Principal speaker
Satvinder Juss
‘Human Trafficking, Asylum and the Problem of Protection’
Cohosted by Griffith Law School and Griffith Asia Institute
Presented by Professor Satvinder Juss, Dickson Poon School of Law, Kings College London
International refugee law is often criticized for being antiquated and ineffectual in the face of egregious human rights violations in the world today. Yet, the plight of victims of human trafficking provides refugee lawyers with an opportunity to affirm the fundamental tenets of international protection on which their discipline is based. This is especially where the perpetrator of human rights violations is not the State but non-state agents within the State. This has been a difficult issue for refugee law. However, the case of human trafficking provides refugee law courts and lawyers with a context in which to map out the contours of protection that can be a useful model for similar future cases.
This Lecture will focus on the following four issues. First, with the search for a victim-centred approach in the context of the historical abolition of slavery. Second, the law relating to human trafficking. Third, on the identification and assistance of victims provided for within that law. Fourth, on the judicial perspectives in the various British cases of the last 5-years, with a view to determining what has been achieved, given that these cases (i) provide an insight into the nature of human trafficking; (ii) demonstrate how victims of human trafficking can fit into the category of a ‘particular social group’ in the Refugee Convention; (iii) and highlight the governmental failures in the field of protection given the prioritization of criminal prosecution over state protection. Fifth, there is the consideration of the ground-breaking case of AZ (Thailand), which it is suggested points the way to a victim-centred judicial approach, that is much to be commended. Sixth, this Lecture concludes with advocating a radical approach to protection as this is consistent with the broad humanitarian principles that underlie the Refugee Convention.
Professor Juss is a human rights expert focusing on policy-oriented work and has taught at a number of Universities in the UK and the USA, including Harvard Law School and Indiana University in Bloomington. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, and its Council Member, and is a member of its Migration Commission, which published its ground-breaking Report, “Migration: A Welcome Opportunity” (www.migrationcommission.org) in November 2005. He is a Council member also of Encounter, and of the Society of Legal Scholars. In 2010 his name was added to the Panel of the Arbitrators of the Indian Council for Arbitration.
Professor Juss seeks to incorporate the role of scholar, practitioner, and activist in all the various fields of his expertise. He contributed as a renowned expert at the invitation of the Home Affairs Committee to a pioneering seminar on Human Trafficking at the Houses of Parliament on 14th May 2009, which brought together the Chairs of all the Home Affairs Committees in Europe, in a new initiative to harmonize standards and procedures in this field. Professor Juss has been involved in, and given policy speeches for various think-tanks, including the Royal Society of Arts, Encounter, and the Rowntree Trust. He regularly appears as a practicising Barrister in the High Court and the Court of Appeal and is listed as a "Legal Expert" in the Directory of Legal Experts.
- Monday 26 August 2013
- N72, Meeting Room -1.18, Nathan campus
- 2:30-4:00pm
To RSVP, please contact Natasha Vary on (07) 3735 5322 or n.vary@griffith.edu.au by 5.00pm Wednesday 21 August 2013.
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RSVP
RSVP on or before Wednesday 21 August 2013 , by email n.vary@griffith.edu.au , or by phone 37354252
Event contact details
- Natasha Vary
- http://
- (07) 3735 5322