Forced Displacement: A World in Motion
Where do you go when you can’t go home? Forced displacement is the involuntary movement of people away from their homes. It is a problem that is rising both within countries and across borders due to increased violence, human rights violations, and natural disasters. Michigan State International Law Review invited the legal community to our 2022 annual symposium, “Forced Displacement: A World in Motion.” On February 18, 2022, legal experts joined us from around the world to explore the causes and legal ramifications of forced displacement.
To watch the speakers presentations, please click here.
Speakers:
Patricia Ho
Title: The Relationship Between Seeking Protection from Non-refoulement and Human Trafficking in Hong Kong
Abstract: The case of ZN c Secretary for Justice, Director of Immigration, Commissioner of Police and Commissioner for Labour [2018] HKCA 473 laid bare that at least prior to 2015, when the proceedings were brought to court, the Hong Kong government had no mechanism to protect or screen victims of human trafficking. This was not altogether surprising as there are no specific legislation criminalizing human trafficking or forced labour in the territory.
The case was brought by an applicant who was brought to Hong Kong from Pakistan by a trafficker from his hometown for the purposes of labour exploitation. Interestingly, when the applicant presented details about his experiences in Hong Kong to the Immigration Department, he was advised by them to make a claim for non-refoulement protection – comparable to asylum claims in countries that are signatory to the Refugee Convention – in order to prevent being removed so that he could pursue redress from his employer.
This brought to light unique issues faced by victims of human trafficking in Hong Kong as they struggle to seek protection and/or redress in a jurisdiction that is only now acknowledging the existence of human trafficking or forced labour, but yet remains steadfast in its position not to specifically criminalize these crimes as offences under the law.
In this symposium, I will examine how victims of trafficking may become asylum seekers; how asylum seekers may become victims of trafficking; how individuals can be asylum seekers and victims of trafficking at the same time; how asylum seekers may become reliant on traffickers both before and after their arrival in the territory; and finally, how legislation and policies must evolve in order for the Hong Kong government to meet its obligation of non-refoulement and protection for victims of trafficking, and halt the impunity enjoyed by traffickers in Hong Kong.
Patricia Ho Bio
Patricia Ho is the Founder of Hong Kong Dignity Institute, Founding and Managing Partner of Patricia Ho & Associates, and Principal Lecturer of the Faculty of Law at the University of Hong Kong. Much of her work involves defending the rights of minority groups in Hong Kong by way of seeking advancements and developments of government policies and laws through strategic litigation. Patricia also provides legal and strategic advice to a number of NGOs in Hong Kong, and works with both local and international bodies to advocate for the rights of marginalised groups, including refugees, asylum seekers and victims of human trafficking.
In 2015, Patricia represented Mr. ZN to bring a judicial review - ZN v Secretary for Justice & Ors - to encourage the government to consider introducing specific legislations to criminalise forced labour and human trafficking. She has provided trainings and seminars to the legal community and other civil society organizations in Hong Kong on avenues to protect victims of human trafficking and forced labour, and is a co-author of the Crimes (Amendment) (Modern Slavery) Bill 2019.
Patricia is trained in Post Trauma Psychosocial and Mental Health Interventions for the Refugee Population.
Caroline Nalule
Title: Refugee Burden- and Responsibility-Sharing: Revisiting the Debate on the Right to Compensation for Refugee Flows
Abstract: Much of the world’s rising refugee population is situated in developing countries, most of which struggle to fullfil their developmental obligations towards their own citizens. Nonetheless, the more developed countries are increasingly changing their asylum policies to ensure that refugees remain mainly in the Southern States. Consequently, many countries are employing various means to shirk their responsibilities and obligations towards refugees. The Global Compact on Refugees was recently adopted to address the global imbalances in refugee burden- and responsibility-sharing and re-affirm states’ commitments to refugee protection and support for host countries and communities. Despite its broad-based and comprehensive strategy grounded in the traditional durable solutions, it does not address the question of the responsibility of refugee-producing states to refugee-hosting states, particularly where the former engaged in internationally wrongful acts that create a refugee burden for hosting states. Scholarly discussions on this issue were prominent in the late 1980s to early 1990s but this thread of argument seems to have fizzled out despite later significant developments in international law and politics that could bolster the argument that where an international wrong has been committed leading to refugee outflows, refugee-producing states should compensate refugee-hosting states. This article shall focus on the African region as a case study to further develop the case for compensation to refugee hosting countries drawing on later developments in international norms, specifically in international criminal law, case law and relevant regional developments. While the right to compensation, as it were, would not be a panacea to the global refugee crises, it may at least have a deterrent effect on states that may act with impunity, but more so, it would incentivise states to keep up their obligations towards refugees and protect their rights in accordance with international law.
Caroline Nalule Bio
Caroline Nalule is a research associate with the Oxford Department of International Development also working as an international law consultant. She has recently worked as a postdoctoral researcher on the RefMig Project at the Refugee Studies Centre at the University of Oxford. As a legal researcher she specialises in public international law, human rights law, refugee studies, citizenship and migration law in Africa.
