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Conference Announcement Theme: Refugees and Minority Rights Subtitle: Acceptable and unacceptable criteria for accepting/rejecting refugees in a non-ideal world Type: Tromsø Conference 2018 Institution: Globalizing Minority Rights (GMR) Research Project, Norwegian Research Council Pluralism, Democracy, and Justice (PDJ) Research Group and Department of Philosophy, University of Tromsø Location: Tromsø (Norway) Date: 14.–15.6.2018 __________________________________________________ About the Conference Faced with the worst displacement crisis since the second world war, many states are unlikely to accept as many refugees as they ought, and very few are likely to accept more than they are required. So though some refugees will be admitted, many with sound claims will thus be wrongfully rejected. Are some ways of wrongfully rejecting refugees less objectionable than others? If “yes”, is it then morally justifiable to give priority to refugees who flee from worse forms discrimination or persecution of minority groups than refugees who flee less severe forms of discrimination? In the abstract this might seem like a reasonable position. Yet, many have found it objectionable to give priority to Christian refugees from the Middle East – especially without a similar scheme for Muslim refugees from countries where they experience comparable forms of discrimination. Furthermore, giving priority to refugees on the basis of the degree to which they experience discrimination and prosecution in the countries from which they flee might involve drastic divergences from present patterns of asylum admittances. For instance, given the widespread and severe discrimination women and homosexuals face in many parts of the world, should such refugees be given priority, considering fewer men and heterosexuals would then be admitted? Some might reject the very idea of sorting refugees who all merit asylum into different groups – triage for refugees as it were. And some may instead reject the particular principle of risk of persecution for the distribution of asylum, on the basis of this principle’s implications. If so, which alternative or additional principles should regulate the admission of refugees? This conference aims to tackle such issues by addressing the question: What role ought minority protection play, and, more generally, what are the right principles of admitting and rejecting refugees when asylum, whether permanent or temporary, is under-supplied in a non-ideal world? What are the implications for the present situation given the correct answer to the previous questions? And should we at all consider prioritizing among refugees? If not, why not? Keynote Speakers: David Miller (Oxford) Sarah Fine (KCL) Serena Parekh (Northeastern) Kieran Oberman (Edinburgh) Lea Ypi (LSE) Phillip Cole (UWE) Programme Thursday 14 June 08:00 Group transport from the hotel where you are staying 8:30-9:00 Arrival, registration and coffee 9:00-9:30 Welcome address from the interim Head of the Department of Philosophy Heine Holmen Introduction of the GMR project by Annamari Vitikainen and Kasper Lippert-Rasmussen 9:30-11:00 Session IA Refugees and minority rights - Kasper Lippert-Rasmussen (Aarhus & UiT) and Sune Lægaard (Roskilde): Refugees and minorities: Some conceptual issues - Alec Ross ((Edinburgh): Rethinking Acceptable Criteria for Accepting/Rejecting Refugees in a Non-Ideal World Session IB Conditions of acceptability of prioritizing refugees - Max Gabriel Cherem (Kalamazoo): Background conditions of acceptability for prioritizing refugees - Annamari Vitikainen (UiT): LGBT rights and refugees: A case for prioritizing LGBT status in refugee admission Session IC National identity, national paradigms and integration - Benedetta Romano (LMU Munich): Are immigrants a threat to national identity? - Eilidh Beaton (UPenn): Should ability to integrate influence refugee admissions policy? 