Beyond Borders: The Social and Political Reflections of Migration

The panel titled "Beyond Borders: The Social and Political Reflections of Migration," organized in collaboration with the Bahçeşehir University Human Rights Club and the Bahçeşehir University Migration and Urban Studies Application and Research Center (BAUMUS), was held with strong attendance on Wednesday, 20 November, at the university's Beşiktaş South Campus.

The first speaker of the panel, BAUMUS Founding Director Prof. Dr. Ulaş Sunata, addressed the phenomenon of migration in its social and political dimensions, without reducing it to legal and administrative boundaries alone. Emphasizing that migration is much more than an individual experience, Sunata pointed out that it is a dynamic process shaped by social belonging, identity, citizenship and rights. The invisible borders migrants face in daily life beyond their legal status, forms of discrimination and practices of social exclusion were among the key topics of the panel.

The second speaker, Atty. Yekta Işık Nergiz, General Manager of the Love and Brotherhood Foundation (SEV-KAR), focused in her presentation, enriched with field experience, on migrants' access to social protection mechanisms. Sharing examples of the structural inequalities, legal gaps and barriers to accessing social services faced particularly by women and child migrants, Nergiz emphasized the importance of social justice in this field.

At the end of the event, participants had the opportunity to compare different perspectives on migration studies and to communicate directly with the experts. Bringing together academic and civil society perspectives, the panel created a comprehensive platform for discussing the social and political impacts of migration.