Camila Bustos & Juliana Velez-Echeverri
Title: A Human Rights Approach to Climate-Induced Displacement: A Case Study in Central America and Colombia
Abstract: The past decade was the warmest decade ever recorded. As climate impacts intensify, the numbers of people displaced and in need of relocation increase. International law has yet to adapt to a changing climate and its implications for those most vulnerable. Experts still debate whether the existing refugee regime could provide a solution for those displaced by climate across international borders, while national governments continue to reckon with the domestic implications of internal displacement fueled by climate impacts. In this article, we apply a human rights lens to climate-induced displacement, drawing from two case studies to highlight the human rights obligations of national governments and the international community towards individuals facing climate-induced displacement across and within borders. We explore the plight of communities in the Northern Triangle of Central America and raizal communities in the island of Providencia, Colombia to understand and address current protection gaps in international and domestic frameworks with respect to climate-induced displacement
Camila Bustos Bio
Camila Bustos is a Term Law Clerk to Justice Steven D. Ecker of the Connecticut Supreme Court and a Visiting Assistant Professor of Human Rights at Trinity College. She is also an Associate in Human Rights Practice at the University Network for Human Rights. She graduated from Yale Law School, where she worked on immigrant rights and climate change issues. Prior to law school, Camila worked at Colombian-based NGO Dejusticia, where she focused on climate-induced displacement, business and human rights, and constraints on civil society around the world. Camila was also a plaintiff and part of a team who won a groundbreaking lawsuit against the Colombian government for failing to meet its deforestation targets. She has worked as a legal intern at the Climate Litigation Network, EarthRights International, and the Center for Climate Integrity.
She is a 2019 Paul and Daisy Soros Fellow and a 2020 Switzer Fellow. Her writing has appeared in The Guardian, the Yale Journal of Law and Feminism, the ABA Human Rights Magazine, and the first legal casebook on Earth Law. Camila holds a B.A. in Environmental Studies and International Relations from Brown University. She speaks English, Spanish and Portuguese.
Juliana Velez-Echeverri Bio
Juliana Velez-Echeverri is a PhD candidate at the University of Reading School of Law, and lawyer with a post-graduate specialisation in environmental and climate law. She is currently investigating the use of the law by communities experiencing climate-related (im)mobilities in Colombia. Juliana is a co-founder of the Latin-American Centre of Environmental Studies (Celeam) and has experience in strategic litigation, research in human rights and environmental law in Colombia.
Mutasim Ali
Title: Israel’s Asylum Regime is Inconsistent with its National and International Commitments
Abstract: Since 2005, Israel has been a destination for refugees fleeing conflicts, repression, and political instability from African countries, primarily Sudan, Eritrea, Ethiopia, and western African countries. Until 2011, more than 60,000 refugees and asylum seekers have entered irregularly and without authorization to Israel through the Israeli-Egyptian borders. Due to the ‘illegal’ entry (not through official border crossing point), the Israel law defines those who successfully make it to Israel as ‘infiltrators.’ The term infiltrator originates from the 1950s law, the anti-infiltration law. The Israeli legislator drafted the law to respond to the illegal border crossing of Palestinian Fedayeen in the 1950s.
The article aims to provide a historical context of Israel’s refugee and asylum regime. Next, the author will make a case against Israel’s argument of ‘security and demographic threats’ to justify its exclusionary regime. The article will then argue that Israel’s treatment of refugees and asylum seekers from African does not befit the values of Israel’s establishment as a state based on immigration. Hence, it acts inconsistently with its founding fathers’ declaration. Moreover, having been among the first states to ratify the 1951 Geneva Convention and acceding to its 1967 Protocol, Israel fails yet again to meet its international obligation to protect refugees and asylum seekers. Finally, the article will conclude by acknowledging the geopolitical challenges Israel faces and suggest that it is for these challenges the State of Israel should protect and empower the African asylum seekers.
Mutasim Ali Bio
Mr. Mutasim Ali has a distinguished career in human rights activism both in Sudan and outside Sudan. He began as a student activist in Khartoum advocating to raise awareness about the atrocities in the Darfur region. During his studies in Sudan, Mr. Ali was detained several times by the former regime of Omar al-Bashir for his activism for Darfur.
Mr. Ali was forced to leave Sudan and seek asylum in Israel where he spent more than a decade as a refugee. While in Israel, Mr. Ali continued his political activism for Darfur as well as served as a vocal voice for African refugees in Israel. He was involved of several community organizations in Israel and America. Mr. Ali frequently provides presentations, public appearances and is interviewed by major media outlets on matters relating to refugees, international law, and transitional justice.
Mr. Ali’s current practice focuses on areas of international criminal law, international human rights and humanitarian law, child protection, and transitional justice. He is working with Project Expedite Justice and has done counseling work for the International Criminal Court.
Mr. Ali is a graduate of a B.Sc. Major in Geology 2007 from Omdurman Islamic University; he obtained an L.L.B in general laws in 2019 from Academic College of Law and Business in Israel and a graduate of an L.L.M from George Washington University Law School majoring in international and comparative law. He has been recognized as a distinguished student for exemplary studies in international human rights – recognized by the Dean of the Law School.