Building on her recent monograph Unwelcome to Denmark (2025) and her broader research on the politics of language in migration governance, Michelle Pace's presentation examines how key concepts associated with refugee protection are being transformed in contemporary Europe. During her Visiting Fellowship at the Refugee Studies Centre, she explored how political language functions as a technology of governance and how seemingly humanitarian concepts can acquire new meanings as asylum systems undergo reform and externalization.
In this presentation Michelle focuses on the growing prominence of “safety” within contemporary asylum governance. Terms such as “safe third country” are often treated as technical legal categories, yet they also perform important political work. Drawing on research on asylum externalization, migration governance and critical rhetorical geographies, she examines how the designation of countries as “safe” helps legitimize the relocation of protection responsibilities beyond state borders. She argues that safety may be undergoing a transformation similar to concepts such as temporary protection, integration and sustainability: retaining a positive normative appeal while becoming increasingly detached from its original substantive content. Historically associated with protection from persecution, access to asylum procedures and rights guarantees, safety is increasingly articulated through the language of migration management, deterrence and responsibility-sharing. By tracing these shifts, the presentation contributes to broader debates about how changing understandings of protection are reshaping refugee governance, international protection norms and the future of durable solutions in Europe.