The Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law at UNSW is the world’s first research centre dedicated to the study of international refugee law. Through high-quality research feeding into public policy debate and legislative reform, the Centre brings a principled, human rights-based approach to ref…
A recording of a speed briefing held on Tuesday, 11 March 2025, to learn more about how misinformation works and what to do about it. For those who want a truthful discussion, yet may sometimes struggle to respond to false claims, a new report is designed to help you know what to do and when: Countering misinformation about refugees and migrants: An evidence-based framework, find it here: https://www.unsw.edu.au/kaldor-centre/our-resources/legal-and-policy-resources/countering-misinformation With an easy-to-follow decision tree and how-to examples, this report can equip you to respond across a range of situations— and lays the groundwork for you to create responses aligned with your own aims. Co-authors Professor Daniel Ghezelbash (UNSW Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law) and Saul Wodak (Behavioural Insights Team) step through the framework, empowering you to create stronger, fact-based conversations.
Learn more about a ground-breaking new global toolkit to guide legal practitioners and decision-makers faced with refugee claims involving the impacts of climate change and disasters. 'International Protection for People Displaced across Borders in the context of Climate Change and Disasters: A Practical Toolkit' is a clear, systematic guide to this issue (https://www.unsw.edu.au/content/dam/pdfs/law/kaldor/resource/2025-02-climate-protection-toolkit-full-eng.pdf). Listen to the speed briefing to quickly get an understanding of when, why and how existing refugee and human rights law can protect people forced to leave their homes in situations where climate change or disasters play a role. In this quick overview of the Practical Toolkit, hear from Professor Jane McAdam AO and Dr Tamara Wood, UNSW Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law (authors) and Dr Madeline Garlick, Chief of the Protection Policy and Legal Advice Section at UNHCR. This Practical Toolkit has been developed by the Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law at UNSW Sydney; the Center for Gender & Refugee Studies, University of California College of the Law, San Francisco; and the School of Law and Human Rights Centre, University of Essex, in collaboration with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), and with support from Open Society Foundations.
A recording of the celebratory launch of 'Judging Refugees: Narrative and Oral Testimony in Refugee Status Determination' held on 20 November 2024. This was a hybrid panel event co-hosted by UNSW's Centre for Criminology, Law & Justice, and the Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law, in conversation with Dr Anthea Vogl, Dr Tina Dixson, Associate Professor Maria Giannacopoulos and Professor Daniel Ghezelbash. In 'Judging Refugees', Anthea Vogl investigates the black box of the refugee oral hearing and the politics of narrative within individualised processes for refugee status determination (RSD). Drawing on a rich archive of administrative oral hearings in Australia and Canada, Vogl sets global trends of diminished and fast-tracked RSD against the critical role played by the discretionary spaces of refugee decision-making, and the gate-keeping functions of credibility assessment. About the author: Anthea Vogl is an Associate Professor of Law at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS). She teaches and researches in the fields of refugee and migration law, focusing on the social and legal categories of the refugee and non-citizen, executive decision-making, and the criminology of border control. Guest speakers: Dr Tina Dixson (she/her) is an early career academic, advocate, and social policy professional with experience in advancing LGBTIQA+ equality, refugee protection, and responses to gender-based violence. Tina has her own experience of queer displacement, having been forced to leave Ukraine with her partner Dr Renee Dixson due to their LGBTIQA+ activism. Dr Maria Giannacopoulos (she/her) is Associate Professor and Director of the Centre for Criminology Law and Justice at UNSW Sydney. She holds a BA(Hons) LLB (Hons) and a PhD in Cultural Studies and is a leading scholar in decolonising approaches to law and criminology. Dr Daniel Ghezelbash (he/him) is Professor of Law and the Director of the Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law at UNSW Sydney, and an Australian Research Council (ARC) DECRA Fellow. www.unsw.edu.au/kaldor-centre
A recording of the inaugural Kaldor Centre Oration, delivered by Kate Eastman AM SC and Zaki Haidari on 21 November 2024. The Kaldor Centre Oration is a new flagship lecture hosted by the Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law at UNSW Sydney, designed to enrich the public conversation on refugee issues by showcasing transformational ideas that can spark fresh thinking and action. It is a valuable opportunity to build shared understanding and positive solutions. The inaugural 2024 event builds upon the Kaldor Centre's track record of thought leadership, stemming from more than a decade of principled, evidence-based contributions to the refugee debate. This recording is for anyone interested in creating a better future – be they people with lived experience of displacement, civil society, legal practitioners, policymakers, business leaders or community members. About the speakers: Kate Eastman AM SC is a Sydney barrister working in the fields in human rights, discrimination, employment, public and constitutional law. Over her 30 years practicing