Events
No Refuge: The Migrant Caravan and International Human Rights Law
Perry World House’s program No Refuge has been approved for 1.0 total CLE credits. Please note the following:
- The following CLE language must be placed on all of your publicity and invites, and your publicity must be uploaded to the CLE calendar.
This program has been approved for 1.0 substantive CLE credit for Pennsylvania lawyers. CLE credit may be available in other jurisdictions as well. Attendees seeking CLE credit should bring separate payment in the amount of $40.00 ($20.00 public interest/non-profit attorneys) cash or check made payable to The Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania.”
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The right to seek asylum has been enshrined in international human rights law, through the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.However, this right is increasingly under attack the world over—from the Trump Administration’s deployment of U.S. Army troops to the southern border to prevent people from Central America, including those traveling as part of “the migrant caravan,” from entering the country to seek asylum, to the European Union’s “deal” with Turkey to return asylum seekers to Turkey and Syria in exchange for increased funding. Australia is effectively imprisoning asylum seekers on offshore detention centers without access to basic necessities, while Tanzania and Peru (among other countries in Africa and South America) have attempted to discourage and prevented individuals from crossing international borders into their countries in order to seek asylum.
Join Penn Law’s Fernando Chang-Muy and Perry World House’s Stephanie Schwartz for a conversation moderated by PWH’s Global Shifts Program Manager Jocelyn Perry on Tuesday, 11/27, at 4:30pm to discuss the humanitarian and legal implications of these issues. Fernando Chang-Muy has just returned from providing support to Hondurans in Mexico, many of whom are traveling through Central America in hopes of seeking asylum in the United States. Stephanie Schwartz has extensive experience working with asylum seekers and refugees throughout East Africa, and Jocelyn Perry has recently returned from working for the Malawi Government’s Department of Refugees on their Refugee Status Determination procedures. They will provide their own perspectives on the right to seek asylum, including the ways in which individuals are precluded from accessing it and what opportunities exist to protect or strengthen this right today.
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Stephanie Schwartz is a Perry World House Global Shifts Postdoctoral Research Fellow (2018-2019). In Fall 2019, Schwartz will join the School of International Relations at the University of Southern California as assistant professor of international relations. She holds a Ph.D. in political science from Columbia University. Schwartz's research focuses on the nexus of migration, violence, and peacebuilding. Her current project examines how the return of displaced populations affects post-conflict environments, with a particular focus on East Africa. Her work has been funded by the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Institute of Peace, and the Columbia Global Policy Initiative. You can read more about it in the Washington Post's Monkey Cage Blog. Schwartz has worked with international policy organizations including the U.S. Institute of Peace, the World Bank, and the Sudd Institute. She is also the author of Agents of Change: Youth in Post-Conflict Reconstruction. The book challenges prior notions of the impact of the global youth population bulge.
Fernando Chang-Muy is the Thomas O’Boyle Lecturer in Law at the University of Pennsylvania School of Law, where he teaches Refugee Law and Policy. In addition, at the Graduate School of Social Policy and Practice, he lectures on Immigration and Social Work, and on Organizational Effectiveness in the Executive Education Program, with a focus on strategic planning, board governance, staff communications, and resource development. He is former Assistant Dean and Equal Opportunity Officer at Swarthmore College, where he also taught International Human Rights. Drawing upon his experience in law, refugee camp administration, and philanthropy, he builds capacity and increases effectiveness through consulting support, coaching, and training to government agencies, local and national philanthropic institutions, social service agencies, and cultural organizations. He is a graduate of Loyola, B.A.; Georgetown, M.A.; Antioch, J.D.; and Harvard Law School’s Negotiation Program. He is the author of numerous articles dealing with immigration, refugee rights, and public health and is co-editor of the newly published manual: Social Work with Immigrants and Refugees: Legal issues, Clinical Skills and Advocacy (Springer, 2008).
Jocelyn Perry is the Global Shifts Program Manager. She brings experience working with and advocating for displaced individuals and communities in the United States and around the world to this role with Perry World House. Prior to joining the PWH team, Jocelyn served as a Fulbright Public Policy Fellow with Malawi's Department of Refugees, working on advocacy for and development of Malawi’s Comprehensive Refugee Response Framework alongside the United Nations Refugee Agency. Her current research focuses on forms of governance, political organization, and participatory decision-making among displaced populations and in urban areas. She has previously worked for the Social Science Research Council’s African Peacebuilding Network, as well as in disaster response for the American Red Cross and community development with Public Narrative in Chicago. A proud Penn graduate, Jocelyn also received her MPhil from the University of Cambridge as a Gates Cambridge Scholar.
