Research seminar on the International Refugee Regime and Non-signatory States held at BRAC Centre

Centre for Peace and Justice at BRAC University and Faculty of Law at University of Oslo jointly organised a research seminar on the International Refugee Regime and Non-signatory States on Tuesday, 29 November, at BRAC Centre Inn. Based in Oslo University's Faculty of Law, Professor of International Migration Law Maja Janmyr and Postdoctoral Fellow Dr. M Sanjeeb Hossain presented respectively.

The first presentation on International Refugee Law beyond States Parties to the 1951 Refugee Convention was made by Professor Maja Janmyr where she shared her findings from the BEYOND Project. Among other things, Professor Janmyr discussed how Bangladesh has not signed the 1951 Refugee Convention, but the country hosts a large number of Rohingyas who left their homeland Myanmar. She argued that the Convention continues to structure State's responses to refugees and plays a central role not only in States that are party to the Convention, but also in major non-signatory States.

In the second lecture, Dr. M Sanjeeb Hossain presented his ASILE Project research and identified the precarious status of the Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh. This precarity stems from a range of reasons which relate to the absence of a domestic law in Bangladesh to address refugee matters, the confidential nature of MOUs between the Bangladesh Government and the UNHCR, the application of the Foreigners Act 1946 against Rohingya refugees, etc.

Dr. Faustina Pereira, Senior Fellow at Centre for Peace and Justice, and Dr. Sergio Carrera, Project Coordinator at ASILE, were present as discussants to the two research presentations. The event was moderated by Manzoor Hasan OBE, Executive Director at Centre for Peace and Justice. In concluding remarks, Dr. David Dowland, Academic Registrar at BRAC University, thanked all the participants from different organisations and universities for their kind participation and constructive discussion.

Event covered by Law Desk, The Daily Star.