as a lawyer, Kate has been committed to human rights and equality. At Allens, she represented asylum seekers in detention in Port Hedland. She then worked at the Australian Human Rights Commission before joining the Bar in 1998. Between 2019 – 2023, she was Counsel Assisting the Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability. She has taught human rights law at UTS, Monash University and the University of Sydney, and in Burma and Uganda. Kate is chair of the Australian Bar Association's Diversity and Inclusion Committee and the Law Council of Australia's Equal Opportunity Committee. In 2023, she was appointed a Commissioner of the New South Wales Law Reform Commission. Kate has received the Law and Justice Foundation's Justice Award (2003), the Australian Human Rights Commission's Human Rights Award for Law (2019), a Lifetime Achievement Award from Women Lawyers Association (NSW) (2022), and the Law Council of Australia's President's Award (2022). She was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia for significant service to the law, to human rights, and to professional organisations. Zaki Haidari is a 2020 Australian Human Rights Commission Human Rights Hero, an Ambassador for Refugee Advice and Casework Service (RACS), and works at Amnesty International Australia as a Strategic Campaigner. Zaki is also a highly respected commentator in the media on refugee rights. Zaki is himself a refugee. He fled Afghanistan at age 17, targeted by the Taliban after his father was ‘disappeared' and this brother murdered. He survived a terrifying boat journey and arrived in Australia seeking protection in 2012. Since then, despite social, legal and financial obstacles, he has thrived. Having arrived with little English, in 2015, just three years after he came to Australia, he won the NSW Government's International Student of the Year Award (2015). He has also completed a Diploma in Computing and a Diploma in Graphic Design. Zaki is a compelling human rights advocate. Even while he was on a temporary protection visa, and since he was granted permanent protection, Zaki has continually and courageously shared his experience and expertise with the media and the wider community, speaking out about the cruel regime of permanent temporariness faced by people like him who came to Australia by sea seeking safety.
Scientia Professor Jane McAdam AO, explains why Australia needs a new emergency visa to respond to humanitarian crises, which she and her co-author, Dr Regina Jefferies, propose as part of a broader emergency response framework in their new policy brief. Having a framework that could be activated in a crisis would enable a more predictable, streamlined and effective response. In the context of people fleeing the war in Gaza, and reports that the government is considering creating a new emergency visa, the policy brief has vital importance for individuals, policymakers and advocates across the sector. Watch to quickly get an understanding of the evidence behind their proposals for a better approach – for all concerned. The Kaldor Centre's Evacuations Research Hub is a five-year project established in July, funded by an Australian Research Council Laureate Fellowship, to analyse why and how evacuations are used; what legal standards govern their conduct; and when and how they come to an end. Scientia Professor of Law and Laureate Fellow Jane McAdam AO is its Director, and Dr Regina Jefferies is a Laureate Postdoctoral Fellow.
UNSW's Kaldor Centre was established as the Abbott government came to power with its “stop the boats” campaign; the Centre showed the power of starting with hope, becoming the world's first centre dedicated to the study of international refugee law. For a decade, Jane McAdam AO has steered the Centre as an authoritative, non-partisan voice of reason, playing a unique and valued role among those seeking a better approach to refugee issues in Australia, the region and internationally. Here McAdam shares stories from her time at the helm of UNSW's Kaldor Centre.
A recording of the closing keynote address at the 2023 Kaldor Centre Conference: 'Learning from the future: Foresight for the next decade of forced migration' held on 20 November 2023. Kaldor Centre Director, Scientia Professor Jane McAdam AO, reflected on the day's discussions and the implications of future megatrends for international refugee law. Will international refugee law still have relevance a decade from now? What role can – and should – it play as the adverse impacts of climate change, enhanced technological surveillance and increasing automation of decision-making influence who is able to move across borders, and how they are treated when they arrive?
Recording of Panel Session 3 at the 2023 Kaldor Centre Conference, 'Learning from the future: Foresight for the next decade of forced migration' held on 20 November 2023 at UNSW Sydney. Speakers: Peter Lewis, Executive Director, Essential Media Amanda Tattersall, Associate Professor of Practice, Sydney Policy Lab Lenore Taylor, Editor, Guardian Australia Shabnam Safa, Chairperson, National Refugee-led Advisory and Advocacy Group Chair: Lauren Martin, Communications Manager, Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law As the Kaldor Centre embarked on its 10th anniversary, our flagship conference harnessed strategic foresight to inform the agenda for the decade to come. The 2023 Kaldor Centre Conference took participants 10 years into the future, to explore the forced migration challenges we may face in the decade to come. The purpose was not to predict the future, but to help us to be better prepared to shape the future we want to see and to help us think afresh about what we might need to do today to ensure protection for displaced people in the decade to come.
