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Public Seminar Series, Hilary term 2018

Series convenor: Dr Lilian Tsourdi

About the seminar

The seminar is based on Ruvi's monograph, Voting Rights of Refugees (CUP, 2017). The book develops a novel legal argument about the voting rights of refugees recognised in the 1951 Geneva Convention. The main normative contention is that such refugees should have the right to vote in the political community where they reside, assuming that this community is a democracy and that its citizens have the right to vote. The book argues that recognised refugees are a special category of non-citizen residents: they are unable to participate in elections of their state of origin, do not enjoy its diplomatic protection and consular assistance abroad, and are unable or unwilling, owing to a well-founded fear of persecution, to return to it. Refugees deserve to have a place in the world, in the Arendtian sense, where their opinions are significant and their actions are effective. Their state of asylum is the only community in which there is any prospect of political participation on their part.

about the speaker

Dr Reuven (Ruvi) Ziegler is Associate Professor in International Refugee Law at the University of Reading, School of Law, where he Director of the Global LLM (postgraduate) programmes in Human Rights, International Law, and Advanced Legal Studies. He convenes the LLM modules 'International Refugee Law' and 'Israel/Palestine: International Law and Human Rights Issues', and contributes to teaching of 'International Humanitarian Law' and 'International Human Rights Law'. He also convenes the core undergraduate module 'Public Law 2' (administrative law and civil liberties).

Ruvi is an Academic Fellow of the Honourable Society of the Inner Temple; Convenor of the Civil Liberties and Human Rights Section of the Society of Legal Scholars; Editor-in-Chief of the Refugee Law Initiative (Institute for Advance Legal Study, University of London) Working Paper Series; and a Researcher at the Israel Democracy Institute (analysing the treatment of asylum seekers in Israel as part of the Constitutional Principles project).

Ruvi holds DPhil, MPhil, and BCL degrees from the University of Oxford; LL.M. with specialisation in Public Law from Hebrew University; and a joint LLB and BA from the University of Haifa. Ruvi was called to the Israeli bar in 2003.

Annual Harrell-Bond Lecture

The Annual Harrell-Bond Lecture is named in honour of Dr Barbara Harrell-Bond, the founding Director of the Refugee Studies Centre. It is held each year in Michaelmas term.

Annual Elizabeth Colson Lecture

The Annual Elizabeth Colson Lecture is held in Trinity term. It is named after Professor Elizabeth Colson, a renowned anthropologist.

Public Seminar Series

Each term the RSC holds a series of public seminars, held on Wednesday evenings at Queen Elizabeth House. Click here for details of forthcoming seminars.

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Forthcoming events

A celebration of the life of David Turton

Saturday, 20 July 2024, 2pm to 3pm @ The Crypt Cafe, St Peters Church, Northchurch Terrace, London N1 4DA