Thread by @heavencrawley

#IASFM keynote from @JC_Hathaway who begins by reminding us that the vast majority of refugees globally are stuck in dire conditions with limited resources and opportunities whilst the EU spends €16.5 BILLION on processing a tiny proportion of those in need

What’s on the table in terms of reform is thin at best and potentially very dangerous. Call for ‘soft law’ solutions by Betts and Collier don’t engage with political realities. UNHCR meanwhile is simply reinventing the wheel #IASFM17

UNHCR’s solution in the form of the Global Compact on Refugees offers no meaning solutions just opportunities for “lots and lots of talk” days @JC_Hathaway #IASFM17

Reflected in the subtle but critically important change in UNHCR’s name and logo - no longer working *for* refugees but an agency to ‘solve the refugee problem’ for states #IASFM

We should not, says @JC_Hathaway, rush to a thin approach to refugee protection on the basis that political realities make anything else impossible. We need to nudge the discussion through affirmative action towards widening the circle of moral concern #IASFM17

Answer is clearly and firmly on showing how the model for refugee protection can work for all of those living in communities. The last thing we should be doing is proposing an endless series of pledging conferences that may or may not deliver says @JC_Hathaway #IASFM

I absolutely share and agree with @JC_Hathaway’s concerns about the weaknesses of Global Compact on Refugees. UNHCR needs to get its head out of the sand and offer a new vision of protection that is meaningful and bold. The best defence is a good offence as BHB would say #IASFM17

We need to stand back from current regime it is not delivering for most refugees says @JC_Hathaway #IASFM

Principle 1 Access to protection - logic of deterrence only makes sense if the duty to protect applies to the first current you reach. Alternatively it could simply be an entry point to an international refugee regime says @JC_Hathaway #IASFM17

Principle 2 Assignment - get rid of expensive and ridiculously cumbersome and lengthy domestic asylum regimes and replace them with an equitable well-resourced protection mechanism. Controversial proposal from @JC_Hathaway but we need to think outside the box #IASFM17

Principle 3 Empowermemt - no detention, opportunities for work, access to education. I agree completely, a SEZ in Jordan won’t do this, access to rights will #IASFM17

Principle 4 Support - enable refugees to contribute. All of the evidence suggests that this would be far cheaper than the resources spent on what @JC_Hathaway describes as ‘fancy asylum systems’ #IASFM17

Principle 5 Solutions -after 5 years people need permanent solutions. At that point resettlement would be guaranteed to those unable to return or integrate locally. Numbers of resettlement places would not be any greater than number of asylum applications in OECD countries #IASFM

@JC_Hathaway argued that a new system could be introduced. The international community has done it before. It can be done if the bureaucratic will is there #IASFM17

@JC_Hathaway argues that reform would be better for everyone e.g. undermine smuggling and create sense of order. I’d love to be able to agree but politics are more pernicious than this and his proposed system presupposes that differentiating refugees and migrants is easy/possible

I’ve argued repeatedly that it’s not possible to easily differentiate between refugees and migrants - see for example my @scmrjems article with Dimitris Skleparis. I’m not sure how @JC_Hathaway’s proposed model would solve this issue tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.108…

Completely agree with @JC_Hathaway that the Global Compact on Refugees is a cop-out and that it should be *for* rather than *on* refugees. But somehow proposed new system would have to determine who is eligible to be considered within in. That problem not yet addressed #IASFM17

A quick follow up...I agree with @JC_Hathaway that even we could create a mechanism to identify ‘manifestly well-founded’ claims based on nationality which would allow access to his proposed new system without going through current ridiculously convoluted legal hoops #IASFM

The BIG problem for me is that there are very large groups of people coming from countries and regions of the world e.g. West Africa who are routinely dismissed as ‘economic migrants’ and would never get access to new system #IASFM17

And the quid pro quo of any system which facilitates speedy access to protection for those deemed worthy is that those considered *undeserving* of international protection could/would be treated harshly and have zero rights. ‘Refugees’ as a category would be privileged #IASFM17