Recording of Panel Session 2 at the 2023 Kaldor Centre Conference, 'Learning from the future: Foresight for the next decade of forced migration' held on 20 November 2023 at UNSW Sydney. Speakers: Cathryn Costello, Professor of Global Refugee & Migration Law, University College Dublin Niamh Kinchin, Acting Dean of Law, University of Wollongong Edward Santow, Director, Policy & Governance, Human Technology Institute, University of Technology Sydney Shahyar Roushan, Senior Member, Administrative Appeals Tribunal, Migration & Refugee Division Chair: Daniel Ghezelbash, Deputy Director, Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law As the Kaldor Centre embarked on its 10th anniversary, our flagship conference harnessed strategic foresight to inform the agenda for the decade to come. The 2023 Kaldor Centre Conference took participants 10 years into the future, to explore the forced migration challenges we may face in the decade to come. The purpose was not to predict the future, but to help us to be better prepared to shape the future we want to see and to help us think afresh about what we might need to do today to ensure protection for displaced people in the decade to come.
Panel session recording from the 2023 Kaldor Centre Conference, 'Learning from the future: Foresight for the next decade of forced migration' held on 20 November 2023 at UNSW Sydney. Speakers: Magdalena Arias Cubas, Red Cross Red Crescent Global Migration Lab Louis Everuss, Centre Coordinator, Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence, University of South Australia Adama Kamara, Deputy CEO, Refugee Council of Australia Nikolas Feith Tan, Senior Researcher, Danish Institute of Human Rights Chair: Madeline Gleeson, Senior Research Fellow, Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law As the Kaldor Centre embarked on its 10th anniversary, our flagship conference harnessed strategic foresight to inform the agenda for the decade to come. The 2023 Kaldor Centre Conference took participants 10 years into the future, to explore the forced migration challenges we may face in the decade to come. The purpose was not to predict the future, but to help us to be better prepared to shape the future we want to see and to help us think afresh about what we might need to do today to ensure protection for displaced people in the decade to come.
How do we start thinking about the future of forced migration? A recording of the opening keynote address from the 2023 Kaldor Centre Conference, 'Learning from the future: Foresight for the next decade of forced migration'. A dynamic day-long program that challenged participants to step out of today's set agenda to look forward to 2033 and consider, is the international protection regime capable of providing protection amid the seismic shifts underway? How can we ready law, policy and public debate to ensure protection for those who need it? Keynote presenter Aarathi Krishnan brought her vast experience in humanitarian and development foresight to steer us on our journey into the future – and how we can prepare for it today. A Harvard scholar, TED favourite and one of ‘100 Brilliant Women in AI Ethics', Krishnan was Strategic Foresight Advisor at the United Nations Development Programme–Asia Pacific. Recorded 20 November 2023 by the Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law
A recording of the opening remarks from the 2023 Kaldor Centre Conference, 'Learning from the future: Foresight for the next decade of forced migration' to set the scene for the day long event. The conference took participants 10 years into the future, to explore the forced migration challenges we may face in the decade to come. The purpose was not to predict the future, but to help us to be better prepared to shape the future we want to see. The keynote presentations set out big trends and questions to spark longer term thinking. The panel sessions discussed three distinct future scenarios set in 2033. These were intended to provide a 'sandpit' within which to explore the challenges and opportunities before us, to help us think afresh about what we might need to do today to ensure protection for displaced people in the decade to come. Speaker: Frances Voon, Executive Manager, Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law Recorded on 20 November 2023
NZYQ v Minister for Immigration (NZYQ) changed the landscape for immigration detainees in Australia. It led to the release of at least 149 people from indefinite immigration detention where there was no real prospect of removing them from Australia in the 'reasonably foreseeable future'. It also led to the rapid passage of new legislative provisions that could be used to restrict the freedom of those released. Under this legislation, the Commonwealth can seek Community Safety Orders if those released are considered to pose an ‘unacceptable risk of seriously harming the community by committing a serious violent or sexual offence', allowing re-detention or the imposition of other restrictive conditions. Continuing detention orders have been accepted by the High Court of Australia as valid for people convicted of serious violent, sex or terrorism crimes in Australia. Community Safety Orders, however, differ from continuing detention orders in important ways, and they have not yet been tested in Australian courts. This fully subscribed event was held on 3 April 2024, and sought to examine Community Safety Orders in detail, explaining what they are and what you should do if the Commonwealth seeks to issue one to your client. It also sought to examine the broader ramifications of NZYQ, including the conditions that people are being released under. Speakers included: Scientia Professor George Williams, UNSW Law, leading Australian constitutional scholar, who can advise on the possible constitutional ramifications of NZYQ and follow up cases. Paul Coady, NSW Public Defender, who has ample experience responding to continuing detention orders under state and territory legislation and can provide insight into how the existing system operates. Sanmati Verma, Acting Legal Director at the Human Rights Law Centre, who represents a number of clients in immigration detention and, along with the Kaldor Centre, intervened as amicus curiae in NZYQ v the Minister for Immigration. Sanmati will explain how NZYQ has impacted on immigration detainees since it was determined and what the future might hold for them. Chair: Anna Talbot, Affiliate and Strategic Litigation Network Coordinator, Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law
