Previous Events

The Detention Forum and UNHCR would like to invite you to a presentation of the Independent Chief Inspector of the UK Border Agency’s thematic inspection report on Detained Fast Track which will be published on 23 February 2012.

Thursday 23 February 2012

3pm to 4:30pm

The Grimond Room, Portcullis House

Following Mr Vine’s presentation on the report findings, there will be panel discussion and a Q&A session.

Chair: Maurice Wren, Asylum Aid & Detention Forum Co-ordination Group

Panel:  Dr Julian Huppert MP, Chair, All-Party Parliamentary Group on Refugees

                Roland Schilling, UNHCR Representative to the UK

                John Vine, Independent Chief Inspector of the UK Border Agency

                Tamsin Alger, Detention Action

                Heather Jones, Yarl’s Wood Befrienders

The panel will also be joined by people with first-hand experience of going through the Detained Fast Track. 

The Detained Fast Track is an accelerated procedure in which asylum-seekers whose claims are considered to be straightforward are detained in Immigration Removal Centres while their cases are being decided.  Many NGOs have expressed concerns that asylum-seekers, including vulnerable individuals, are held in prison-like conditions for the administrative convenience of the government.  NGOs also question whether asylum-seekers have adequate access to legal advice and a fair opportunity to present their case within the limited timescales of the Detained Fast Track.

If you would like to attend, please RSVP to Ms Eiri Ohtani at detentionforum@gmail.com

About the Detention Forum: The Detention Forum is a loose network of NGOs working to raise awareness of immigration detention amongst Parliamentarians.  We are concerned that the UK’s use of detention for the purposes of immigration control has increased dramatically over the last decade, with a serious impact on migrants caught up in the system.

APPG on Human Rights panel discussion on: Statelessness and the plight of today's "Nowhere People" 

To mark the 60th Anniversary of the 1961 Convention on the reduction of Statelessness, The All-Party Parliamentary Human Rights Group (PHRG) and UNHCR invite you to a panel discussion on: 

"Statelessness and the plight of today's "Nowhere People"

Wednesday 14th December 18:00

Committee Room 9, House of Commons

Speakers:

Chairman: Lord Avebury 

Mirna Adjami - Statelessness Unit Consultant at UNHCR (Geneva)

Bronwen Manby -  Senior Programme Adviser, Africa, Open Society Foundations

Greg Constantine - Photographer: "Nowhere People: The Global Face of Statelessness (the recent exhibition sponsored by UNHCR and UPS)

Kenny Chin - Stateless ex-Malaysian British Overseas Citizen, representing "the Queen's Chinese"

Followed by a question and answer session.

To confirm attendance, contact Laura Padoan at UNHCR London, on 020 7759 8095 or atgbrloea@unhcr.org

Please note only those who have confirmed their attendance will be guaranteed entrance

Platforma Festival

The first Platforma Festival will take place in London from 29th November 2011. Bringing together performers, artists and organisations from across the UK, the Festival will be a celebration of the arts by and about refugees and a chance to discuss different aspects of artistic practice.

During the Festival UNHCR, in association with Magnum Photos, will be displaying our exhibition "60 years 6 Lives". 

Commemorating the 60th Anniversary of UNHCR, the project "60 Years 6 Lives" reminds us of the British tradition of providing sanctuary to those fleeing persecution. UNHCR and the renowned photo agency Magnum Photos introduce us to six people who have made new lives in exile.

Photographed by Ian Berry, this exhibition shows the lives of George Szirtes, Dr Akong Rinpoche, Carlos Arredondo, Hawar Ameen, Téa Hodzic and Gervelie Mambs, who came to the United Kingdom as refugees in each of the six decades since 1951.

For more information on the Platforma festival please visit the Platforma website

Nowhere People: The World's Stateless

Award-winning photographer Greg Constantine's photographs of stateless people around the world will be on display in the Royal Albert Hall from 14th November to 5th December.

The exhibition will also be available for free to members of the public on the following open days:

·                                 Tuesday 22 November, 11am - 3pm

·                                 Saturday 26 November, 11am – 4pm

·                                 Sunday 27 November, 11am – 4pm

For more information on the launch of Nowhere People visit our news page
Visit our photo galleries to view Greg's images of the world's stateless people.

'Vulnerability or Resilience? Dilemmas in the asylum and therapeutic processes'

UNHCR, The Centre for Trauma, Asylum and Refugees of the University of Essex, and The Child and Famiy Refugee Service at the Tavistock Clinic invite you to a special event to mark the 60th Anniversary Year of the Refugee Convention.

