Governments are increasingly turning to digital technologies such as GPS ankle monitors and tracking apps as so-called “alternatives to detention.” But a new report from UNSW Sydney’s Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law, the International Detention Coalition and the Refugee Law Lab shows these tools too often replicate detention in digital form, restricting liberty, undermining dignity and causing real harm for people on the move. This is a recording from a launch event held on 16 September 2025, to present the findings of a global study and introduce 10 Guiding Principles for ensuring technology reduces, rather than expands, detention. Listen to explore how governments, civil society and technologists can move towards genuine rights-based alternatives that promote freedom, dignity and community integration. With thanks to the Global Migration Centre at the Graduate Institute of Geneva for kindly hosting this event, and to Robert Bosch Stiftung for its generous support for this project. Read the report: Download: 'From Surveillance to Empowerment: Advancing the Responsible Use of Technology in Alternatives to Detention' [https://www.unsw.edu.au/content/dam/pdfs/law/kaldor/2025-09-technology-in-alternatives-to-detention.pdf]

A recording of an online seminar held on 12 June 2025, hosted by UNSW's Gilbert + Tobin Centre of Public Law and Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law, and the Australian Institute of Administrative Law (NSW). In the November 2023 case of NZYQ v Minister for Immigration, the High Court unanimously held that non-citizens could not be held in immigration detention when there was ‘no real prospect of removal from Australia becoming practicable in the reasonably foreseeable future’. Since NZYQ, numerous cases have tested and refined the limits of this principle, including: ASF17 v Commonwealth; YBFZ v Minister for Immigration; and CZA19 v Commonwealth. This online seminar will explore these developments and the limits of administrative detention. Speakers Kate Bones is a Barrister at Banco Chambers with specialist expertise in public and administrative law. Kate appeared for the Human Rights Law Centre and the Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law as amicus curiae in NZYQ v the Minister for Immigration and for the plaintiff in YBFZ v Minister for Immigration. Sanmati Verma is a Legal Director (Principal) of the Human Rights Law Centre. She has specialised in migration law for over 10 years and has represented a number of clients in immigration detention. The Human Rights Law Centre intervened as amicus curiae in NZYQ v the Minister for Immigration and on behalf of AZC20 in ASF17 v Commonwealth. Douglas McDonald-Norman is a PhD candidate at UNSW Law + Justice, a Barrister at Eight Selborne Chambers, and as of July 2025 will be a Lecturer at UTS Faculty of Law. Douglas specialises in administrative law, migration law and refugee law. Chair: Anna Talbot is the Coordinator of the Strategic Litigation Network at the Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law and a PhD candidate at UNSW Law & Justice.

In 2027, governments are expected to adopt the world’s first-ever global treaty on the Protection of Persons in the event of Disasters — a landmark step toward strengthening international responses in a time of intensifying climate risks. Yet, the current draft of the treaty barely mentions displacement at all. Our latest Policy Brief explains why that must change — and how. Here, co-authors UNSW Kaldor Centre's Scientia Professor Jane McAdam AO and Dr Thomas Mulder discuss 'Foregrounding displacement and evacuations in the proposed treaty on the protection of persons in the event of disasters'. Recorded 20 May 2025 Read Policy Brief 17: Foregrounding Displacement and Evacuations in the Proposed Treaty on the Protection of Persons in the event of Disasters https://www.unsw.edu.au/content/dam/pdfs/law/kaldor/2025-05-policy-brief-foregrounding-displacement-treaty.pdf

A recording of a speed briefing held on Tuesday, 11 March 2025, to learn more about how misinformation works and what to do about it. For those who want a truthful discussion, yet may sometimes struggle to respond to false claims, a new report is designed to help you know what to do and when: Countering misinformation about refugees and migrants: An evidence-based framework, find it here: https://www.unsw.edu.au/kaldor-centre/our-resources/legal-and-policy-resources/countering-misinformation With an easy-to-follow decision tree and how-to examples, this report can equip you to respond across a range of situations— and lays the groundwork for you to create responses aligned with your own aims. Co-authors Professor Daniel Ghezelbash (UNSW Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law) and Saul Wodak (Behavioural Insights Team) step through the framework, empowering you to create stronger, fact-based conversations.

