others.
As many as 40 international and national speakers, social scientists and scholars addressed the conference. The conference underscored the crucial importance of long-term commitment of the ICRMS and UNHCR to building knowledge and promoting solutions to the myriad issues related to forced migration and refugee protection. In the light of robust research and debate, the conference presented new perspectives and findings that will help inform public opinion and policy development on multiple contemporary issues that refugees and migrants are facing in Pakistan and elsewhere.
