School of Law Hosts Town Hall on Syrian Refugee Crisis

The California International Law Center, the Aoki Center for Critical Race and Nation Studies, and UC Davis School of Law held a town hall meeting on the Syrian refugee crisis on September 11 at King Hall.

"Millions on the Move: Refugees from Syria and Beyond" brought more than 100 students to the Kalmanovitz Appellate Courtroom to hear analysis from asylum and refugee law experts Dean Kevin R. Johnson and Professor Brian Soucek. California International Law Center Director and Professor Anupam Chander moderated the discussion.

Professor Chander began the discussion by citing recent statistics from the United Nations: Turkey is hosting the largest population of Syrian refugees, with more than 1.8 million, followed by Lebanon with 1.2 million, comprising 18 percent of that country's population. More than four million Syrians have registered as refugees with the U.N.; about half of them are children.

"This is the highest number of displaced people in the world - ever," said Professor Soucek, who noted that the current number of refugees exceeds those displaced during World War II.

Dean Johnson detailed the five grounds under which a migrant can legally be considered a refugee, according to the 1951 U.N. Refugee Convention: race, religion, nationality, membership in a social group, or political opinion.

"International law isn't really set up to deal with the situation of mass migration we have today," said Dean Johnson. "Historically, nation-states have been fearful of being overwhelmed by mass migration."

Several students asked questions about President Obama's call for the United States to take in at least 10,000 displaced Syrians over the next year. The discussion also covered topics including sanctuary cities, resettlement procedures, and other mass migration crises around the world.