In 2015, over a million migrants and asylum-seekers arrived in Europe, leading to a crisis in the international refugee system, to soaring tensions within the European Union and to the rise of hardline anti-immigrant parties in almost all European countries. Europe now struggles to reconcile its liberal democratic values with political pressures to stem the flow of immigrants and asylum-seekers. European refugee policies are not merely debated in the halls of power in Brussels, Berlin and Rome. They have real human consequences as evidenced by the thousands of deaths in the Mediterranean Sea in the past few years. This presentation will explore the pressures, contradictions and potential consequences of European policies toward those arriving on its borders in search of safety.
Elizabeth Ferris is Research Professor with the Institute for the Study of International Migration at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service and an adjunct professor in the Georgetown Law School. From January-September 2016, she also served as Senior Advisor to the UN General Assembly’s Summit for Refugees and Migrants in New York.
The lecture is free and open to the public. Lunch is served on a first-come, first-served basis.
Originally published at nanovic.nd.edu.