International Association of Refugee Law Judges European Chapter
Workshop / Seminar
3rd, 4th, 5th November 2005 

Venue: Metropolitan Court Budapest, Markó utca 27, 1055 Budapest

 

Wednesday 2nd November 2005
17.00:  Meeting of Council IARLJ
venue: Metropolitan Court Budapest, Markó utca 27, 1055 Budapest

Thursday 3rd November 2005

8.00-9.00 Registration

9.00-10.15 Welcoming address by:

• Eamonn Cahill, European Chapter Convenor - Irish Refugee Appeals Tribunal.
• Dr Laszlo Gatter, President of the Metropolitan Court of Budapest and member of the National Judicial Council.
• Justice Tony North, Federal Court of Australia and President IARLJ.
• Dr Monika Lampert, Minister of Interior Affairs of Hungary.

Morning sessions - Chaired by Justice Tony North, President of the International Association of Refugee Law Judges. Federal Court of Australia.

10.15- 10.45 General Review of the EU Qualifications Directive

Speakers Menno Verheij, former representative of the Department of Justice and Home Affairs, European Commission.

10.45-11.15 Coffee Break

11.15-12.15 Qualifications and Procedures Directives in the light of International Standards: Protection issues and possible contradictions.

Speakers Boldizar Nagy, Eotvus Lorend University, Hungary; Cathryn Costello, Churchill College, Oxford; Anja Klug, UNHCR.

12.15-13.00 Panel Discussion and Questions and Answers.

13.00-14.30 Lunch

Afternoon sessions - Chaired by Jacek Chlebny, Judge of the Supreme Administrative Court of Poland.

14.30-15.30 Part 1: Interpreting and Applying the Directives.

Country Reports and Commentaries from France (François Bernard), Cyprus (Popie Nicolaou), Netherlands (Sebastiaan de Groot), Hungary (Ildiko Marosi) and Sweden (Anna Bengtsson).

15.30-15.45 Coffee Break

15.45-16.45 Part 2: Interpreting and Applying the Directives.

Consideration of case studies in small groups.

16.45-17.15 The plenary session will resume with feedback from the small groups. This session will be led by Jim Latter.

19.00-22.00 Reception hosted by the Lord Mayor of Budapest at Budapest City Hall. Dinner included.

Friday 4th November 2005

9.00-9.15 Introduction to the proceedings by Katelijne Declerck, IARLJ vice-president, who will chair the morning session.

9.15-11.00 Sources and Reliability of Country of Origin Information (COI).

Speakers:

• Barbara Svec, ACCORD - ecoi.net:;
• Paul Tiedemann, Germany, IARLJ database moderator
• Ryan Nelson (Irish Documentation Centre);
• Ritchie Gordon (Canada);
• Alice Edwards, Amnesty International
• Andrew Jordan, SIJ (about CIPU) - UK;

11.00-11.30 Coffee break

11.30-12.30 Allan Mackey, Senior Immigration Judge, UK: Sources and Reliability of Country of Origin Information. Q & A:

12.30-14.0 Lunch

The afternoon session will be chaired by Mr Justice Andrew Collins, High Court of England and Wales.

14.00-14.30 Main speaker: "Country Guidance by Judges"- Jim Latter.

14.30 - 14.45 Comments from Canadian IRB representative and from Tony North.

14.45-15.15 Country of Origin Reports on:

Somalia - Abdi Rashid, Concern
Eritrea - Ryan Nelson, Documentation Centre, Ireland.
A workshop will be based on cases prepared by both speakers on Somalia and Eritrea.

15.15-15.45 Consideration of case studies in small groups.

15.45-16.15 Presentation of decisions of working groups.

16.30 Visit to Hungarian Parliament.

No social events are planned for Friday evening.

Saturday 5th November 2005

9.00-10.30 Chairperson: Boldizsar Nagy
Afghanistan: A German Perspective by Elizabeth Buchburger. Case Study on Afghanistan: a study in variation in results. Judges from Hungary (Dr Anita Nagy), UK, (Allan Mackey), Ireland (Patrick Hurley), Turkey (Ilknur Altintas), Canada (Gaetan Cousineau) and USA (John Guendelsberger) will be asked to submit Decisions.
These Decisions will be based on a common case submitted for their scrutiny.

10.30-11.00 Coffee Break

11.00-12.00 Panel Discussion and Q & A session.

12.00-12.40 Internal Flight Alternative for Chechen Refugees in the Russian Federation. Speaker: Judge Serge Bodart, Belgium

12.40-13.40 Lunch

14.00 Visit to Bicske Refugee Centre.
Trip by coach (1 hour). A guided tour by a superintendent will be provided, which takes approx. 1 hour.

16.00 Departure by coach for visit to vineyard and restaurant.

The afternoon part is hosted by the Metropolitan Court and the Hungarian Ministry of Interior.