Lawmakers are shaping and implementing the EU’s digital policy with increasing emphasis on safeguarding the rights of EU residents. However, the safety and rights of minorities and those on the move like migrants, refugees, and asylum seekers are compromised. This oversight has a devastating impact on digital rights, human rights, and non-discrimination. In this meet-up, we especially invite voices from minority and migrant communities to join our exploration of questions such as: what role do technologies like AI play in the regulation of migration? And how can we better consider the needs of vulnerable communities when regulating technology?
More about the speakers
Dr. Akudo McGee (PhD) works for the digital and human rights NGO, The London Story as an advocacy and communications officer in the Netherlands. She earned a PhD at Maastricht University where her research focused on civic mobilisation in Poland in defence of the rule of law and human rights. She’s an expert in civic mobilisation and autocratic legalism and has closely followed the rule of law crisis in the EU. She completed her master’s degree at the University of Amsterdam where she focused on refugee integration in challenging social and economic environments. Her interests include the rule of law, civic mobilisation, anti-discrimination, and human rights.
Petra Molnar is a lawyer and an anthropologist working at the intersection of migration and technologies. She has worked all over the world including Greece, US-Mexico, Canada, Kenya, and Palestine. She co-runs the Refugee Law Lab at York University and is a Faculty Associate at Harvard’s Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society. Her first book, The Walls Have Eyes: Surviving Migration in the Age of Artificial Intelligence, was a finalist for the 2024 Governor General’s Nonfiction Literary Award.
Dr. Sangeeta Mahapatra is a Research Fellow at the German Institute for Global and Area Studies, Hamburg. Combining multi-disciplinary academic research with policy insights, she leads research projects that examine digital authoritarianism, digital politics, and AI and Internet Governance. By working with civil society organisations in South and Southeast Asia, her research seeks to contribute to knowledge transfer and policies on ethical tech and inclusive governance for digital empowerment, as well as civil society capacity-building against digital repression and disinformation.
Aljosa Ajanovic Ajanovic is a lawyer and a journalist advocating for human rights in the digital age. He is a Policy Advisor at European Digital Rights (EDRi), where he covers issues related to illegal state surveillance, online freedom of expression and the effects of techno-solutionist and securitisation policies on minoritised communities and people on the move.
