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In a world fractured by fear and misinformation, how do we rebuild trust and advance refugee protection? Hugh de Kretser delivers a powerful closing keynote on bridging divides, through truth, empathy, and collective action. This is a call to move beyond rhetoric and create systems that work for refugees and communities alike. Closing keynote address recorded at the 2025 Kaldor Centre Conference, Building bridges: Advancing refugee protection in a divided world. Speaker Hugh de Kretser, President, Australian Human Rights Commission Why Listen *Learn why human rights frameworks remain essential for refugee protection in polarized times *Discover strategies to counter fear-driven narratives and misinformation about refugees *See how collaboration across sectors and communities can rebuild trust and deliver solutions *Be inspired by a vision for inclusive, rights-based systems that unite rather than divide

With governments stepping back, can civil society, businesses, academics—and refugees themselves—fill the protection gap? This session reveals “whole-of-society” strategies driving real change. The panel session was recorded at the 2025 Kaldor Centre Conference, Building bridges: Advancing refugee protection in a divided world. Speakers Chair: Daniel Ghezelbash, Professor of Law & Director, Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law Dr Jeff Crisp, Visiting Research Fellow, Oxford; former UNHCR & global policy leader James Jegasothy, Deputy CEO, Multicultural NSW Professor Kate Ogg, ARC Fellow & Professor, Australian National University Hafsar Tameesuddin, Co-Secretary General, Asia Pacific Refugee Rights Network Why Listen *Discover cross-sector coalitions stepping into protection deficits *Understand how legal advocacy and strategic litigation influence policy *Learn the power of grassroots and refugee-led networks in crisis responses *See what success can look like when refugees and civil society lead together

Too often, refugee participation is symbolic. This panel flips that script—showcasing real-world leadership by refugees and how inclusive policies make systems stronger. This panel session was recorded at the 2025 Kaldor Centre Conference, Building bridges: Advancing refugee protection in a divided world. Speakers Chair: Frances Voon, Executive Manager, Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law Dor Akech Achiek, Interim CEO, Western Sydney Migrant Resource Centre Dr Renee Dixson, Co-Founder & Executive Director, Forcibly Displaced People Network Dr Tristan Harley, Senior Research Associate, Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law Najeeba Wazefadost, Executive Director, Asia Pacific Network of Refugees Why Listen *Learn how refugees are moving from surface-level consultation to genuine collaboration *See how LGBTIQA+ voices and refugee-led networks strengthen inclusion *Explore practical models for shared decision-making in policy development *Witness innovative frameworks built by refugees, for refugees

In an era of misinformation, echo chambers, and rising polarisation, how can we bring people together for honest and respectful dialogue on refugee and migration issues? This session shines a light on proven strategies that cut through fear and foster unity, grounded in research, policy, and real-world practice. Recorded at the the 2025 Kaldor Centre Conference, Building Bridges: Advancing refugee protection in a divided world Speakers Chair: Professor Jane McAdam AO, Scientia Professor of Law, Founder & Director of the Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law Basma Alawee, Deputy Executive Director, Community Sponsorship Hub Dr Sukhmani Khorana, Scientia Associate Professor, UNSW School of Arts & Media Kylea Tink, Former MP (North Sydney), seasoned leader and social advocate Saul Wodak, Behavioural Insights Advisor at BIT Sydney, expert in countering misinformation Why You Should Watch *Learn evidence-based techniques to bridge divides on contentious topics *Hear how communities have amplified refugee voices and built common ground *Discover ways to challenge misinformation and break through algorithmic biases

Join us for the keynote address from the 2025 Kaldor Centre Conference, 'Building bridges: Advancing refugee protection in a divided world' held on 23 October 2025 at UNSW Sydney. Speakers Daniel Ghezelbash, Professor of Law & Director, Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law, UNSW Sydney Mohammed Naeem, Senior Director for Advocacy Strategy, Refugees International Timestamp 00:00 Opening remarks, Daniel Ghezelbash, Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law, 13:40 Daniel Ghezelbash introduces Mohammed Naeem 15:19 Keynote address, Mohammed Naeem, Refugees International 32:48 Audience Q&A with Mohammed Naeem and Daniel Ghezelbash in conversation during question time Why Listen *Understand why the Refugee Convention remains vital and why implementation, not the law itself, is failing. *Learn how polarization and misinformation threaten refugee protection and what works to rebuild trust. *Discover why imagination and community-driven solutions are key to designing inclusive, lasting systems. *Hear a powerful call to elevate refugee leadership and show that caring isn’t just moral, it works. Transcripts Daniel Ghezelbash opening remarks: https://www.unsw.edu.au/news/2025/11/the-refugee-convention-is-under-threat--but-it-is-not-the-proble Mohammed Naeem keynote address: https://www.unsw.edu.au/news/2025/11/mohammed-naeem-gives-keynote-address-at-the-2025-kaldor-centre-c

