When: Tuesday, September 27, 2022, 5:00 PM - 7:00 PMWhere: Room 3.1, Third Floor, Centre for Commercial law Studies 67-69 Lincoln's Inn Fields London WC2A 3JB
The (B)OrderS: Centre for the Legal Study of Borders and Migration at Queen Mary University of London and the Centre for International Law at the University of Bristol invite you to a discussion on The Common European Asylum System and the UN Compacts on Refugees and for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration celebrating the launch of the related Handbook for Practitioners.
In 2018, through the UN General Assembly, the international community adopted two Global Compacts, one for refugees and the other for safe, orderly and regular migration. These Compacts followed two years of negotiations and are based on the good faith commitment of states to implement a wide range of commitments to improving global standards for refugee protection and the safety of migrants. The first international review of implementation of the Global Compact on Migration (GCM) is currently underway, following extensive regional reviews over the past 18 months. Yet what impact can the UN Global Compacts have on the rights of applicants and beneficiaries of international protection who seek asylum under the European Union’s Common European Asylum System?
In this discussion, the Handbook authors - Professor Elspeth Guild (QMUL), Dr Kathryn Allinson (University of Bristol), Dr Nicolette Busuttil (University of Westminster) and Dr Maja Grundler (Royal Holloway University of London) - will examine how EU Member states (and associated states) can apply the CEAS in a manner consistent with GCM and Global Compact on Refugees (GCR) commitments. This will be followed by responses from three leading experts in the field: Dr Madeline Garlick (UNCHR), Professor Violeta Moreno-Lax (QMUL) and Ms Catherine Woollard (ECRE). The discussion will explore the areas where the CEAS is coherent with commitments made in the Compacts, but also where there are tensions. In so doing, it will provide scholarly and policy perspectives on the ways in which practitioners and civil society actors, identified as key stakeholders in the GCM, can improve the CEAS’s consistency with the GCR and GCM and improve the enjoyment of rights in practice by refugees within the EU.
This Handbook examines the interaction between EU asylum law and the Global Compacts (GCs) and draws on work conducted for the PROTECT Project, which studies the legal potential and impacts of the GCR and the GCM on the functioning of the international refugee protection system. The Handbook identifies the gaps and synergies between the two Compacts and the EU legal framework, primarily in the instruments forming the CEAS. It identifies CEAS provisions which fulfil the Compacts’ requirements as well as those that diverge therefrom. Through this exercise, the Handbook highlights how practitioners, including policymakers, can use the Compacts to augment the protective scope of corresponding CEAS provisions or pursue the required law or policy change to align law and practice with states’ commitments.
The authors are:
The discussants are:
The event will be chaired by Professor Elspeth Guild.
**Please note that for those joining the event online, joining details will be sent the day before.
Founded in 2022, the (B)Orders Centre focuses on the study of bordering, ordering and othering processes through law. It constitutes a hub for intellectual collaboration and evaluation of the role of law in the making and unmaking of borders and their impact on global (im)mobility. It connects scholars within and beyond Queen Mary Law School to harness existing inter- and multi-disciplinary research into law, borders and (im)mobility and shape future research agendas in response to global challenges.
The Centre for International Law brings together one of the largest and most diverse communities of international lawyers in the UK. The Centre provides a platform for collaboration, engagement with external institutions, and the dissemination of internationally recognised research. The Centre is intellectually inclusive, embracing a diverse range of methodological approaches and seeking to foster an interdisciplinary ethos. Through the collaborative work of its members, it aims to tackle some of the most pressing international challenges of our time.