On 28 September, Natalia Zhurbina, an associate professor at the Department of Regional Studies and International Economies of the VSU Faculty of International Relations, participated online in an international conference titled “Europe and migration of Christian communities from the Middle East”. The conference was organised by Martin Tamcke, a professor from the Faculty of Theology of the University of Göttingen (Germany).
It was held as part of the project called “Peace and War in European Security Challenges” in the framework of Jean Monnet Actions of the Erasmus+ programme. Researchers from Germany, Netherlands, Italy, Belgium, Turkey, Armenia, and India participated in the conference. They discussed specific features of modern ethnic and religious conflicts as well as of multi-cultural and multi-national communities, and they also talked about new threats that communities face (in particular the Covid-19 pandemic).
Natalia Zhurbina presented a report on the topic of “Migration policy of Russia in relation to the children of immigrants: issues and opportunities (based on the example of immigrants from Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Armenia)”. This topic was chosen due to a request from the German side: in 2019 Natalia Zhurbina made a report on this issue at a conference at the University of Göttingen, and this spring Professor Tamcke suggested continuing this topic at the next conference.
It is noted in the report that children who come from far-abroad countries as well as children of immigrants from Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, who are the largest group of immigrants in Russia, face the most difficulties with adaptation and integration. However, over the past two years there have been no positive dynamics in the country’s migration policy. The issues relating to the adaptation and integration of immigrants and, in particular, their children, into Russian society are being ignored, which may aggravate the problems of intercultural and interreligious relationships. Still, there are also some positive changes, such as regional initiatives aimed at filling this gap.
