70 Years of Protecting People Forced to Flee: Opening & Closing Ceremonies

70 Years of Protecting People Forced to Flee: Opening and Closing ceremonies

This conference is being held to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the Statute of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). The conference is a partnership between UNHCR and the Global Academic Interdisciplinary Network (GAIN), established under the 2018 Global Compact on Refugees.

These sessions are organised by the Secretariat of the Global Academic Interdisciplinary Network (GAIN) at the University of Essex, and UNHCR.

About this event:

In 2020, UNHCR will celebrate 70 years of providing international protection to refugees and of assisting governments in seeking permanent solutions for those forcibly displaced. The 1950 Statute saw the refugee phenomenon as an aberration that would be resolved in a reasonably short period. However, 70 years later there are now over 70.8 million persons of concern to UNHCR, 85 per cent of whom are hosted in low- or middle-income countries.

UNHCR’s mandate has expanded and includes refugees, asylum-seekers, persons internally displaced and stateless persons. Furthermore, the ‘good offices’ of the High Commissioner are often sought vis-à-vis persons who would not otherwise qualify for protection. The challenging environment of refugee protection as UNHCR enters its eighth decade has taken on yet another dimension with the affirmation in 2018 of the Global Compact on Refugees (GCR), which, while not legally binding, it is based on a strong commitment by States to enhance refugee protection and inclusion alongside fairer and more predictable burden- and responsibility-sharing

The opening ceremony will serve as a global introduction to the two days of regional panels commemorating the 70th anniversary of the Statute of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. Hosts will welcome participants, provide an overview the agenda and key themes to be discussed during the conference. This session will open a global conversation where participants will be able to initiate discussions and submit questions relating to upcoming regional sessions. The ceremony will take place at two different times to allow for different time zones, with a different discussion panels for each session. The two discussion panels will address what protection and solutions for the forcibly displaced mean today from an international perspective.

You can find out more about the global conference, including links to all the regional events on the GCR Webpage.

Opening Ceremony - Monday 18th January 2021

Welcome and Discussion Panel 1

What does protection for the forcibly displaced mean today?

07:00-09:00 GMT (08:00-09:00 CET)

Welcome and Discussion Panel 2

What does “seeking permanent solutions’’ mean today?

15:00-16:00 GMT (16:00-17:00 CET)

Closing Ceremony - Wednesday 27th January 2021

Closing Discussion Panel 1

07:00-09:00 GMT (08:00-09:00 CET)

Closing Discussion Panel 2

15:00-16:00 GMT (16:00-17:00 CET)

How to join this event

To join this online workshop please register on Eventbrite.

The webinar will be accessible via Zoom. Please make sure you have created a Zoom account in advance of joining the workshop, if you haven’t yet, please create an account in advance. If you are a University of Essex staff member or student please follow the instructions on how to create an account.

The event will also be live-streamed on the HRC’s Youtube channel.

For those who cannot join this online workshop, the videos of each panel will be posted afterwards on our social media channels.

How to ask questions

When attending the events, please use the Q&A box to ask your questions, the chair of each session will take a selection of questions at the end of each panel.

Further Information

If you have any queries, please contact Claire Simmons (csimmo@essex.ac.uk).