As the number of displaced people around the world continues to increase, the gap between the needs and availability of durable solutions grows wider. Resettlement plays an important role in providing solutions, and there is an increasing recognition of the potential role of complementary pathways, which can provide access to safety through other migration channels. These include labour mobility, education pathways, and community sponsorship programs. What is the current state of play in resettlement and complementary pathways? What potential do they hold to provide solutions to a greater number of displaced people? On 27 February 2024, a panel of international experts provided an update on current developments from around the world, in an event jointly hosted by the Refugee Council of Australia and the Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law. This year, Australia was the chair of the Consultations on Resettlement and Complementary Pathways (CRCP), the most important multilateral forum for UNHCR, States, NGOs, private sector representatives, academics and refugees to discuss resettlement and complementary pathways. International delegates gathered in Sydney as part of these consultations, and this free public event provided an opportunity to hear from some of these global experts. Moderated by: Basma Alawee, Deputy Executive Director of the Community Sponsorship Hub, USA Speakers included: Jackie Keegan, Head of Resettlement and Complementary Pathways Service, UNHCR Colm O'Gorman, Global Director, Community Engagement, Pathways International Mohammad Naeem, Deputy Director, Strategy and Partnerships, American Immigration Council and a member of the CRCP Refugee Advisory Group
As Shuja Jamal walked to the Presidential Palace in Kabul for work at 8.30am on 15 August 2021, ‘it was clear that this is unlike any other day … something in the air in the city ... You can actually feel it.' Shuja is the former director-general for international relations for Afghanistan's National Security Council, and his new book is 'The Decline and Fall of Republican Afghanistan', co-authored with William Maley. He takes us back to the day the Taliban took over. Ahmad Shuja Jamal speaks with the Kaldor Centre's Lauren Martin.
Rejoignez des chercheurs de premier plan sur la mobilité climatique en Afrique alors qu'ils discutent du lancement de la nouvelle série de publications Climate Mobility Africa Insights. Développé et publié par le Climate Mobility Africa Research Network (CMARN), avec le généreux soutien de la Robert Bosch Stiftung et du Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law, Insights vise à faire progresser les réponses juridiques et politiques fondées sur des données probantes à la mobilité climatique en Afrique. Rejoignez des chercheurs de domaines tels que la réduction des risques de catastrophe, la transhumance, la violence sexuelle et fondée sur le genre et les droits de la personne, alors qu'ils partagent leurs points de vue sur les défis actuels et les options futures en matière de lois et de politiques. Les notes d'orientation et les fiches d'information d'Insights constituent une ressource incontournable pour les gouvernements africains, les décideurs et les autres chercheurs travaillant sur la mobilité climatique en Afrique. La série Insights offre également une formation et un soutien éditorial aux auteurs qui souhaitent publier leurs recherches, faisant progresser la diversité et la représentation dans le dialogue politique sur la mobilité climatique en Afrique et au-delà. https://www.cmarnetwork.com/insightsfr Intervenants: - Dr Rose Auma est maître de conférences à l'Université des sciences et technologies Masinde Muliro (MMUST), Kenya, et administratrice du Réseau de recherche sur la mobilité climatique en Afrique (CMARN) - Dr Cheikh Tidiane Wade est géographe à l'Université Assane Seck, Sénégal - Christina Daskiewicz est chargée de projet à la Division de la migration, de l'environnement, du changement climatique et de la réduction des risques de l'Organisation internationale pour les migrations (OIM)
Join leading researchers on climate mobility in Africa as they discuss they launch of the new Climate Mobility Africa Insights publication series. Developed and published by the Climate Mobility Africa Research Network (CMARN), with the generous support of Robert Bosch Stiftung and the Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law, Insights aims to advance evidence-based law and policy responses to climate mobility in Africa. Join researchers from fields such as disaster risk reduction, transhumance, sexual and gender-based violence and human rights, as they share insights into current challenges and future law and policy options. Insights policy briefs and fact sheets provide a ‘go to' resource for African governments, policy makers and other researchers working to address climate mobility in Africa. The Insights series also provides training and editorial support to authors who wish to publish their research, advancing diversity and representation within policy dialogue regarding climate mobility in Africa and beyond. https://www.cmarnetwork.com/insightsen Speakers: • Professor Ademola Oluborode Jegede is a Professor of Law at the School of Law, University of Venda, South Africa • Dr Nicodemus Nyandiko is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Disaster Management and Sustainable Development at Masinde Muliro University of Science and Technology (MMUST), Kenya • Dr Oluwatoyin Adejonwo is a Senior Lecturer at the Faculty of Law, University of Lagos and a Solicitor and Advocate of the Supreme Court of Nigeria
In June 2023, as the last refugee in Nauru was flown back to Australia, the United Kingdom's attempts to introduce an Australian-style offshore processing policy were dealt a blow in the UK courts. The UK had tried to transfer asylum seekers to Rwanda to have their claims for protection processed there. The British policy reflects that which Australia has operated since 2012, sending people who came by boat seeking safety to Nauru and Papua New Guinea to have their asylum claims processed. But on the 29th of June this year, the England and Wales Court of Appeal ruled that Rwanda was not a safe third country, effectively ending for now, the Government's offshore processing plans. To explain this policy and help us understand the implications of the recent court judgment, Kaldor Centre Senior Research Fellow Madeline Gleeson speaks with Dr. Natalie Hodgson, Assistant Professor of Law at the University of Nottingham, and head of the Forced Migration Unit in the university's Human Rights Law Centre.
