The Liu Institute for Global Issues’ video series, Seeking Refuge, focuses on different aspects of the refugee crisis we are witnessing in today’s world.
The series includes a number of short videos that consist of snippets from interviews with Liu Institute and UBC Professors with legal and geopolitical expertise on refugee issues.
Compelling questions such as ‘Who counts as a refugee?’ and ‘Is this refugee crisis the new normal?’ will be answered throughout the series.
Please share your feedback, ideas, and questions in the comment section below. We look forward to hearing from you.
Thank you to Liu Postdoctoral Fellow Jordan Levine with transliminal.org for working with us on this video series.
Part 3:
While Germany’s willingness to determine the claim of anybody reaching its borders is novel, the European Union continues to threaten African countries such as Niger and Eritrea with the withdrawal of aid, trade and visa arrangements unless they agree to take back economic migrants.
In an interview with the Liu Institute for Global Issues, Dean of the Peter A. Allard School of Law at the University of British Columbia, Catherine Dauvergne, discusses the role Germany is playing, compared to other countries, in aiding refugees.
In addition, UBC Geography Professor, Dr. Daniel Hiebert, reveals shocking information concerning the deportation of refugees from Europe. Hundreds of thousands were removed from Germany as the EU had signed agreements with African states asking them to receive deportees (more about this here).
Catherine Dauvergne took up the Deanship of the Peter A. Allard School of Law in July 2015. Professor Dauvergne has been working in the area of refugee, immigration, and citizenship law for twenty years. She has written three books that take a broad perspective on the theoretical underpinnings of these areas of law, including considering how human rights principles and discourses fit into a migration and citizenship framework. Dauvergne has recently held a major research grant examining the failure of Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms to protect non-citizens.
Daniel Hiebert is a Professor of Geography at UBC who specializes in issues of public policy. Professor Hiebert’s personal research interests focus on immigration policy, the integration of newcomers into the housing and labour markets of Canadian cities, and the consequences of the growing ‘super-diversity’ of Canadian society, especially for national security. This work routinely takes a collaborative approach, working with partners in government and non-governmental organizations.
Related Publications:
- Amnesty International. “Europe’s Gatekeeper: Unlawful Detention and Deportation of Refugees from Turkey”, 2015. (Available here)
- Dauvergne, Catherine. Making people illegal: What globalization means for migration and law. Cambridge University Press, 2008.
- Dauvergne, Catherine. The new politics of immigration and the end of settler societies. Cambridge University Press, 2016.
- Kaushal, Asha, and Catherine Dauvergne. “The growing culture of exclusion: Trends in Canadian refugee exclusions.”International Journal of Refugee Law 1 (2011): 54-92.
Relevant Organizations:
International Organization for Migration
Established in 1951, IOM is the leading inter-governmental organization in the field of migration and works closely with governmental, intergovernmental and non-governmental partners.
Migration for Development
The Joint Migration and Development Initiative (JMDI) reflects the commitment of the United Nations, the European Commission and the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation to make migration work for development and to establish a comprehensive approach to migration at the local level. This joint effort, which has started in 2012, marks the start of a new migration and development agenda which aims to establish a sound management of migration at decentralized levels across regions in order to maximize its development impacts.
Alliance for African Assistance
Assists African refugees, immigrants, asylum seekers, and war and torture victims, particularly women and children in Uganda and the US, helping to restore their self-sufficiency, dignity, and respect.
The American Team for Displaced Eritreans
The America Team for Displaced Eritreans, based in Southeastern Pennsylvania, assists Eritrean refugees and asylum seekers in the United States and around the world – through resettlement services, policy advocacy, and life-saving interventions on behalf of Eritreans in perilous circumstances. We are the only organization in the United States dedicated specifically to that mission. We have developed working relationships with governmental, inter-governmental, and non-profit organizations in the U.S. and abroad, and those relationships aid materially in the effectiveness of our work.
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)
For over 65 years, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has been protecting the rights and well-being of refugees all over the world.
Migrant Offshore Aid Station
A charity dedicated to saving lives at sea by providing professional search and rescue to people who are in distress. MOAS was established in response to a humanitarian disaster in October 2013 in which some 400 men, women and children drowned off the Italian island of Lampedusa.
Doctors Without Borders
Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) works around the world to provide refugees and internally displaced people (IDPs) with everything they need from psychological care to lifesaving nutrition. MSF sets up hospitals in refugee camps, helps women give birth safely, vaccinates children to prevent epidemics, and provides access to safe drinking water.
