International symposium about the extraction of care work from the (European) periphery

On 23 April, the Institute of Peace hosted an international Symposium TRANSNATIONALISATION OF CARE FOR OLDER PEOPLE WITHIN AND BETWEEN THE EUROPEAN (SEMI)PERIPHERY AND CORE. Researchers from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Serbia, Slovenia, the Czech Republic, Poland, Austria and Germany debated the extraction of care work from the (European) periphery; inequalities in the financing of systems welfare funding in the European core and the (semi)periphery; migrant care workers and their experiences of obtaining residence and work permits, recognition of qualifications, family reunification, finding housing and facing its costs, working conditions. Researchers highlighted that that current trend in care policies, e.g. ‘ageing at home’, crucially depends on the employment of migrant women in private households. Current research on women’s care migration from former Yugoslav countries to Slovenia, Austria and Germany were presented and on their implications for local communities reflected. The researchers concluded that research on transnationalisation of care in the European periphery opens new themes and epistemologies for exploring care migration.