Learn more about a ground-breaking new global toolkit to guide legal practitioners and decision-makers faced with refugee claims involving the impacts of climate change and disasters. 'International Protection for People Displaced across Borders in the context of Climate Change and Disasters: A Practical Toolkit' is a clear, systematic guide to this issue (https://www.unsw.edu.au/content/dam/pdfs/law/kaldor/resource/2025-02-climate-protection-toolkit-full-eng.pdf). Listen to the speed briefing to quickly get an understanding of when, why and how existing refugee and human rights law can protect people forced to leave their homes in situations where climate change or disasters play a role. In this quick overview of the Practical Toolkit, hear from Professor Jane McAdam AO and Dr Tamara Wood, UNSW Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law (authors) and Dr Madeline Garlick, Chief of the Protection Policy and Legal Advice Section at UNHCR. This Practical Toolkit has been developed by the Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law at UNSW Sydney; the Center for Gender & Refugee Studies, University of California College of the Law, San Francisco; and the School of Law and Human Rights Centre, University of Essex, in collaboration with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), and with support from Open Society Foundations.

A recording of the celebratory launch of 'Judging Refugees: Narrative and Oral Testimony in Refugee Status Determination' held on 20 November 2024. This was a hybrid panel event co-hosted by UNSW's Centre for Criminology, Law & Justice, and the Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law, in conversation with Dr Anthea Vogl, Dr Tina Dixson, Associate Professor Maria Giannacopoulos and Professor Daniel Ghezelbash. In 'Judging Refugees', Anthea Vogl investigates the black box of the refugee oral hearing and the politics of narrative within individualised processes for refugee status determination (RSD). Drawing on a rich archive of administrative oral hearings in Australia and Canada, Vogl sets global trends of diminished and fast-tracked RSD against the critical role played by the discretionary spaces of refugee decision-making, and the gate-keeping functions of credibility assessment. About the author: Anthea Vogl is an Associate Professor of Law at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS). She teaches and researches in the fields of refugee and migration law, focusing on the social and legal categories of the refugee and non-citizen, executive decision-making, and the criminology of border control. Guest speakers: Dr Tina Dixson (she/her) is an early career academic, advocate, and social policy professional with experience in advancing LGBTIQA+ equality, refugee protection, and responses to gender-based violence. Tina has her own experience of queer displacement, having been forced to leave Ukraine with her partner Dr Renee Dixson due to their LGBTIQA+ activism. Dr Maria Giannacopoulos (she/her) is Associate Professor and Director of the Centre for Criminology Law and Justice at UNSW Sydney. She holds a BA(Hons) LLB (Hons) and a PhD in Cultural Studies and is a leading scholar in decolonising approaches to law and criminology. Dr Daniel Ghezelbash (he/him) is Professor of Law and the Director of the Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law at UNSW Sydney, and an Australian Research Council (ARC) DECRA Fellow. www.unsw.edu.au/kaldor-centre

