The IFHV in cooperation with Medizinische Flüchtlingshilfe Bochum and medico international has taken the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the Geneva Refugee Convention to dedicate an entire digital lecture series to the complexity and multi-layered nature of the human challenge of flight and migration. Carried out over the winter term 2021/2022 in a total of eight events, we ask “70 years of Geneva Convention – a reason to celebrate?” and try to shed light on central aspects of the global refugee regime.

Within this lecture series, a critical perspective is of importance, which should be inherent to science anyway, but in the case of refugee research has a very special character. After all, 80% of the world's refugees are in the Global South, but 80% of the research published on refugee issues comes from scholars in institutions in the Global North. We intend to therefore pay special attention to the "decolonization debate" and counter this imbalance by including voices from the Global South and the female researchers there. We have been in close contact with LERRN, the Local Engagement Refugee Research Network, to support our endeavor Carleton.

Our second session is titled “The Geneva Refugee Convention and its History” and will take place on Thursday, November 11th 2021 from 4.30 to 6.00 PM CET.

Our distinguished speakers Ms. Janemary Ruhundwa from Dignity Kwanza in Tanzania and Nikolas Feith Tan, PhD from the Danish Institute for Human Rights will present the history and development of the UN Convention relating to the Status of Refugees, its 1967 Protocol and the work of the UNHCR in the course of the last seven decades. We will discuss the obligations of states and the effectiveness of UNHCR’s strategies on resettlement, integration and voluntary repatriation. Where are protection gaps and limits of the Geneva Convention and how can we overcome them to improve international refugee protection?

Please use this link to register -> https://bit.ly/3EAWsfk

We are very much looking forward to welcome you!