Forced to flee Bhutan as a refugee, Om Dhungel is today an award-winning community leader in Western Sydney and a debut author, whose new book is described by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese as simply ‘a great Australian story'. This special panel event was held on 18 May 2023, with Om Dhungel and CEO of Settlement Services International (SSI) Violet Roumeliotis AM, in conversation exploring what we all can learn – about refugee leadership, wellbeing, and belonging – from this story of grit and hope. Moderated by Kaldor Centre Director Jane McAdam AO, the event celebrated the publication of 'Bhutan to Blacktown: Losing everything and finding Australia' (NewSouth, 2023) by Om Dhungel with James Button. Presented in partnership with New South Books, Settlement Services International, Community Migrant Resources Centre, SydWest Multicultural Services and the Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law.
Scientia Professor Jane McAdam AO talks to Julia Morris about her new book, 'Asylum and Extraction in the Republic of Nauru' on 23 February 2023. This book provides an extraordinary glimpse into Nauru's offshore processing arrangement and its impact on islanders, workforces, and migrant populations. Drawing on extensive fieldwork in Nauru, Australia, and Geneva, as well as the archives of the British Phosphate Commission, Julia Morris charts the country's colonial connection to phosphate through to a new industrial sector in asylum. She explores how this extractive industry is peopled by an ever-shifting cast of refugee lawyers, social workers, clinicians, policy makers, and academics globally and how the very structures of Nauru's colonial phosphate industry, and the legacy of the ‘phosphateer' era, made it easy for a new human extractive sector to take root on the island. The book also highlights the institutional fabric, discourses, and rhetoric that inform the governance of migration around the world. Morris illuminates how refugee rights activism and #RefugeesWelcome-style movements are caught up in the hardening of border enforcement operations worldwide, calling for freedom of movement that goes beyond adjudicating hierarchies of suffering. Julia Morris is Assistant Professor of International Studies at the University of North Carolina Wilmington. Jane McAdam AO is Scientia Professor of Law and Director of the Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law, Faculty of Law & Justice, UNSW Sydney.
UNSW's Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law and Refugee Advice and Casework Service (RACS) co-hosted a discussion held on 9 February 2023 with Behrouz Boochani, as he concluded his first visit to Australia. The discussion explored Behrouz's complicated path to freedom, and the role of courage, collaboration and creativity in challenging a dehumanising asylum system. The first part of the panel featured Madeline Gleeson (Kaldor Centre) and Zaki Haidari (Amnesty International) with Behrouz's translator and collaborator, Moones Mansoubi, and Guardian Australia's Ben Doherty. In the second part of the discussion, Behrouz Boochani and Omid Tofighian join Moones Mansoubi and Ben Doherty for a discussion about the new book, Freedom, Only Freedom (Bloomsbury 2022), and the liberating power of writing, creative relationships and resistance. The panel is hosted by RACS Director Sarah Dale and Kaldor Centre Director Jane McAdam AO.
A panel event recording from the 2022 Kaldor Centre Conference, 'Turning points: New directions in refugee protection' held on 17 November 2022. As asylum processes are shifted offshore, how can governments be held accountable for the treatment of refugees and asylum seekers beyond their borders? Join Behrouz Boochani (Author and journalist); Itamar Mann (University of Haifa); Anna Talbot (Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law); Elahe Zivardar (Director, 'Searching for Aramsayesh Gah'); and Chair: Riona Moodley (Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law).
A panel event recording from the 2022 Kaldor Centre Conference, 'Turning points: New directions in refugee protection' held on 17 November 2022. How can we create a more constructive public conversation about refugees? Join Barat Ali Batoor (Photojournalist); Tom Hashemi (Cast from Clay); Amanda Ripley (Journalist and author); and Chair: Lauren Martin (Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law)
A panel event recording from the 2022 Kaldor Centre Conference, 'Turning points: New directions in refugee protection' held on 16 November 2022. Does the Global North's response to people fleeing Ukraine signal a renewed commitment to international protection, or a turn towards more geographically proximate and time-bound responses? Join Arif Hussein (Refugee Advice and Casework Service); Yulia Ioffe, (University College London); Catherine Woollard (European Council on Refugees and Exiles); and Chair: Jane McAdam (Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law)
A panel event recording from the 2022 Kaldor Centre Conference, 'Turning points: New directions in refugee protection' held on 16 November 2022. What practical actions can advance the meaningful participation of refugees in representative decision-making? Join Mustafa Alio (R-SEAT); Sana Ali Mustafa (Asylum Access); Najeeba Wazefadost (Asia Pacific Network of Refugees); Fiona Whiteridge (Refugee and Migrant Services, Immigration New Zealand); and Chair: Tristan Harley (Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law).
