I A R L J

International Association of Refugee Law Judges

Programme Bled

Programme - updated on Sept 7, 2011

Please note the programme is still subject to changes...

Wednesday, 7 September (venue: Jupiter Conference Room, Golf Hotel)

From 8.30 Registration of all participants
12.00 – 13.45 Women Judges meeting during lunch - separate registration
14.00 - 15.15 Opening Session
Chair: President of the IARLJ, Sebastiaan de Groot
14.00 – 14.05 Opening of the conference by the President of the IARLJ, Sebastiaan de Groot
14.05 – 14.15 Welcome Address of the Senior Supreme Court Judge Branko Masleša, President of the Supreme Court of the Republic of Slovenia
14.15 – 14.25 Address of the Minister of Justice (Slovenia), Aleš Zalar, former judge and immediate past President of the Slovenian Association of Judges
14.25 – 14.45 Opening Speech of the President of the Republic of Slovenia, Prof. dr. Danilo Türk, former Assistant Secretary General for Political Affairs at the United Nations Organisation
14.45 - 15.15 The Honourable Justice Anthony North, The Federal Court of Australia (immediate past president of the IARLJ): „Extraterritorial Effect of Non-Refoulement”
15.15 - 15.40 Break with light buffet
15.40 - 17.20 First Session
Chair and introduction: The Right Honourable Lord Justice Stephen Sedley (a retired judge of the Court of Appeal of England and Wales)
15.50 - 16.10 Prof. dr. Harald Dörig, Judge at the Federal Administrative Court of Germany (Bundesverwaltungsgericht): “Current Problems in Asylum and Protection Law: the German Judicial Perspective”
16.10 - 16.30 The Hon Justice Nicholas Blake, Judge of the High Court of England and Wales, President of the United Kingdom Upper Tribunal Immigration and Asylum Chamber:
“Current Problems in Asylum and Protection Law: the UK Judicial Perspective”
16.30 - 16.50 Volker Türk, Director, Division of International Protection (UNHCR Headquarters): [Current Problems in Asylum and Protection Law: UNHCR's Perspective]
16.50 - 17.20 Discussion
18.20 Trip to Bled Island (cultural performance) and informal dinner at traditional restaurant Lectar in Radovljica

Thursday, 8 September 2011 (venue: Jupiter, Golf Hotel)

07.30 – 08.45  Working Parties breakfast meeting for Rapporteurs and Associate Rapporteurs
Golf Hotel Restaurant Veranda

09.00 – 10.20 Second Session
Chair and introduction: Allan Mackey, Member of the Immigration and Protection Tribunal, New Zealand, a Senior Immigration Judge (2001-2007) at the UK Asylum and Immigration Tribunal and Judicial Member of the UK Special Immigration Appeals Commission (SIAC), the former President of the IARLJ (2000-2005)
09.10 – 09.30 Justice Russel Zinn, Federal Court of Canada:
“Removal for Criminality: Balancing Safety and Compassion””
09.30 – 09.50 The Honourable Justice Isaac Lenaola, Judge of the High Court of Kenya: “National Security Laws and Protection of Refugees in Africa”
09.50 – 10.20 Discussion
10.20 – 10.40 Break with refreshments

10. 40 – 12.35 Third Session
Chair and introduction: Jacek Chlebny, Judge of the Supreme Court of Poland and President of the Regional Court in Warsaw
10.45 – 11.10 Associate Professor Ben Saul, Co-Director of the Sydney Centre for International Law:
“Defining Terrorism: The impact of Anti-Terrorist Law on Refugee Law and Returns of (Illegal) Immigrants”
11.10 – 11. 30 Discussion
11.30 – 11.50 Byoung Hyun Cho, President of the Seoul Administrative Court, Republic of Korea: “The Refugee Protection in Korean Judiciary”
11.50 – 12.15 Prof. dr. Elspeth Guild, Radboud University Nijmegen (The Netherlands), Visiting Professor at the London School of Economics and Senior Research Fellow at the Centre for European Policy Studies (Brussels), Partner at Kingsley Napley LPP (London):
„The Asylum Seeker's Right to Free Legal Assistance and/or Representation in EU Law“
12.15 – 12.35 Discussion
12.35 – 13.50 Lunch