'Vulnerability or Resilience? Dilemmas in the asylum and therapeutic processes'

Wednesday 2nd November 2011, 6pm - 8pm 

Speakers:

·                                 Sarah-Jane Savage, UN Refugee Agency

·                                 Renos Papadopoulos, Professor and Director: The Centre for Trauma, Asylum and Refugees of the University of Essex

·                                 Gillian Hughes, Clinical Psychologist/Systemic Psychotherapist at Tavistock and Portman NHS Trust and Team Leader, Child and Family Refugee Team

·                                 Sue Clayton, UK film director, writer, composer and a senior lecturer at Royal Holloway's Department of Media Arts

·                                 And a screening of Sue Clayton's new film, Hamedullah; The Road Home

All are welcome and organisations are encouraged to bring and distribute relevant literature.

Entrance is free.

Address:

Tavistock Centre, 

120 Belsize Lane,

NW3 5BA

Nearest tube: Swiss Cottage

Migration and climate change Speaker Night: Should we be planning for human movement?

6 leading experts navigate the core of migration and climate change concerns from different institutional and intellectual perspectives.

'Migration and climate change Speaker Night: Should we be planning for human movement?'

Wednesday 2nd November 2011, 7pm - 9pm

The Human Rights Action Centre, Amnesty International UK, 17-25 New Inn Yard, London, EC2A 3EA

Entrance is free but guests are required to register in advance. Please email: DRintern@coinet.org.uk

Speakers include:

·                                 Agnes Hurwitz, UNHCR

·                                 Clarissa Azkoul, IOM UK

·                                 Professor Brad Blitz, Kingston University

·                                 Professor Alexander Betts, Oxford University

·                                 Janani Vivekananda, International Alert

·                                 Steve Trent, Environmental Justice Foundation

UNHCR Regional Conference on Alternatives to Detention

Wednesday 16th November 2011, 8.30am - 5pm

Residence Palace (Polak Room)

International Press Centre

rue de la Loi 155

1040 Brussels

Belgium

Entrance is free.

Bringing together representatives from States, international

organizations, national and international non-governmental

organizations, the conference aims to:

• examine legal standards and emerging practice around
• alternatives to detention in the asylum context;
• present the outcomes of the Global Roundtable on Alternatives to Detention, organized by UNHCR and the UN Office of the  High Commissioner for Human Rights in May 2011;
• draw and share lessons from State practice and latest research with a view to the establishment of alternatives to detention in the asylum context;
• identify areas for cooperation and the establishment of
• specialized partnerships.

The conference will be held in English and French and simultaneous interpretation will be provided throughout.

To register, please click here to download a registration form and agenda.

Please complete the attached registration form and return it, preferably by email, to williapa@unhcr.org, by 6pm on Friday 11th November 2011 at the latest, including in the subject line "Registration - Conference on Alternatives to Detention".  As the number of attendees is limited, you are encouraged to register early.

Arab Spring: Libya Briefing

The political crisis in Libya has gone through several stages - from rebel advance (in tune with the wider 'Arab Spring'), regime counterattack, and international intervention. What is not clear is how the internal dynamics of Libyan politics have shaped the crisis, and how they may affect the development of a post-Gadaffi state, or a state in which both rebels and regime play some role.

Libyan expert George Joffe (Cambridge University) examined the situation, looking at:

 *   Is this a civil war in the shape of a rebellion?
 *   Who are the rebels?
 *   How strong is Gadaffi, and who are his supporters?
 *   What might a post-Gadaffi Libya look like?
 *   What is the current role of political Islam in the country?

Respondent: Mans Nyberg, UNHCR
Chair: Baroness Stern

Date: 4th April 2011, 6:00 - 7.30pm

Venue: Committee Room 8, Houses of Parliament
You must leave at least 15 minutes to clear security

Burma Bangladesh Bradford: Photographs of the Rohingya people by Tim Smith & Saiful Huq Omi

Two exhibitions came together in one space. Living Silence, a photographic exhibition of one the world's most enduring refugee crises by photographer Saiful Huq Omi and A Celebration of Integration, a collection of photographs of the Rohingya refugees settling in Bradford by Yorkshire-based photographer, Tim Smith. 

Date: 12 - 26 March 2011

Venue: Pop Up, Centenary Square, Bradford

Conference: Contemporary Challenges for Refugees and Internally Displaced Persons

The twelfth annual Student Human Rights Conference reviewed the current concerns regarding the protection afforded to refugees and internally displaced persons and the real impact of statelessness on the lives of millions of people worldwide.

Speakers: Dr Chaloka Beyani (Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Internally Displaced Persons), Professor Guy Goodwin-Gill (Senior Research Fellow, All Souls College, Oxford University), Maria Stavropoulou (Senior Regional Protection Officer, UNHCR Regional Representation for Southern Europe), Dr Guglielmo Verdirame (Lecturer Fellow of the Lauterpacht Centre for International Law, University of Cambridge).

