Professor Randall Hansen recently presented his lecture “The Global Refugee Crisis: Causes and Solutions” as part of the International Law Lecture Series. This on-going series promotes debate and shares ideas on current legal topics in the areas of international and comparative law and is sponsored by Miami Law’s International Graduate Law Programs.
A professor at the University of Toronto, Hansen is an expert on migration and citizenship, eugenics and population policy, and the effect of war on civilian populations. He is also Director of the Centre for European, Russian and Eurasian Studies at the University of Toronto.
“Professor Hansen’s lecture went beyond a merely academic description and analysis of the refugee crisis, its causes and the inadequacy of the current responses,” said Carmen Perez-Llorca, director of the International Graduate Law Programs. “He offered a solution, based on concentrating the resources where the refugees are and working towards their inclusion in local societies by providing access to education, opportunities for self-sufficiency and a right to work.“
Hansen humanized the topic by sharing recent stats provided by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNCHR) -- 60 million people are globally displaced, and of the current 38 million internally displaced persons (IDPs) and 19.5 million refugees, 51% are children.
He stressed that by denying refugees a chance at inclusion, wherever they end up, could lead to destabilization of the host society by the refugee population. He said obviously a high security risk is created by leaving young men without anything to do or a way to make money or improve their situation.
The challenge is for the UN and NGOs to try to bring up the nationals in the country along with the refugees and shared several case studies with positive results. With only 1.65% of humanitarian aid allocated for education, he cited private sector solutions such as Vodafone’s mobile app to provide education and language training to the vast number of children living as refugees.
The next lecture in the international law series will be held on March 2, 2016.
