International Conference on Refugees and International Law: The Challenge of Protection

Refugee protection has undergone numerous developments. The increase in the numbers of refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs) over past decades and the responses by States pose new challenges to protection under international law. The Refugee Studies Centre wished to provide a forum to identify and address challenges to refugee protection from the perspective of the individual as a subject of rights in international law. This initiative aimed to enhance the understanding of the complex issues that arise from current challenges to protection and to facilitate collective intellectual efforts in this field, contributing to the development of creative solutions.

This Conference marked the beginning of events organised to commemorate the 25th Anniversary of the Refugee Studies Centre. The RSC wanted to promote the debate among academics, governments, international organisations, NGOs, practitioners, policy-makers and others on issues of refugee protection by bringing discussions on refugee protection within the broader framework of related areas of international law, including international human rights law and international humanitarian law. 

Key speakers included:

• Professor Guy Goodwin-Gill, Senior Research Fellow, All Souls College, University of Oxford.
• Professor Walter Kälin, Representative of the UN Secretary-General on the human rights of internally displaced persons, and Member of the UN Human Rights Committee.