Date: Saturday 26th February 2011, 09.00 - 17.00

Venue: University of Nottingham

Professor Sir Nigel Rodley KBE to deliver Nottingham University's HRLC Spring Lecture

Professor Sir Nigel Rodley KBE, Vice-Chair of the UN Human Rights Committee and Chair of the University of Essex Human Rights Centre, delivered the University of Nottingham Human Rights Law Centre’s Spring Lecture on Counter-Terrorism: The Human Rights Deficit.

Date: Tuesday 22nd February 2011, 18:00 - 19:00

Venue: Senate Chamber, Trent building, University of Nottingham

Centre LGS presents FEMINISM WITH FIZZ!: FEMINISM, Law and Asylum

Speakers: Debora Singer (Policy and Research Manager, Asylum Aid), Christel Querton (Women’s Project Legal Analyst, Asylum Aid), Anne Shamash (Immigration Judge), Gisela Thater (Legal Officer, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees).

Date: Tuesday 22nd February 2011, 18.00 - 21.00

Venue: The Board Room, 309 Regent Street
University of Westminster, School of Law

APPG on Refugees: Reflecting on our responsibilities; 60 years of the UN Refugee Convention

2011 is the sixtieth anniversary of the UN Refugee Convention. The Convention has saved thousands of lives and no country has ever withdrawn from it. This meeting marked the beginning of the sixtieth anniversary year, reflecting on Britain's historic role in providing protection to refugees, and the continuing importance of refugee protection in the 21st century.

Speakers: Karen Pollock (Chief Executive of the Holocaust Educational Trust), Roland Schilling (UK Representative of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees), Lord Dubs.

Chair: Julian Huppert MP.

Date: 7 February 2011, 5-6pm

Venue: Grand Committee Room, House of Commons

Refugee Week Conference 2011

The 2011 Refugee Week conference featured five workshops covering a range of issues and a number of speakers sharing good practice and ideas.

Date: Friday, 21 January 2011, 10am - 4.30pm.

Venue: Amnesty International Headquarters, London

Human Rights Denied: Indefinite Immigration Detention - Is There No End In Sight?

A conference hosted by the LSE Migration Studies Unit in conjunction with Student Action for Refugees and the London Detainee Support Group

Date: Saturday 6th November 2010, 9.00 - 17.30

Venue: London School of Economics

International Refugee Law 

To mark the 60th anniversary of UNHCR and the Refugee Convention we are pleased to inaugurate the following seminar series on International Refugee Law

Tuesday 24 May 2011, 5.30pm

Professor James Hathaway - University of Michigan

"The evolving law of refugee status"

Tuesday 15 March 2011, 5.30pm

The geography of refugee protection “exclusions, limitations and exceptions from the 1967 Protocol to the present"

Professor Elspeth Guild - University of Nijmegen; Partner, Kingsley Napley

Monday 25 October 2010, 5.30pm

Rethinking the detention of asylum-seekers and other migrants: Exploring the alternatives a comparative perspective

Dr Alice Edwards - University of Oxford. Opening speech by Mr Roland Schilling - UNHCR Representative to the United Kingdom

Thursday 18 November 2010, 5.30pm

The effect of legal status on Iraqi refugees in Jordan: a socio-legal study

Professor Dallal Stevens - University of Warwick

Thursday 9 December 2010, 5.30pm

A transnational legal order and European refugee law

Professor Lambert - University of Westminster

Tuesday 18 January 2011, 5.30pm

Implications for refugee law of the HJ (Iran) judgment on homosexuality as a ground for international protection

Professor Satvinder Juss - Kings College London; Barrister, 3 Hare Court

Tuesday 15 February 2011, 5.30pm

Family reunification of refugees and trans-jurisdictional marriages: a United Kingdom case study

Dr Prakash Shah - Queen Mary University of London

Party Conferences

Honoring our commitments - putting refugee protection at the heart of asylum policy

Living Silence

The UN Refugee Agency presented a captivating portrait of Rohingya refugees held at Brick Lane's East Gallery, by award-winning photographer Saiful Huq Omi. Displaced from their home country of Myanmar, the Rohingya are a Muslim ethnic group who have spent the last twenty years living in refugee camps in Thailand and Bangladesh. Faced with poor living conditions and little hope UNHCR has been working with the Rohingya to create a better future.

Date: 15 - 24 June 2010

No Place Like Home

UNHCR, in partnership with the world-renowned Tavistock Clinic and the Centre for Trauma, Asylum and Refugees (University of Essex), organised a special event to mark Refugee Week 2010. The event provided a platform to discuss the concept of home, and what this might mean for a refugee or asylum seeker living in this country. Speakers included Sarah-Jane Savage of the United Nations Refugee Agency, Renos Papadopoulos, Director of the Centre for Trauma at the University of Essex, and Jo Stubley, Consultant Clinical Psychologist at the Tavistock Clinic.

The event featured entertainment in the form of a short dramatisation of 'My Life Away from Home', enacted by a group of African refugee women, and free refreshments.

Date: Friday 18 June 2010