10 Years of the Nansen Initiative Protection Agenda (NIPA +10): Reflections from the frontlines of the Envoy of the Chair of the Platform on Disaster Displacement In October 2015, 109 states endorsed the Agenda for the Protection of Cross-Border Displaced Persons in the Context of Disasters and Climate Change ('Nansen Agenda'), providing a toolbox of concrete policy options and proposing a series of recommendations for future work. The agenda was the result of the Nansen Initiative, a state-led process to address the protection needs of people displaced across borders due to disasters and climate change. The Platform on Disaster Displacement (PDD) was established in 2016 to carry on the work of the Nansen Initiative and help put its recommendations into practice. In this podcast, Envoy of the Chair of the Platform on Disaster Displacement, Professor Walter Kälin, who was formerly Envoy of the Nansen Initiative, chats with Professor Jane McAdam AO about the major advances, and enduring challenges, in protection for people displaced in the context of disasters and climate change. Learn more: https://disasterdisplacement.org/the-platform/the-context/ https://www.unsw.edu.au/kaldor-centre

Governments are increasingly turning to digital technologies such as GPS ankle monitors and tracking apps as so-called “alternatives to detention.” But a new report from UNSW Sydney’s Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law, the International Detention Coalition and the Refugee Law Lab shows these tools too often replicate detention in digital form, restricting liberty, undermining dignity and causing real harm for people on the move. This is a recording from a launch event held on 16 September 2025, to present the findings of a global study and introduce 10 Guiding Principles for ensuring technology reduces, rather than expands, detention. Listen to explore how governments, civil society and technologists can move towards genuine rights-based alternatives that promote freedom, dignity and community integration. With thanks to the Global Migration Centre at the Graduate Institute of Geneva for kindly hosting this event, and to Robert Bosch Stiftung for its generous support for this project. Read the report: Download: 'From Surveillance to Empowerment: Advancing the Responsible Use of Technology in Alternatives to Detention' [https://www.unsw.edu.au/content/dam/pdfs/law/kaldor/2025-09-technology-in-alternatives-to-detention.pdf]

A recording of an online seminar held on 12 June 2025, hosted by UNSW's Gilbert + Tobin Centre of Public Law and Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law, and the Australian Institute of Administrative Law (NSW). In the November 2023 case of NZYQ v Minister for Immigration, the High Court unanimously held that non-citizens could not be held in immigration detention when there was ‘no real prospect of removal from Australia becoming practicable in the reasonably foreseeable future’. Since NZYQ, numerous cases have tested and refined the limits of this principle, including: ASF17 v Commonwealth; YBFZ v Minister for Immigration; and CZA19 v Commonwealth. This online seminar will explore these developments and the limits of administrative detention. Speakers Kate Bones is a Barrister at Banco Chambers with specialist expertise in public and administrative law. Kate appeared for the Human Rights Law Centre and the Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law as amicus curiae in NZYQ v the Minister for Immigration and for the plaintiff in YBFZ v Minister for Immigration. Sanmati Verma is a Legal Director (Principal) of the Human Rights Law Centre. She has specialised in migration law for over 10 years and has represented a number of clients in immigration detention. The Human Rights Law Centre intervened as amicus curiae in NZYQ v the Minister for Immigration and on behalf of AZC20 in ASF17 v Commonwealth. Douglas McDonald-Norman is a PhD candidate at UNSW Law + Justice, a Barrister at Eight Selborne Chambers, and as of July 2025 will be a Lecturer at UTS Faculty of Law. Douglas specialises in administrative law, migration law and refugee law. Chair: Anna Talbot is the Coordinator of the Strategic Litigation Network at the Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law and a PhD candidate at UNSW Law & Justice.