A recording of the inaugural Kaldor Centre Oration, delivered by Kate Eastman AM SC and Zaki Haidari on 21 November 2024. The Kaldor Centre Oration is a new flagship lecture hosted by the Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law at UNSW Sydney, designed to enrich the public conversation on refugee issues by showcasing transformational ideas that can spark fresh thinking and action. It is a valuable opportunity to build shared understanding and positive solutions. The inaugural 2024 event builds upon the Kaldor Centre’s track record of thought leadership, stemming from more than a decade of principled, evidence-based contributions to the refugee debate. This recording is for anyone interested in creating a better future – be they people with lived experience of displacement, civil society, legal practitioners, policymakers, business leaders or community members. About the speakers: Kate Eastman AM SC is a Sydney barrister working in the fields in human rights, discrimination, employment, public and constitutional law. Over her 30 years practicing as a lawyer, Kate has been committed to human rights and equality. At Allens, she represented asylum seekers in detention in Port Hedland. She then worked at the Australian Human Rights Commission before joining the Bar in 1998. Between 2019 – 2023, she was Counsel Assisting the Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability. She has taught human rights law at UTS, Monash University and the University of Sydney, and in Burma and Uganda. Kate is chair of the Australian Bar Association’s Diversity and Inclusion Committee and the Law Council of Australia’s Equal Opportunity Committee. In 2023, she was appointed a Commissioner of the New South Wales Law Reform Commission. Kate has received the Law and Justice Foundation’s Justice Award (2003), the Australian Human Rights Commission’s Human Rights Award for Law (2019), a Lifetime Achievement Award from Women Lawyers Association (NSW) (2022), and the Law Council of Australia’s President’s Award (2022). She was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia for significant service to the law, to human rights, and to professional organisations. Zaki Haidari is a 2020 Australian Human Rights Commission Human Rights Hero, an Ambassador for Refugee Advice and Casework Service (RACS), and works at Amnesty International Australia as a Strategic Campaigner. Zaki is also a highly respected commentator in the media on refugee rights. Zaki is himself a refugee. He fled Afghanistan at age 17, targeted by the Taliban after his father was ‘disappeared’ and this brother murdered. He survived a terrifying boat journey and arrived in Australia seeking protection in 2012. Since then, despite social, legal and financial obstacles, he has thrived. Having arrived with little English, in 2015, just three years after he came to Australia, he won the NSW Government’s International Student of the Year Award (2015). He has also completed a Diploma in Computing and a Diploma in Graphic Design. Zaki is a compelling human rights advocate. Even while he was on a temporary protection visa, and since he was granted permanent protection, Zaki has continually and courageously shared his experience and expertise with the media and the wider community, speaking out about the cruel regime of permanent temporariness faced by people like him who came to Australia by sea seeking safety.

Scientia Professor Jane McAdam AO, explains why Australia needs a new emergency visa to respond to humanitarian crises, which she and her co-author, Dr Regina Jefferies, propose as part of a broader emergency response framework in their new policy brief. Having a framework that could be activated in a crisis would enable a more predictable, streamlined and effective response. In the context of people fleeing the war in Gaza, and reports that the government is considering creating a new emergency visa, the policy brief has vital importance for individuals, policymakers and advocates across the sector. Watch to quickly get an understanding of the evidence behind their proposals for a better approach – for all concerned. The Kaldor Centre’s Evacuations Research Hub is a five-year project established in July, funded by an Australian Research Council Laureate Fellowship, to analyse why and how evacuations are used; what legal standards govern their conduct; and when and how they come to an end. Scientia Professor of Law and Laureate Fellow Jane McAdam AO is its Director, and Dr Regina Jefferies is a Laureate Postdoctoral Fellow.

UNSW's Kaldor Centre was established as the Abbott government came to power with its “stop the boats” campaign; the Centre showed the power of starting with hope, becoming the world’s first centre dedicated to the study of international refugee law. For a decade, Jane McAdam AO has steered the Centre as an authoritative, non-partisan voice of reason, playing a unique and valued role among those seeking a better approach to refugee issues in Australia, the region and internationally. Here McAdam shares stories from her time at the helm of UNSW's Kaldor Centre.

A recording of the closing keynote address at the 2023 Kaldor Centre Conference: 'Learning from the future: Foresight for the next decade of forced migration' held on 20 November 2023. Kaldor Centre Director, Scientia Professor Jane McAdam AO, reflected on the day’s discussions and the implications of future megatrends for international refugee law. Will international refugee law still have relevance a decade from now? What role can – and should – it play as the adverse impacts of climate change, enhanced technological surveillance and increasing automation of decision-making influence who is able to move across borders, and how they are treated when they arrive?