13.50 – 16.05 Fourth Session (venue: Jupiter, Golf Hotel) Activities of the Working Parties
Coordinator: dr. James Simeon, Deputy Director, Centre for Refugee Studies, and Assistant Professor, School of Public Policy and Administration, Faculty of Liberal Arts and Professional Studies, York University, Canada
14.00 – 15.00 Working Parties Parallel Streams:
  1. Human Rights Nexus (Research paper: “Draft Dodger/Deserter or Dissenter? Conscientious Objection as Grounds for Refugee Status” prepared by Penelope Mathew, Freilich Foundation Professor, The Australian National University)
  2. Expert Evidence (Discussion Paper: “ The Use of Expert Country Evidence”, prepared by Geoffrey Care (former president of the IARLJ), Rapporteur to the Expert Evidence Working Party, and Rebecca Wallace, Director, Centre for Rural Childhood, Perth College UHI, and Assistant Rapporteur to the Expert Evidence Working Party, Karen Wylie, Research Associate, Centre for Rural Childhood, Perth College UHI)
  3. The 1951 Convention and Subsidiary Protection (“Examining Flight from Generalized Violence in Situations of Conflict: An Annotated Bibliography on Article 15(c) of the Qualification Directive”, prepared by Professor Jane McAdam, Associate Rapporteur of the Working Party)
  4. Vulnerable Persons (Discussion paper concerning “best interest of children”, prepared by Syd Bolton, Solicitor and Co-Director of the Refugee Children's Rights Project, Children's Legal Centre, UK, Rebecca Wallace and Karen Wylie, Research Associate, Centre for Rural Childhood, University of the Highlands and Islands, Perth, Scotland.
  5. Asylum Procedures (“Power of the Judge vis-à-vis New facts that Happened After Examination of the Claim by the Administrative Authorities”, prepared by Jacek Chlebny, Judge of the Supreme Administrative Court, Poland; country-reports: Austria by Judith Putzer; Belgium; New Zealand by Allan Mackey and Maya Bozovik, Immigration and Protection Tribunal; Netherlands by John Bouwman, District Court Zwolle-Lelystad; Poland by Jacek Chlebny; “The Reform of Canada's Refugee Determination System: the New Canadian Refugee Determination System”, prepared by Robert Neron, Refugee Protection Division.
  6. Country of Origin Information and Country Guidance [Judicial Guidance on COI: The Old and The New / Flyer - For COI, prepared by Dr Hugo Storey
  7. Exclusion Clauses (Draft discussion: "Terrorism and th Exclusion of Refugee Status"prepared by Rapporteur Professor Satvinder Juss (Deputy Judge of the Upper Tribunal (IAC), UK)
  8. Statelessness (Reports of UNHCR from expert meetings).
  9. Africa Asylum Systems (“A Report on the African Asylum Systems”, by Amor Boubakri, Isaac Lenaola and Marina Sharpe)
15.00 – 15.20 Break with refreshments
15.20 – 16.20 Working Party Plenary Session: Reports of the Rapporteurs to the Conference on the Working Parties' Sessions

16.25– 18.20 Fifth Session - Panel discussion on the role of the Constitutional Courts for the Protection of Refugees (IDPs, Stateless Persons).
Chair and introduction: Prof. dr. Boštjan M. Zupančič, Judge of the European Court of Human Rights, Strasbourg

Panellists:
  1. Albie Sachs, former Judge of the Constitutional Court of the South Africa
  2. Justice Bernard M. Ngoepe, African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights
  3. Martine Denis-Linton, President of the National Court for Refugee Law (La Cour nationale du droit d'asile), Member of the Council of State (Conseil d'État)
  4. Discussion
19.45
Formal conference dinner at the Hotel Toplice

Friday, 9 September 2011 (venue: Jupiter, Golf Hotel)

8.00 – 8.45 Chapter Meetings
Africa Chapter – Hotel Park, room Cankar
Australian Chapter - Jupiter I
Americas Chapter – Hotel Park, room Preseren
Europe Chapter Jupiter II