In 2027, governments are expected to adopt the world’s first-ever global treaty on the Protection of Persons in the event of Disasters — a landmark step toward strengthening international responses in a time of intensifying climate risks. Yet, the current draft of the treaty barely mentions displacement at all. Our latest Policy Brief explains why that must change — and how. Here, co-authors UNSW Kaldor Centre's Scientia Professor Jane McAdam AO and Dr Thomas Mulder discuss 'Foregrounding displacement and evacuations in the proposed treaty on the protection of persons in the event of disasters'. Recorded 20 May 2025 Read Policy Brief 17: Foregrounding Displacement and Evacuations in the Proposed Treaty on the Protection of Persons in the event of Disasters https://www.unsw.edu.au/content/dam/pdfs/law/kaldor/2025-05-policy-brief-foregrounding-displacement-treaty.pdf

A recording of a speed briefing held on Tuesday, 11 March 2025, to learn more about how misinformation works and what to do about it. For those who want a truthful discussion, yet may sometimes struggle to respond to false claims, a new report is designed to help you know what to do and when: Countering misinformation about refugees and migrants: An evidence-based framework, find it here: https://www.unsw.edu.au/kaldor-centre/our-resources/legal-and-policy-resources/countering-misinformation With an easy-to-follow decision tree and how-to examples, this report can equip you to respond across a range of situations— and lays the groundwork for you to create responses aligned with your own aims. Co-authors Professor Daniel Ghezelbash (UNSW Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law) and Saul Wodak (Behavioural Insights Team) step through the framework, empowering you to create stronger, fact-based conversations.

Learn more about a ground-breaking new global toolkit to guide legal practitioners and decision-makers faced with refugee claims involving the impacts of climate change and disasters. 'International Protection for People Displaced across Borders in the context of Climate Change and Disasters: A Practical Toolkit' is a clear, systematic guide to this issue (https://www.unsw.edu.au/content/dam/pdfs/law/kaldor/resource/2025-02-climate-protection-toolkit-full-eng.pdf). Listen to the speed briefing to quickly get an understanding of when, why and how existing refugee and human rights law can protect people forced to leave their homes in situations where climate change or disasters play a role. In this quick overview of the Practical Toolkit, hear from Professor Jane McAdam AO and Dr Tamara Wood, UNSW Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law (authors) and Dr Madeline Garlick, Chief of the Protection Policy and Legal Advice Section at UNHCR. This Practical Toolkit has been developed by the Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law at UNSW Sydney; the Center for Gender & Refugee Studies, University of California College of the Law, San Francisco; and the School of Law and Human Rights Centre, University of Essex, in collaboration with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), and with support from Open Society Foundations.

A recording of the celebratory launch of 'Judging Refugees: Narrative and Oral Testimony in Refugee Status Determination' held on 20 November 2024. This was a hybrid panel event co-hosted by UNSW's Centre for Criminology, Law & Justice, and the Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law, in conversation with Dr Anthea Vogl, Dr Tina Dixson, Associate Professor Maria Giannacopoulos and Professor Daniel Ghezelbash. In 'Judging Refugees', Anthea Vogl investigates the black box of the refugee oral hearing and the politics of narrative within individualised processes for refugee status determination (RSD). Drawing on a rich archive of administrative oral hearings in Australia and Canada, Vogl sets global trends of diminished and fast-tracked RSD against the critical role played by the discretionary spaces of refugee decision-making, and the gate-keeping functions of credibility assessment. About the author: Anthea Vogl is an Associate Professor of Law at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS). She teaches and researches in the fields of refugee and migration law, focusing on the social and legal categories of the refugee and non-citizen, executive decision-making, and the criminology of border control. Guest speakers: Dr Tina Dixson (she/her) is an early career academic, advocate, and social policy professional with experience in advancing LGBTIQA+ equality, refugee protection, and responses to gender-based violence. Tina has her own experience of queer displacement, having been forced to leave Ukraine with her partner Dr Renee Dixson due to their LGBTIQA+ activism. Dr Maria Giannacopoulos (she/her) is Associate Professor and Director of the Centre for Criminology Law and Justice at UNSW Sydney. She holds a BA(Hons) LLB (Hons) and a PhD in Cultural Studies and is a leading scholar in decolonising approaches to law and criminology. Dr Daniel Ghezelbash (he/him) is Professor of Law and the Director of the Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law at UNSW Sydney, and an Australian Research Council (ARC) DECRA Fellow. www.unsw.edu.au/kaldor-centre