Recording from the opening panel event at the 2022 Kaldor Centre Conference, 'Turning points: New directions in refugee protection' held on 15 November 2022. How has COVID-19 transformed access to protection, assistance and the lives of those already living in precarious situations – for better and for worse? Join Adrian Edwards (UNHCR Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific); Roshni Shanker (Migration and Asylum Project); Gillian Triggs (UNHCR Assistant High Commissioner for Protection); Pascal Zigashane (Action pour le Progrés); and Chair: Daniel Ghezelbash (Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law)
Kaldor Centre Director, Scientia Professor Jane McAdam AO, delivers the opening keynote address entitled, 'Turning points in international protection: onwards and upwards, or u-turns and roundabouts?' at the 2022 Kaldor Centre Conference held on 15 November 2022 and reflects on the major disruptive events we have faced in recent times, and their implications for the future of refugee protection.
Students who have experienced displacement share their experience of university life and tips on how others can show support and solidarity. This free Diversity Fest 2022 event at UNSW Sydney was hosted by the Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law on 27 October 2022.
Refugee Advice and Casework Service (RACS) Centre Director, Sarah Dale, and Kaldor Centre Deputy Director, Daniel Ghezelbash, in a conversation about the issues currently facing refugees in Australia. This is a recording of a seminar held on World Refugee Day 20 June 2022.
A livestream panel event held on 24 May 2022 in the wake of the Australian federal election. Author and journalist David Marr leads a discussion about Australia's refugee policy, with Kaldor Centre Director Jane McAdam AO, author Abbas Nazari, and Guardian Australia journalist Ben Doherty. Abbas Nazari's memoir, 'After the Tampa: From Afghanistan to New Zealand' is published by Allen & Unwin and available from all good bookstores.
As war rages in Ukraine, Europe and other countries are taking unusually quick action to support the millions of civilians fleeing their now-threatened homes. UNSW Kaldor Centre Honorary Professor Guy S Goodwin-Gill has been a leading voice on refugee issues since the first edition of his book, 'The Refugee in International Law', now in its Fourth Edition, co-authored by Jane McAdam with Emma Dunlop. Here, he explains what is working for Ukraine's refugees and why.
A Kaldor Centre Virtual Conference 2021 key panel session held on 20 October 2021. What do we know, how do we know it, and what more do we need to know to inform policies on climate change, disasters and mobility? When the issues are as contested as climate and migration, a key challenge is simply agreeing on transparent, credible, actionable data. Hear from Vicente Anzellini, Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre; Tautala Mauala, Samoan Red Cross; Andrea Milan, International Organization for Migration; Kira Vinke, Center for Climate and Foreign Policy; and chaired by Sanjula Weerasinghe, Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law affiliate member.
A Kaldor Centre Virtual Conference 2021 key panel session held on 21 October 2021. Sometimes the impacts of disasters and climate change mean that whole areas may become unsafe to live in. Communities may be faced with the prospect of relocation. But who decides – to move at all, and if so, where? Planned relocations traverse a complicated cultural, legal and land title landscape. What does a ‘successful' planned relocation look like? Hear from Erica Bower, Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law; Daniel Fitzpatrick, Faculty of Law, Monash University; Salote Soqo, Climate Justice & Crisis Response, Unitarian Universalist Service Committee; Merewalesi Yee, University of Queensland; and chaired by Elizabeth Ferris, Institute for the Study of International Migration, Georgetown University
A Kaldor Centre Virtual Conference key panel session held on 19 October 2021. When people are on the move from the impacts of disasters or climate change, how does the law help or hinder them? Is refugee law useful? Human rights law? Migration law? What about regional free movement agreements? How is individual agency enhanced or eroded by legal frameworks? What about people who move but don't cross an international border, and what about people who can't move at all? Our experts will reflect on how these questions are answered across different times and places. Hear from Bruce Burson, New Zealand Immigration and Protection Tribunal; Lucy Daxbacher, Head of Mission to Uganda, Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD); Walter Kälin, Envoy of the Chair, Platform on Disaster Displacement; Caroline Zickgraf, Deputy Director, The Hugo Observatory; and chaired by Tamara Wood, Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law.
