The Global Compacts on Migration and Refugees: Advances and Pitfalls - Public Conference - 21 June 2018

Thursday 21.6.2018

Uni Bastion, Rue De-Candolle 5, Room B106

As laid down in the 2016 New York Declaration on Large Movements of Migrants and Refugees adopted by the UN General Assembly the international Community is working towards the elaboration of two Global Compacts, one on Refugees, and one on Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration. After publication of the zero drafts at the beginning of 2018, states have engaged into intergovernmental negotiations with a view to adopt the two compacts in December this year. Mid-term through these negotiations, this conference gathers key academics and experts who through their research and expertise contribute to these international processes.

15h00 Welcome and opening

Prof. René Schwok, Director of the Global Studies Institute, University of Geneva

15h15 – 17h15

• A World in Search of Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration: The Global Compact Migration
  Elspeth Guild, Jean Monnet Professor ad personam, Queen Mary University of London and Radboud University Nijmegen Netherlands.
• The Global Compact for Migration: What Role for International Law?
  Vincent Chetail, Professor, Graduate Institute, Geneva.
• The Global Migration Compact and Its Governance Capacities: Open-ended, multi-level and poly-centric.
  Marion Panizzon, Senior Researcher, University of Bern.
• The Global Compact and the Migrant
  Tugba Basaran, Senior Research Fellow, Centre for Global Human Movement, Cambridge University.
• The City as international actor: implications for the Compacts.
  Colleen Thouez, Director, Welcoming and Integrated Societies Division, Open Society Foundations (OSF).  

Discussion opener: Kathryn Lucy Allison, Queen Mary University London

 17h30 – 19h30: Keynote Speech & Round Table

Perspectives on the Global Compacts: Promises, Prospects and Problems

Alexander Aleinikoff, Director, Zolberg Institute on Migration and Mobility, New School of Social Research, New York and former Assistant High Commissioner for Refugees, UNHCR

Round table discussion with

Alexander Aleinikoff, Director, Zolberg Institute on Migration and Mobility.
Ellen Hansen, Senior Policy Adviser to the Assistant High Commissioner for Protection,UNHCR.
Michele Klein-Solomon, Director Global Compact for Migration, Office of the Director General IOM.
Michelle Leighton, Chief of the Labour Migration Branch, ILO.
Pietro Mona, Ambassador for development, forced displacement and migration, Federal Department of Foreign Affairs, Switzerland.
Pia Oberoi, Advisor on Migration and Human Rights, OHCHR.

Moderator: Sandra Lavenex, Professor, University of Geneva