Event information

10 October 2017, 18:15-19:45

Downloads

Flyer >

Opening Lecture of the Academic Year: The Political Participation of Refugees and Other Displaced Persons in their Country of Nationality and in the Host State

Event

Portrait of Professor Geoff Gilbert Portrait of Professor Geoff Gilbert

In this opening lecture, Professor Geoff Gilbert will discuss how, as conflict and repression end and states move towards a period of transition, those who have been displaced can participate in the restoration process.

What governs participation in the country of nationality by persons who are overseas? What are their rights to be included in the democratization and stabilisation process? How might the law of the host state affect participation? What role exists for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)? And what of those excluded from refugee status because of their ties to the rebel movement, when they may be the very ones who have provided an avenue for political dialogue during their displacement?

Geoff Gilbert is Professor of International Human Rights and Humanitarian Law at the University of Essex and is currently on secondment to the UNHCR. He was Editor-in-Chief of the International Journal of Refugee Law from 2002 to 2015. He has written widely on international law and forced displacement, international humanitarian law, international criminal law and international human rights law.

Video

 

Opening Lecture of the Academic Year: The Political Participation of Refugees and Other Displaced Persons in their Country of Nationality and in the Host State

What governs participation in the country of nationality by persons who are overseas? What are their rights to be included in the democratization and stabilisation process? How might the law of the host state affect participation? What role exists for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)? And what of those excluded from refugee status because of their ties to the rebel movement, when they may be the very ones who have provided an avenue for political dialogue during their displacement?

In this opening lecture, Professor Geoff Gilbert discussed how, as conflict and repression end and states move towards a period of transition, those who have been displaced can participate in the restoration process.

MORE ON THIS THEMATIC AREA

Rubina Paparelli News

Executive Master of Advanced Studies in International Law in Armed Conflict: What Alumni Say

8 April 2025

Rubina Paparelli, Head of Syria Support at the International Committee of the Red Cross, tells about her experience taking our Executive Master of Advanced Studies.

Read more

bombed building News

Expert Consultation on CESCR’s General Comment on ICESCR in Armed Conflict

8 May 2025

The Geneva Academy convened an expert consultation on the CESCR’s General Comment on the Application of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in Situations of Armed Conflict.

Read more

Warzone Event

Advanced IHL Seminar for Academics and Policymakers

25-29 August 2025, 09:00-17:30

Co-hosted with the ICRC, this event aims to enhance the capacity of academics to teach and research international humanitarian law, while also equipping policymakers with an in-depth understanding of ongoing legal debates.

Read more

A destroyed camp for internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Khor Abeche, South Darfur, Project

Understanding the Relationship between Conflict, Security and the Human Right to a Clean, Healthy and Sustainable Environment

Started in May 2023

This project will develop guidance to inform security, human rights and environmental debates on the linkages between environmental rights and conflict, and how their better management can serve as a tool in conflict prevention, resilience and early warning.

Read more

A session of the UN Human Rights Council Project

IHL Expert Pool

Started in January 2022

The IHL-EP works to strengthen the capacity of human rights mechanisms to incorporate IHL into their work in an efficacious and comprehensive manner. By so doing, it aims to address the normative and practical challenges that human rights bodies encounter when dealing with cases in which IHL applies.

Read more

Cover of the 2023 Geneva Academy Annual Report Publication

Annual Report 2024

published on July 2025

Read more

Cover of the 2023 Geneva Academy Annual Report Publication

Annual Report 2023

published on July 2024

Read more