9.00 – 10.25 Sixth Session
Chair and introduction: Jasna Šegan, Senior High Court Judge, President of the Administrative Court of the Republic of Slovenia
9.05 – 9.25 Martina Lippai, Supreme Court Judge, the Head of the Section on Administrative Law at the Supreme Court of the Republic of Slovenia: An Overview of the Most Important Case-Law of the Supreme Court in Relation to Access to Effective Judicial Protection in Asylum/Immigration Disputes.” ,
9.25 – 9.45 Nina Gregori: Director General of Migration and Integration Directorate (Ministry of Interior, Slovenia), Head of Strategic Committee on Immigration, Frontiers and Asylum of the EU Council: “Priorities of the EU in the field of Returns of Rejected Asylum Seekers and (Illegal) Immigrants”
9.45 – 10.05 Dr Robert Visser, Director of the European Asylum Support Office: [Envisaged Framework for Cooperation between European Agency for the Management of Operational Cooperation at the External Borders of the Member states of the EU (FRONTEX) and EASO with the Legal Expertise Input provided by the IARLJ from the Standpoint of the Rule of Law]
10.05 – 10.25 Discussion
10.25 - 10.55 Break with refreshments

10.55 – 12.30 Seventh Session
Chair and introduction: Katelijne Declerck, Member of the Council for Alien Law Litigations, Belgium
11.00 – 11.30 Nuala Mole, Director of the AIRE Centre, Legal Representative of Asylum Seekers/Immigrants before the European Court of Human Rights (Strasbourg): “Due Process Guarantees for Asylum Seekers/Immigrants in Detention from the Standpoint of the Case Law of the European Court of Human Rights and Court of Justice of the European Union”
11.30 – 11.50 Adriano Silvestri, Programme Manager of the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights: “Persons in Return Procedures Who Have Not Been Removed: Fundamental Rights Challenges”
11.50 – 12.30 Discussion
12.30 – 13.50 Lunch

13.50 – 14.55 Eight Session
Chair and introduction: Karin Benson, Judge of the Administrative Court in Stockholm
13.55 – 14.20 Prof. dr. Roger Errera, Conseiller d'État Honoraire, Former Visiting Professor, Central European University, Budapest: „A New Supranational Court for Refugee and Asylum Law - The Court of Justice of European Union: A Commentary of Its Recent Case-Law“
14.20 – 14.35 Commentator: dr. Hugo Storey, Senior Judge of the United Kingdom Upper Tribunal Immigration and Asylum Chamber
14.35 – 14.55 Discussion
14.55 - 15.10 Judge Rosemary Pooler; United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit:  "A View from the USA"
15.10 – 15.30 Break

15.30 – 16.55 Ninth Session
Panel Discussion on the interplay between administration of justice in asylum/immigration matters and judicial independence

Chair and introduction: Chief Judge Kashim Zannah, High Court of Justice, Maiduguri, Nigeria
Panellists:
  • 15.35 - 15.50 Prof. dr. Roland Fritz, President of the Frankfurt am Main Administrative Court
  • 15.50 – 16.05 Ross Pattee, Deputy Chairperson, New Refugee Protection Division, Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada
  • 16.05 – 16.20 Aleš Zalar, Minister of Justice of the Republic of Slovenia, Founding Member and Member of Advisory Council of the International Association for Court Administration
  • 16.20 - 16.45 Discussion
16.45

Closing remarks by

  • dr Bostjan Zalar, High Court Judge, Adm,inistrative Court of the Republic of Slovenia
  • Sebastiaan de Groot, President of the IARLJ
17.00
 End of conference


IARLJ business meetings are planned as follows:
  1. Council (current) meeting on Tuesday 6th September from 6 pm to 7 pm
  2. General Meeting for all IARLJ members on Wednesday 6 September from 10.30 to 11.45, elections and/or re-elections of Council Members, Hotel Golf, room Jupiter
  3. Council (new) meeting on Friday 9th September after the conference, venue to be determined.

 

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