A recording of the inaugural Kaldor Centre Oration, delivered by Kate Eastman AM SC and Zaki Haidari on 21 November 2024. The Kaldor Centre Oration is a new flagship lecture hosted by the Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law at UNSW Sydney, designed to enrich the public conversation on refugee issues by showcasing transformational ideas that can spark fresh thinking and action. It is a valuable opportunity to build shared understanding and positive solutions. The inaugural 2024 event builds upon the Kaldor Centre’s track record of thought leadership, stemming from more than a decade of principled, evidence-based contributions to the refugee debate. This recording is for anyone interested in creating a better future – be they people with lived experience of displacement, civil society, legal practitioners, policymakers, business leaders or community members. About the speakers: Kate Eastman AM SC is a Sydney barrister working in the fields in human rights, discrimination, employment, public and constitutional law. Over her 30 years practicing as a lawyer, Kate has been committed to human rights and equality. At Allens, she represented asylum seekers in detention in Port Hedland. She then worked at the Australian Human Rights Commission before joining the Bar in 1998. Between 2019 – 2023, she was Counsel Assisting the Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability. She has taught human rights law at UTS, Monash University and the University of Sydney, and in Burma and Uganda. Kate is chair of the Australian Bar Association’s Diversity and Inclusion Committee and the Law Council of Australia’s Equal Opportunity Committee. In 2023, she was appointed a Commissioner of the New South Wales Law Reform Commission. Kate has received the Law and Justice Foundation’s Justice Award (2003), the Australian Human Rights Commission’s Human Rights Award for Law (2019), a Lifetime Achievement Award from Women Lawyers Association (NSW) (2022), and the Law Council of Australia’s President’s Award (2022). She was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia for significant service to the law, to human rights, and to professional organisations. Zaki Haidari is a 2020 Australian Human Rights Commission Human Rights Hero, an Ambassador for Refugee Advice and Casework Service (RACS), and works at Amnesty International Australia as a Strategic Campaigner. Zaki is also a highly respected commentator in the media on refugee rights. Zaki is himself a refugee. He fled Afghanistan at age 17, targeted by the Taliban after his father was ‘disappeared’ and this brother murdered. He survived a terrifying boat journey and arrived in Australia seeking protection in 2012. Since then, despite social, legal and financial obstacles, he has thrived. Having arrived with little English, in 2015, just three years after he came to Australia, he won the NSW Government’s International Student of the Year Award (2015). He has also completed a Diploma in Computing and a Diploma in Graphic Design. Zaki is a compelling human rights advocate. Even while he was on a temporary protection visa, and since he was granted permanent protection, Zaki has continually and courageously shared his experience and expertise with the media and the wider community, speaking out about the cruel regime of permanent temporariness faced by people like him who came to Australia by sea seeking safety.

Scientia Professor Jane McAdam AO, explains why Australia needs a new emergency visa to respond to humanitarian crises, which she and her co-author, Dr Regina Jefferies, propose as part of a broader emergency response framework in their new policy brief. Having a framework that could be activated in a crisis would enable a more predictable, streamlined and effective response. In the context of people fleeing the war in Gaza, and reports that the government is considering creating a new emergency visa, the policy brief has vital importance for individuals, policymakers and advocates across the sector. Watch to quickly get an understanding of the evidence behind their proposals for a better approach – for all concerned. The Kaldor Centre’s Evacuations Research Hub is a five-year project established in July, funded by an Australian Research Council Laureate Fellowship, to analyse why and how evacuations are used; what legal standards govern their conduct; and when and how they come to an end. Scientia Professor of Law and Laureate Fellow Jane McAdam AO is its Director, and Dr Regina Jefferies is a Laureate Postdoctoral Fellow.

UNSW's Kaldor Centre was established as the Abbott government came to power with its “stop the boats” campaign; the Centre showed the power of starting with hope, becoming the world’s first centre dedicated to the study of international refugee law. For a decade, Jane McAdam AO has steered the Centre as an authoritative, non-partisan voice of reason, playing a unique and valued role among those seeking a better approach to refugee issues in Australia, the region and internationally. Here McAdam shares stories from her time at the helm of UNSW's Kaldor Centre.