Joint ASILE / RefMig Webinar

The right to decent work is an important human right, one often denied asylum seekers and refugees across the globe. This webinar will explore the right to work in international law, and examine various attempts to render it effective across diverse contexts, both through litigation and political processes. It will assess attempts to leverage the right to work transnationally, and consider whether such processes pay due attention to decent work, in particular in contexts where informal work predominates.

Please find the full programme here.

Prior registration is required. To register please visit the event page on Eventbrite. Registered attendees will receive the login details via e-mail prior to the event.Joint ASILE / RefMig Webinar

The Yale Law School European Law Association in association with the RefMig project is hosting a free online event ‘The end of the refugee crisis in the EU? At what price?’

Has the so-called refugee crisis been called to an end? If so, at what price? Are the mechanisms deployed by the EU to enforce its borders fully legal in light of EU law and the European Convention on Human Rights? Are there any alternatives for the EU and its member states in dealing with people attempting to reach the EU to apply for protection, such as humanitarian visas, humanitarian corridors and wider resettlement programs? Is the long-term perspective outlined in the UN-endorsed 2018 Global Compact for Migration likely to bring solutions? These are some of the questions to be discussed at this event with Prof. Cathryn Costello (Oxford University and Hertie School), Prof. François Crépeau (McGill University) and Prof. Patrick Weil (Yale Law School).

Watch the recording and reading suggestions

How is the prohibition of refoulement interpreted by United Nations Treaty Bodies (UNTBs) in their individual decision-making? Do UNTBs act as 'soft courts' that are more progressive interpreters than hard courts? This webinar - arranged by the Centre for Migration Law Radboud University and the RefMig project - will discuss the ‘Pushing Upwards’ of Non-Refoulement Cases to UNTBs and the implications of this for accountability.

Agenda

Please register before 20 June by emailing Charley Berndsen: cmr-rechtssociologie@ru.nl

The link to the webinar will be sent following registration

The RefMig project is delighted to have arranged the panel “Understanding the Role of UNHCR in Refugee Recognition” as part of the Refugee Law Initiative’s 5th Annual Conference ‘Growing Old Gracefully? The 1951 Convention Refugee Convention at 70.’

Moderator: Professor Cathryn Costello, Hertie School, Germany

Friday 11 June 16.00– 17.20 BST

• “UNHCR in Malaysia: Mandate and Protection Obligations Explored” - Dr Alice Nah, University of York, UK

• “Handover of Refugee Status Determination from UNHCR to States: Motivations and Outcomes” - Dr Caroline Nalule and Dr Derya Ozkul, Refugee Studies Centre, University of Oxford, UK

• “The Role of the UNHCR in the Refugee Status Determination Procedure: Protection without Impunity?” - Didem Doger, McGill University, Canada

• “The Determination of Refugee Status: Conceptualising beyond Binaries” - Professor Cathryn Costello, Hertie School, Germany, and Professor Gregor Noll, University of Gothenburg, Sweden

Watch the panel.

This intimate, invite only, event will feature 24 working papers on this important topic, and provide scholars working in this area with opportunities to network. Papers will be shared by participants in advance of the workshop and on the day will be discussed as part of small thematic panels.

The conference is being co-organised by Rebecca Hamlin (University of Massachusetts Amherst), Lamis Abdelaaty (Syracuse University) and Cathryn Costello (Hertie School)

On Thursday 28th January 2021 RefMig is holding a virtual developmental workshop where authors of country reports on refugee recognition regimes will discuss their draft reports. The aim is to comparatively introduce key issues / problems identified in different countries refugee recognition regimes and provide useful input to the final country reports. Papers will be shared with workshop participants only and are not to be circulated further at this stage.

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) is an influential yet under-studied international organisation (IO) operating in the field of global migration governance. It has changed dramatically in recent years, in terms of its size and scope, formal position, and leadership and ethos. IOM’s new status as a ‘UN-related’ organisation has also attracted scholarly interest. This workshop is a closed event for authors who will be contributing to a new edited volume on IOM’s obligations, accountability and ethos, and for commentators invited to participate in the discussion. Papers addressing IOM’s actions and obligations under various bodies of international law, and its accountability challenges as an IO, will be discussed. Authors will have an opportunity to share concepts and themes emerging from their research and to receive feedback from other contributors and commentators prior to publication. The workshop will also serve as a platform for scholars to contemplate potential areas for IOM’s reform, one of the core focuses of the edited volume.

Who is involved in the process of refugee recognition? What are the obstacles in providing protection? These questions were the starting point for an innovative workshop on Recognising Refugees held in December 2019 in Berlin, organised by RefMig and the DeZIM-Kolleg project.

This event gathered together an interdisciplinary group of scholars for an exploratory workshop focusing on the International Organization for Migration (IOM). The aim was to bring together a group of experts with established expertise and/or demonstrated research interest in the operation and accountability of international organisations in the migration and refugee regimes, with a particular focus on the role of the IOM. 

Many human rights violations occur in the context of migration control. Some of these are evident and egregious, and their governmental perpetrators are answerable before domestic and international courts, as well as other bodies, for these rights violations. However, it is often not that simple. Some human rights matters are highly contested in the context of migration control, including the scope of the human rights obligations themselves. This workshop sought to examine underexplored substantive human rights issues, including on the right to leave, the implications of non-refoulement for admission to territory, and the manner in which discrimination norms affects admissions and border decisions.