11:00-11:15 Break 11:15-12:30 Keynote lecture David Miller (Oxford): Selecting Refugees 12:30-13:30 Lunch in Teorifagskafeen (Teorifagbygg Hus 1) 13:30-15:00 Session IIA Refugees and minority rights: Rights and moral approaches - Felix Bender (CEU): Just and unjust citeria for determining refugee status: The case for shifting from individual persecution to political oppression - Tom Syring (HL-center): Refugee and Minority Protection between Legal and Moral Obligations - Dario Mazzola (Milan): Towards a Refugee-Centered Approach to Distribution Session IIB Why prioritizing some refugees over others is wrong? - Rami Gudovitch (Haifa): Refugees- Why Prioritizing is Wrong - Gary Slater (St. Edwards University): From Sacer to Sanctus: Against Prioritizing Among Refugees - Daniil Aronson (IFK): “A Right to Have Rights”: Political Measures to Make the Refugee Crisis Ethically Relevant Session IIC Political and economic refugees - Udith Bhatia (Oxford): The Global South and its Hermeneutical Duty to Asylum Seekers - Fumio Iida (Kobe): Can liberal states treat political and economic refugees alike? - Andreas Bengtson (Aarhus): Closing Borders ‘Hypocritically’: Brain Drain, Speaker Position and Hypocrisy 15:00-15:15 Break 15:15-16:30 Keynote lecture Kieran Oberman (Edinburgh): Refugee Discrimination – The Good, the Bad and the Political Expedient 16:30-16:45 Break 16:45-18:00 Keynote lecture Sarah Fine (KCL): Refugees and the Limits of Political Philosophy 18:15 Group transport from UiT The Arctic University of Norway to the Tromsø Cable Car 19:00 Dinner at Fjellstua located at the destination of the Cable Car Friday 15 June 08:30 Group transport from the hotel where you are staying 9:00-10:30 Session IIIA Refugee crisis: A critique of attributed causes and solutions - Viki Mladenova (SNS): Non-ideal human rights (Skype) - Erna Bodström (Helsinki): Are we doing enough? Asylum assessment as symbolic gate-keeping - Mladjo Ivanovic (GVSU): Humanitarian Melancholia: Humanitarianism and the Need for Morality of Thinking. Session IIIB Distribution mechanisms and admission criteria - Mollie Gerver (Newcastle): QALYs and Selecting Refugees - Johannes Servan (Bergen): ‘What justice requires’ – state-centric and cosmopolitan perspectives on priority criteria in resettlement policies. Session IIIC On duties towards displaced children - Gottfried Schweiger (Salzburg): Should we prioritize child refugees? - Odin Lysaker (Agder): Childhoods Put on Hold: A Waiting Guarantee for Vulnerable Unaccompanied Minors’ Prolonged Displacement - Arianne Shahvisi (BSMS): Existence precedes nascence: an argument for accepting greater numbers of refugees 10:30-10:45 Break 10:45-12:00 Keynote lecture Serena Parekh (Northeastern): The Refugee Crisis Needs a New Frame: We are Not Rescuers 12:00-13:00 Lunch in Teorifagskafeen (Teorifagbygg Hus 1) 13:00-14:30 Session IVA Structure of selective procedures - Patti Lenard (Ottawa): Private sponsorship of refugees: The pros and cons of permitting citizens to select refugees for admission and resettlement - Amanda Cawston (Tilburg): Who Decides? An Argument for Democratic Selection Criteria for Refugees - Matthew Lindauer (ANU): Domestic Justice and Refugee Prioritization Session IVB Distribution mechanisms and admission criteria: Climate and would-be displacees - Melina Duarte (UiT): Should high greenhouse gases emitting countries be required to resettle more climate displaced than low greenhouse gases emitting countries? (Skype) - Benedikt Buechel (Edinburgh): From the value of a territory to two principles for a fairer distribution of would-be immigrants in need - Bradley Hillier-Smith (Reading): Is it morally justifiable to give priority to refugees who are suffering as a result of severe human rights violations? 14:30-14:45 Break 14:45-16:00 Keynote lecture Lea Ypi (LSE): Irregular migration, adverse possession and the justification of the right to exclude 16:00-16:15 Break 16:15-17:30 Keynote lecture Phillip Cole (UWE): Climate Change and Global Displacement: Towards an Ethical Response? Venue: UiT The Arctic University of Norway Hansine Hansens veg 36 Breivika 9019 Tromsø Norway Registration: No registration required for people who are not presenting. The conference is open to all and there is no conference fee. Contacts: Thea Isaksen Phone: +47 482 92 560 Email: [email protected] Magnus Skytterholm Egan Phone: +47 403 27 937 Kerstin Reibold Phone: +49 173 480 56 80 Conference website: https://uit.no/gmrconference __________________________________________________ InterPhil List Administration: https://interphil.polylog.org InterPhil List Archive: https://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ __________________________________________________
