Regional Perspectives on the Consequences of Displacement: War, Generalized Violence, and Refugee Protection

The second workshop session – to be held in April 2014 – will build upon the first session in order to compare and contrast refugees, armed conflict and generalized violence at the regional level. In parts of the world affected particularly by these dynamics – such as the Middle East, Africa, and Latin America – different perspectives exist on how refugee protection should function within each region. This session interrogates how such ‘localized’ asylum concepts and mechanisms emerge and adapt in response to the impact of refugee flows upon neighboring and nearby countries within regions and, in turn, influence and effect international refugee law and practice.

Speakers

David James Cantor

David James Cantor is the Director of the Refugee Law Initiative (RLI), School of Advanced Studies, University of London. He is a noted expert in displacement and armed conflict in Colombia and his particular interest is in refugee law, human rights law and the international law of armed conflict. He previously worked with the Refugee Legal Centre and UNHCR.

Ahmed Arbee

Ahmed Arbee is currently the Head of the International Association of Refugee Law Judges (IARLJ) Africa Chapter and formerly he served as the Chairperson of the Refugee Appeal Board of South Africa. He also serves on the IARLJ’s governing Council.

Justice Isaac Lenaola

Justice Isaac Lenaola is the presiding judge of the Constitution and Human Rights Division of the High Court of Kenya in Nairobi. The United Nations has also appointed Justice Lenaola to the Residual Special Court of Sierre Leone. The Residual Special Court of Sierre Leone handles cases that range from crimes against humanity, persecution on political, racial, ethnic and religious grounds and cases dealing with terrorism.

Dawn Chatty

Dawn Chatty is the Director, Refugee Studies Centre (RSC), at Oxford University. She is a social anthropologist with extensive research and work experience in the Middle East. She has studied at and holds advanced degrees from the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) and the Institute of Social Studies, The Hague, The Netherlands. She has published extensively on forced displacement in the Middle East and is recognized as one of the leading scholars in this region of the world.

Susan Akram  

Susan Akram is Clinical Professor of Law, School of Law, Boston University. She is also the Director of the International Human Rights Clinic at Boston University’s School of Law. Professor Akram worked for many years as an immigration lawyer before joining the faculty at Boston University in 1993. She also served as the Executive Director of Boston’s Political Asylum/Immigration Representation Project.

Related content 

• People / Dawn Chatty
• University of London / Refugee Law Initiative