The Office of UNHCR to Commemorate 60th Anniversary of the UN Refugee Convention at John Jay College

PANEL DISCUSSION ON PROTECTION GAPS & RESPONSES: CHALLENGES & OPPORTUNITIES

The Center for International Human Rights (CIHR), John Jay College of Criminal Justice, City University of New York and the New York Liaison Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) are organizing an event commemorating the 60th Anniversary of the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and the 50th Anniversary of the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness. The focus of this event is a discussion of the gaps in the implementation of the international protection framework for displaced and stateless persons. The event will take place at John Jay College on the sixth floor of the BMW building (555 West 57th Street), room 615/616, on Wednesday, April 27, 2011, 5:00-7:00 p.m.

WELCOMING REMARKS: Jeremy Travis, President, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, and

Anne-Christine Eriksson, Deputy Director, UNHCR Liaison in New York

PANELISTS:

· Susana B. Adamo, Associate Research Scientist, Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN), The Earth Institute, Columbia University

·  Bill Frelick, Director, Refugee Program, Human Rights Watch

·  Janice Marshall, Deputy Director, Policy and Law Pillar, Division of International Protection, UNHCR

·  Lori Nessel, Professor of Law & Director, Center for Social Justice, Seton Hall University School of Law

MODERATOR: George Andreopoulos, Director, Center for International Human Rights & Professor of Political Science, John Jay College & The Graduate Center, CUNY

Forced displacement, statelessness, and mixed migratory movements remain prominent global issues in terms of their magnitude and complexities. Conflict, violence, and persecution continue to cause displacement. At the same time, a myriad of social, economic, political, and environmental factors, such as population growth, urbanization, climate change, water scarcity, and food and energy insecurity are exacerbating conflict and combining in other ways that oblige people to flee their countries. The 1951 Refugee Convention, which is central to the protection regime, has proved flexible enough to accommodate new forms of persecution, however, the complexity of the current factors affecting cross-border displacement is resulting in gaps in the response to current protection challenges. Gaps in international protection occur primarily in three ways:

·         Through insufficient accessions to relevant instruments,

·         through inadequate implementation of existing treaties, and

·         through gaps in the existing international protection framework.

Statelessness is often referred to as the “forgotten problem,” despite the fact that citizenship is necessary for fully realizing one’s human rights. There is limited accession to the 1961 Statelessness Convention and related international treaties, there are obstacles to the acquisition of nationality and even the size of the statelessness problem is not comprehensively mapped.

New responses are needed to address the gaps and obstacles in protection of the displaced and stateless. The Panel Discussion will serve as a forum to:

·     Analyze and assess situations of forced displacement which may not be covered by the 1951 Refugee Convention and explore plausible responses to the challenges posed by them.

· Analyze the statelessness problem and identify effective ways to reduce it.

RSVP by Wednesday, April 20, 2011 to CIHRJJCRSVP@gmail.com

http://www.jjay.cuny.edu/events.php