4 November: Policy Meeting “Worlds Apart or Worlds Aligning: The CEAS and the detention of asylum seekers – the EU and Australia compared”

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Date/Time
Date(s) - 04/11/13
12:30 pm - 2:00 pm

Location
Maastricht University Brussels Campus

Categories


Policy Meeting Worlds Apart or Worlds Aligning: The CEAS and the detention of asylum seekers – the EU and Australia compared

In both the European Union and Australia, the detention of asylum seekers has become entrenched in the legal landscape. In the European Union, the first generation CEAS evidenced significant shortcomings both in relation to the legal assumptions made about asylum seekers and the provisions relating to their detention. The recently passed secondary legislation has become more prescriptive in relation to the detention of asylum seekers – evidencing detention falling more clearly within the scope of Union law. In Australia, mandatory detention has been the response to asylum seekers for more than twenty years but recent dramatic developments have seen the announcement of a policy which, firstly, mandatorily transfers asylum seekers to third countries for processing and settlement and, secondly, refuses the settlement of any asylum seeker in Australia who arrives ‘irregularly’.

Comparative legal research has enormous potential to identify shortcomings, to more deeply understand underlying issues and to provide insight for possible solutions to challenges for public policy making. It has the power to inform legislators, the judiciary, legal practitioners, academics and civil society about measures taken in other jurisdictions, their success or failure and their appropriateness or otherwise in a host jurisdiction. With this in mind, the fundamental aim of this event is to address the question, “What can Europe and Australia learn from each other in relation to the detention of asylum seekers?”

Programme Policy Meeting (.pdf)

NB. There are only a limited number of places available