When: Friday, November 13, 2020 - Saturday, November 14, 2020, 5:15 PM - 12:30 PMWhere: Online
The PROTECT Expert Forum 2020 will discuss ‘The Two UN Compacts – Refugees and Migrants: Challenges and Implementation in Europe’. The event is hosted by Professor Elspeth Guild (Queen Mary University of London) and Professor Sandra Lavenex (University of Geneva).
This Expert Forum, organised as part of the PROTECT project, engages with the Global Compacts on Refugees and Migrants from the perspective of their added value to existing international norms which also cover migrants. We hypothesise that there is added value from these instruments in providing a reinforced commitment to existing human rights standards, bringing migration firmly within the scope of other UN instruments.
Against this background, the Expert Panel (13th November 2020) brings together legal scholars, migration experts, and representatives from organisations such as UNHCR, ECRE, and EASO, to explore contemporary issues faced in the Mediterranean region in light of the EU states’ commitments to the two UN Compacts and the role and policy of EU institutions. The panellists include Professor Hakan Gurcan Sicakkan (PI, PROTECT - Horizon 2020), Dr Madeline Garlick (UNHCR), Catherine Wollard (ECRE), and Alexander Sorel (EASO).
An additional two panels (14th November 2020) will engage with the added value which the two Compacts can bring to the lives of refugees and migrants. Prof Sandra Lavenex (University of Geneva), Prof Jens Vedsted-Hansen (University of Aarhus), Dr Ryzsard Cholewinski (ILO Beirut), Dr Bjarney Fridriksdottir (University of Deusto, Spain) & Prof Elspeth Guild (QMUL) will examine refugee and migrant protection from the perspective of social and economic rights. Prof Jürgen Bast (Justus-Liebig-Universität Giessen), Prof Carolina Hernandez (OHCHR), Adriano Silvestri (EU FRA), Mats Lindberg, (ECRI) and Drahoslav Štefánek (Special Representative of the Council of Europe’s Secretary-General on Migration & Refugees) will then engage with the application of human rights and non-discrimination of refugees and migrants in specific contexts, including asylum applications, non-refoulement obligations and detention.
A detailed programme is available. All are welcome to attend. Since places are limited, registrations will be taken on a first-come, first-served basis.
Please register using the links below by 10 November 2020: