Rama Sahtout, PhD student and member of the International Law Forum, presented her research on ‘temporary refuge in the practice of ‘most affected states’' at the Senate House, University of London.
PhD student and member of the International Law Forum, presented her research at the Refugee Law Initiative 2nd Annual Conference
Rama Sahtout, a PhD researcher in the Law School has presented her research on ‘temporary refuge in the practice of ‘most affected states’’. The chosen theme for this year’s conference was 'Mass Influx? Law, Policy and Large-Scale Movements of Refugees and Migrants’. Among other issues, the conference considered law and policy relating to large-scale movements of refugees and migrants.
Rama’s presentation focused on the conceptual approaches to large-scale refugee movements. She critically examined the concept of temporary refuge. She observed that over years, several forms of “temporary refuge” have been presented in the scholarly writings in the field of refugee law. However, she argued that the the literature has not sufficiently engaged with the practice of States ‘whose interest are most affected’by large movements of refugees insofar as the meaning and the content of temporary refuge are concerned. In the views and the practice of most affected states, she argued, international cooperation is the cornerstone of temporary refuge. The conference was a venue to re-examine complex issues surrounding large-scale sudden movements of people across borders. It facilitated a large range and depth of contributions and debate on this area. This is a particularly timely topic as the UNHCR builds towards the negotiations of the Global Compacts for refugees and for migration in 2018.
Date: 3 July 2017