This event was held on 9 November 2021, to launch the fourth edition of 'The Refugee in International Law', by Guy S Goodwin-Gill and Jane McAdam(together with Emma Dunlop). In this podcast, Guy S Goodwin-Gill and Emma Dunlop discuss the practice of refugee law today, in a discussion with Arif Hussein of the Refugee Advice and Casework Service (RACS). How is refugee status determined around the world amid changing social pressures? What are the trends in protection in different jurisdictions? What legal questions arise when restrictive policies mean that access to asylum is blocked, rights are curtailed, and people cannot access fair status determination procedures?
This opening panel at the Kaldor Centre Virtual Conference 2021: 'Whose move? Addressing migration and displacement in the face of climate change', was held on Tuesday 19 October, 2021. In this panel, experts set out the key questions and principles that should guide responses to mobility in the face of climate change. Hear from Rabab Fatima, Ambassador of Bangladesh to the United Nations; Andrew Harper, Special Advisor on Climate Action to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees; Frances Namoumou, Pacific Conference of Churches; Nicole Shepardson, US Department of State and Chair Jane McAdam AO, Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law in this crucial discussion.
A Kaldor Centre Conference 2021: 'Whose move? Addressing migration and displacement in the face of climate change', panel session held on 20 October 2021 AEDT. People fleeing disasters and the impacts of climate change often enter an unmapped legal landscape. Faced with legal gaps or overlaps, courts today are considering how laws may be shaped to unprecedented circumstances. Different jurisdictions are deciding differently – and some outcomes are forcing leaders to propose more creative new solutions. Hear from Robin Bronen, Alaska Institute for Justice; Ama Francis, International Refugee Assistance Project; Adam McBeth, Victorian Bar; Solomon Yeo, Pacific Islands Students Fighting Climate Change; chaired by llona Millar, Baker McKenzie.
A vital, virtual discussion about the principles and practice of academic research, led by emerging scholars with lived experience of displacement. This panel event was hosted by the Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law and the Forced Migration Research Network at UNSW, and UNHCR's Global Academic Interdisciplinary Network, on 7 October 2021. Introduced by GAIN Chair Professor Geoff Gilbert, and moderated by the Kaldor Centre's Dr Tamara Wood, early-career thought leaders came together to discuss ways to overcome structural barriers to education and research dissemination, and career pathways for refugees in academia.
A Kaldor Centre Virtual Conference closing panel session held on 21 October 2021. 'How can we build support for people at risk of climate and disaster displacement, at COP26 and beyond?' Speakers: Nisreen Elsaim, UN Secretary General's Youth Advisory Group on Climate Change; Alex Randall, Climate and Migration Coalition; Koko Warner, UN Climate Change (UNFCCC); and Martijn Wilder, Pollination Group; chaired by Linh Do, Head of Campaign Networks, Climate Catalyst.
This is the first of two launch events to celebrate the release of the fourth edition of 'The Refugee in International Law' by the Kaldor Centre's Guy S Goodwin-Gill and Jane McAdam (together with Emma Dunlop). On 29 September 2021, authors Guy S Goodwin-Gill and Jane McAdam AO reflected on the many issues confronting the global protection regime at this moment, in a conversation with Guardian Australia's Ben Doherty, chaired by Kaldor Centre Advisory Committee member, Shukufa Tahiri.
The Kaldor Centre's Lauren Martin talks to co-authors and Kaldor Centre affiliates, Erica Bower and Sanjula Weerasinghe about their latest report 'Leaving Place Restoring Home: Enhancing the Evidence Base on Planned Relocation Cases in the context of Hazards, Disasters, and Climate Change'. As hazards, disasters and climate change profoundly affect people's lives and livelihoods, communities and authorities seek opportunities to move people permanently out of harm's way. Planned relocation is generally considered as a measure of last resort. In this context, policymakers, practitioners and communities require refined information on how planned relocation could be undertaken to minimize negative impacts, avoid pitfalls and promote human rights and human dignity.
