From Manus to the Mexico-US border: what’s the future for refugees?

A top public servant in the government of Barack Obama will address a signature UNSW conference on the discussions behind the controversial agreement to resettle Manus and Nauru refugees in the US.

The agreement was signed between the administrations of Obama and Malcolm Turnbull in September 2016, with the US agreeing to take up to 1250 refugees from the two Australian offshore detention centres.

Taking office soon after, President Donald Trump labelled the pact “a rotten deal” but reluctantly continued to honour it.

Anne Richard

Anne Richard was the US Assistant Secretary of State for Population, Refugees, and Migration from 2012-2017, and a key architect of the agreement. She is keynote speaker for the 2018 Kaldor Centre Conference at UNSW Sydney.

The annual conference brings together Australian, regional and global thinkers to UNSW’s Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law, the world’s leading research centre in the field.

Professor Richard, now at Georgetown University, will speak about how the agreement was reached and how people seeking asylum are faring in Trump’s America.

Charting the rise and fall of US diplomacy on refugees and migrants, her keynote address will canvas recent developments in Trump’s US refugee and asylum policies, putting these in the context of challenges that faced the Obama Administration.

She will also draw insight from her dealings with the Australian team negotiating the US-Australia refugee deal, and from her more recent meetings with refugees who have subsequently been resettled in the US.

The 2018 Kaldor Centre Conference explores how contemporary politics are affecting long-standing legal protections for people seeking asylum. Its theme is Refugee Diplomacy: Negotiating protection in a changing world.

Kaldor Centre Director Jane McAdam says 2018 will go down in history as a significant year for the protection of refugees and migrants – at least on paper.

But, in her much-anticipated Year in Review, Professor McAdam also casts light on dangerous rhetoric and divisive policies, in Australia and abroad.

Are refugee rights at a critical risk? Is there real progress on cooperation for asylum seekers in the Asia-Pacific? Will today’s global negotiations make people safer?

These are the questions for the influential thought leaders on the conference program, led by Professors Richard and McAdam.

The leaders include:

• Thomas Albrecht, outgoing UNHCR Regional Representative for Australia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea and the Pacific
• Apajok Biar, Multicultural Youth Ambassador, Multicultural Youth of Australia Network NSW
• Professor Erika Feller, former UNHCR Assistant High Commissioner for Protection, now Vice Chancellor's Fellow, University of Melbourne
• Bill Frelick, Director, Refugee Rights Program, Human Rights Watch
• Travers McLeod, Chief Executive Officer, Centre for Policy Development
• John Quinn, former Australian Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the United Nations and Conference on Disarmament in Geneva.

Explore the full program for the Kaldor Centre Conference 2018 here.

What: Kaldor Centre Conference 2018, Refugee Diplomacy: Negotiating protection in a changing world

When: Friday 23 November 2018

Where: Central Lecture Block 7, UNSW Sydney (map E19)

For interviews or media information, contact Lauren Martin, 0407 393 070 / 02 9385 9639, lauren.martin@unsw.edu.au.