What should an ideal refugee protection system look like?

Our research may hold the answer

Meeting Announcement

THE UNIVERSITY OF BERGEN

 

VIDEO: PROTECT THE RIGHT TO INTERNATIONAL PROTECTION. A PENDULUM BETWEEN GLOBALIZATION AND NATIVIZATION? IS AN EU-FUNDED RESEARCH PROJECT LAUNCHED ON 1 FEBRUARY 2020. WE STUDY THE IMPACTS OF THE UN'S GLOBAL COMPACTS ON REFUGEES AND MIGRATION, WHICH ARE TWO NON-BINDING FRAMEWORKS PROMOTING INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION AND RESPONSIBILITY-SHARING AS KEY SOLUTIONS TO HANDLE GLOBAL REFUGEE FLOWS. BY STUDYING HOW THE COMPACTS ARE RECEIVED AND IMPLEMENTED IN DIFFERENT COUNTRIES, AND HOW THEY INTERACT WITH EXISTING LEGAL FRAMEWORKS AND GOVERNANCE ARCHITECTURES, WE INVESTIGATE THE COMPACTS' IMPACT ON REFUGEES' RIGHT TO INTERNATIONAL PROTECTION. view more 

CREDIT: PROTECT PROJECT

Can non-binding agreements hold the necessary solutions?
In 2018, a number of countries signed the UN’s Refugee and Migration Compacts, two new agreements aiming at consolidating the objectives and obligations outlined by the Refugee convention. One of the Compacts’ most important goals is securing a better and more fair distribution of the world’s refugees: over 60 per cent of all refugees are currently hosted by ten countries. Turkey alone hosts 3.5 million Syrian refugees. 86 per cent of all refugees live in poor developing countries, which lack the necessary means to handle and support large refugee flows.

The EU funded research project PROTECT studies the Compacts’ potential and how they impact global refugee protection and governance – and ultimately whether they have a positive impact on states’ ability and will to fulfil the objectives of the Refugee Convention.

At our fully-digital Midterm Conference on 26 - 27 August 2021, we will share our initial findings with the world. Here, we will take stock of current challenges – and solutions – linked to global refugee protection. We will propose answers to the following questions:

• Is the international refugee protection system an efficient tool to meet today's massive humanitarian challenges? If not, how can it be improved? 

• Are the Global Compact on Migration and the Global Compact on Refugees a new opportunity, or a hindrance, for advancing the right to international protection?

• What about the European Commission's latest proposal on a New Migration and Asylum Pact and the current CEAS? 

• How are the EU, Canada, and South Africa facing protection challenges? 

• What kind of pressures are decision-makers encountering when making and implementing refugee and asylum policies? 

Practicalities:

In order to avoid Zoom fatigue, we have pre-recorded many of the conference talks, available here. At the conference, you can catch short live presentations and interactive Q&A through Padlet. We have invited speakers representing both academia and the policy world.