Owing to illness, the October 17 lecture and related events with Prof. Gillian Triggs have been cancelled. Please be on the lookout for information regarding possible rescheduling of this event.
Registration for this event is no longer available.
The 1951 Refugee Convention: Pragmatic Solutions to an Asylum Crisis
Gillian Triggs, Former Assistant High Commissioner for Protection, UNHCR, and former President of the Australian Human Rights Commission, will discuss the credibility challenges to the UN 1951 Refugee Convention posed by the current unprecedented global flows of asylum seekers. With special attention to the plight of children in mandatory detention, she will explore ad hoc solutions emerging from civil society, NGOs, faith and community groups, international financial institutions, the private sector and local government.
Speaker: Professor Emerita Gillian Triggs has recently completed her 4 year appointment as a UN Assistant Secretary General and Assistant High Commissioner for Protection with UNHCR, the Refugee Agency. Prior to taking up this role she was President of the Australian Human Rights Commission from 2012-17, President of the Asian Development Bank’s Administrative Tribunal and Chair of the UN Independent Expert panel on Abuse of Office and Harassment in UNAIDS. Gillian was Dean of the Faculty of Law and Challis Professor of International Law at the University of Sydney, 2007-12 and Director of the British Institute of International and Comparative Law 2005-7. She is the author of many books and papers, the most recent being Speaking Up (Melbourne UP 2018). She was awarded an inaugural Ruth Bader Ginsburg medal in 2021 and in 2023, the American Society of International Law declared her the “Woman of the Year.”
This talk forms part of Armed Conflicts and Im/Mobility Week, a special grants initiative of Global Arts and Humanities.