Australia's multi-billion-dollar offshore processing system has demonstrably failed to stop boats, save lives or break the business model of people smugglers, according to a new policy brief from UNSW's Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law. Released at a pivotal moment when the policy is drawing political interest elsewhere as an ‘Australian model', ‘Cruel, costly and ineffective: the failure of offshore processing in Australia' marks nine years since Australia resumed its bipartisan policy of intercepting asylum seekers at sea and forcibly transferring them to the Pacific nations of Nauru and Papua New Guinea. For the first time, Kaldor Centre researchers Madeline Gleeson and Natasha Yacoub break down the common perception of offshore processing as a single policy, explaining how instead it has unfolded in four distinct phases since August 2012. Critically, they note that Australia has been caught up in the fourth and final phase – in which the government stopped transferring people offshore and has been trying to extricate itself from the arrangements – for more than seven years now. Read the policy brief: https://www.kaldorcentre.unsw.edu.au/sites/kaldorcentre.unsw.edu.au/files/Policy_Brief_11_Offshore_Processing.pdf
Think through the big issues in global displacement in the decade ahead with our panel of experts. A virtual panel session held on 17 November 2020 at the Kaldor Centre Conference 2020. Louise Aubin (UNHCR) Rez Gardi (Harvard Satter Human Rights Fellow) Cecilia Jimenez-Damary (UN Special Rapporteur, Human Rights of IDPs)Kathleen Newland (Migration Policy Institute) Chair: Jane McAdam (Kaldor Centre)
Australian lawyers reflect from the frontlines on the effectiveness and potential of strategic refugee litigation in this virtual panel session held at the Kaldor Centre Conference 2020 on 19 November 2020. Hear from our expert panel: Matthew Albert (Dever's List, Castan Chambers) Scott Cosgriff (Human Rights Law Centre) Arif Hussein (Refugee Advice and Casework Service) Sanmati Verma (Clothier Anderson Immigration Lawyers) Chair: Sangeetha Pillai (Kaldor Centre)
How do racism and displacement intersect, and is the protection regime part of the problem or the solution? Hear E Tendayi Achiume (UN Special Rapporteur on Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia & Related Intolerance)and Nyadol Nyuon(Lawyer, community advocate and writer)in conversation at the closing session of the Kaldor Centre Conference 2020, held on 20 November 2020. Hosted by Jane McAdam, Scientia Professor and Kaldor Centre Director.
Join experts from around the globe to discuss emerging and future regional challenges to refugee protection. This panel session was recorded on 18 November at the Kaldor Centre Virtual Conference 2020. Panel featuring: Maria Bances del Rey (UNHCR Americas Bureau), Cathryn Costello (Hertie School), Oroub El-Abed (Centre for Lebanese Studies), Ottilia Anna Maunganidze (Institute for Security Studies), Vitit Muntarbhorn (Chulalongkorn University), Chair: Madeline Gleeson (Kaldor Centre)
Go beyond the buzzwords to explore the promise and pitfalls of technology for refugee protection. This panel discussion was recorded on 18 November at the Kaldor Centre Virtual Conference 2020. Panel featuring: Tey El-Rjula (Author and tech entrepreneur, Fleur Johns (UNSW Sydney, Law & Justice), Petra Molnar (Refugee Law Laboratory)and Roya Pakzad (Taraaz)and chaired by Daniel Howden (Lighthouse Reports).
Hosted by the Refugee Studies Centre (University of Oxford); Centre for Fundamental Rights (Hertie School, Berlin); Peter McMullin Centre on Statelessness (University of Melbourne), and the Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law (UNSW Sydney), The Oxford Handbook of International Refugee Law is a groundbreaking new book which critiques the status quo in international refugee law and sets the agenda for future research. Professor Hilary Charlesworth launched the book on 25 May 2021 and engaged in a lively discussion with the three editors, Professors Cathryn Costello, Michelle Foster and Jane McAdam. The event was chaired by refugee advocate and lawyer Nyadol Nyuon. We invite you to join us to find out what the Handbook tells us about the situation for refugees today, and how international protection is – or isn't – working at a time when mobility is curtailed for so many. A 65-chapter reference work involving 78 authors, including 48 women, the Handbook is global in scope, with 10 chapters focusing in detail on specific regions, including Africa, Latin America, Asia, Oceania and the Middle East.
The pandemic put us all in limbo. For the first time, many Australians understood what it means to be stranded, unable to cross borders, separated from the people you love. When our government said we were ‘all in this together’ – what happened to the refugees in 'Temporary'? And what’s ahead for them? Sisonke Msimang interviews Sarah Dale, Director of RACS (Refugee Advice & Casework Service) to find out, in our final episode.
This panel problematises and critiques the notion of ‘displacement’ in the context of disasters and climate change. While the threat posed by climate change is real, its manifestations are not as straightforward as we might think. For instance, the idea that rising sea levels will displace millions of people and create ‘climate refugees’ is a popular trope, but it has little evidential grounding. Within the Pacific, multiple and diverse types of mobility, as well as immobility, have been used as coping strategies over centuries. This panel explores how a more nuanced understanding of displacement in the context of disasters and climate change, and its relationship to international protection, can open up possibilities for different kinds of durable solutions. The Kaldor Centre hosted the Asia-Pacific component of a global conference held on 21 January 2021 to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the Statute of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). The conference was a partnership between UNHCR and the Global Academic Interdisciplinary Network (GAIN), established under the 2018 Global Compact on Refugees.
Kaldor Centre Senior Research Associate Dr Sangeetha Pillai speaks with ABC Radio Darwin presenter Liz Trevaskis about the refugees that have spent a year in hotel detention in Darwin while awaiting medical treatment. Originally aired 3 February 2021: https://www.abc.net.au/radio/darwin/programs/drive/drive/13097212