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A group of Hazara refugees from Afghanistan warm themselves around a fire at the train station in Presevo, Serbia © © UNHCR/Daniel Etter
A group of Hazara refugees from Afghanistan warm themselves around a fire at the train station in Presevo, Serbia

The RSC’s Hilary Term seminar series will examine the causes and consequences of the current ‘crisis’ for European integration, European values and the global refugee protection regime. Refugees currently making their way to Europe face crises of varying types: humanitarian – at their places of arrival and at border crossings; legal – as some states flout their international and EU obligations; and security – as refugees become associated with fears, both rational and irrational. Speakers will consider the reactions and responsibilities of individual European states, the EU, the wider Council of Europe and the Mediterranean, both to refugees on their shores and to the global refugee protection system. The diverse reactions include aid to assist and contain refugees elsewhere; small-scale offers of relocation and resettlement; military suppression of human smuggling in Libya; border closures; and moves to accommodate large new refugee populations in Germany, Sweden and the other main destination states.

Speakers will include: Cathryn Costello (Associate Professor of International Human Rights and Refugee Law, Refugee Studies Centre), Pascal Brice (Director General, French Office for the Protection of Refugees and Stateless Persons), Madeline Garlick (Chief, Protection Policy and Legal Advice Section, Division of International Protection, UNHCR), Emma Haddad (Director, Refugee Resettlement Operations, UK Home Office), and Boldizsár Nagy (Associate Professor of Public International Law, Eötvös Loránd University and Central European University).

This seminar series complements the forthcoming issue of Forced Migration Review to be published on January 5th, also titled 'Destination: Europe'.

Time and location

Seminars take place from 5.00-6.30pm in Seminar Room 3, Oxford Department of International Development, 3 Mansfield Road, OX1 3TB. No registration is required and everyone is welcome to attend.

If you would like to receive updates about our public seminars and lectures, please visit our Connect With Us page and subscribe to our email alerts

Hilary term seminars

20 January

Destination Europe: states, borders and refugees

Cathryn Costello, Andrew W Mellon Associate Professor of International Human Rights and Refugee Law, Refugee Studies Centre


27 January

Can Europe build a unified response to the asylum crisis?

Pascal Brice, Director General, French Office for the Protection of Refugees and Stateless Persons


3 February

Moving forward on asylum in the EU: from crisis to responsibility

Madeline Garlick, Chief, Protection Policy and Legal Advice Section, Division of International Protection, UNHCR


10 February

Resettlement to the UK: Between Sovereigns revisited

Emma Haddad, former Director, Refugee Resettlement Operations, UK Home Office


17 February

Fencing off reality: Hungary's reactions to the arrival of refugees and their interpretation in a European legal, political and moral context

Boldizsár Nagy, Associate Professor of Public International Law, Eötvös Loránd University and Central European University


2 March

Protracted displacement and the challenges of solidarity

Kelly Staples, Lecturer in International Politics, University of Leicester


9 March

Wasted lives: borders and the right to life of people crossing them

Thomas Spijkerboer, Professor of Migration Law, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam

 

Podcasts of the series are available on SoundCloud here >>