Recording of Panel Session 3 at the 2023 Kaldor Centre Conference, 'Learning from the future: Foresight for the next decade of forced migration' held on 20 November 2023 at UNSW Sydney. Speakers: Peter Lewis, Executive Director, Essential Media Amanda Tattersall, Associate Professor of Practice, Sydney Policy Lab Lenore Taylor, Editor, Guardian Australia Shabnam Safa, Chairperson, National Refugee-led Advisory and Advocacy Group Chair: Lauren Martin, Communications Manager, Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law As the Kaldor Centre embarked on its 10th anniversary, our flagship conference harnessed strategic foresight to inform the agenda for the decade to come. The 2023 Kaldor Centre Conference took participants 10 years into the future, to explore the forced migration challenges we may face in the decade to come. The purpose was not to predict the future, but to help us to be better prepared to shape the future we want to see and to help us think afresh about what we might need to do today to ensure protection for displaced people in the decade to come.

Recording of Panel Session 2 at the 2023 Kaldor Centre Conference, 'Learning from the future: Foresight for the next decade of forced migration' held on 20 November 2023 at UNSW Sydney. Speakers: Cathryn Costello, Professor of Global Refugee & Migration Law, University College Dublin Niamh Kinchin, Acting Dean of Law, University of Wollongong Edward Santow, Director, Policy & Governance, Human Technology Institute, University of Technology Sydney Shahyar Roushan, Senior Member, Administrative Appeals Tribunal, Migration & Refugee Division Chair: Daniel Ghezelbash, Deputy Director, Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law As the Kaldor Centre embarked on its 10th anniversary, our flagship conference harnessed strategic foresight to inform the agenda for the decade to come. The 2023 Kaldor Centre Conference took participants 10 years into the future, to explore the forced migration challenges we may face in the decade to come. The purpose was not to predict the future, but to help us to be better prepared to shape the future we want to see and to help us think afresh about what we might need to do today to ensure protection for displaced people in the decade to come.

Panel session recording from the 2023 Kaldor Centre Conference, 'Learning from the future: Foresight for the next decade of forced migration' held on 20 November 2023 at UNSW Sydney. Speakers: Magdalena Arias Cubas, Red Cross Red Crescent Global Migration Lab Louis Everuss, Centre Coordinator, Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence, University of South Australia Adama Kamara, Deputy CEO, Refugee Council of Australia Nikolas Feith Tan, Senior Researcher, Danish Institute of Human Rights Chair: Madeline Gleeson, Senior Research Fellow, Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law As the Kaldor Centre embarked on its 10th anniversary, our flagship conference harnessed strategic foresight to inform the agenda for the decade to come. The 2023 Kaldor Centre Conference took participants 10 years into the future, to explore the forced migration challenges we may face in the decade to come. The purpose was not to predict the future, but to help us to be better prepared to shape the future we want to see and to help us think afresh about what we might need to do today to ensure protection for displaced people in the decade to come.

How do we start thinking about the future of forced migration? A recording of the opening keynote address from the 2023 Kaldor Centre Conference, 'Learning from the future: Foresight for the next decade of forced migration'. A dynamic day-long program that challenged participants to step out of today’s set agenda to look forward to 2033 and consider, is the international protection regime capable of providing protection amid the seismic shifts underway? How can we ready law, policy and public debate to ensure protection for those who need it? Keynote presenter Aarathi Krishnan brought her vast experience in humanitarian and development foresight to steer us on our journey into the future – and how we can prepare for it today. A Harvard scholar, TED favourite and one of ‘100 Brilliant Women in AI Ethics’, Krishnan was Strategic Foresight Advisor at the United Nations Development Programme–Asia Pacific. Recorded 20 November 2023 by the Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law

A recording of the opening remarks from the 2023 Kaldor Centre Conference, 'Learning from the future: Foresight for the next decade of forced migration' to set the scene for the day long event. The conference took participants 10 years into the future, to explore the forced migration challenges we may face in the decade to come. The purpose was not to predict the future, but to help us to be better prepared to shape the future we want to see. The keynote presentations set out big trends and questions to spark longer term thinking. The panel sessions discussed three distinct future scenarios set in 2033. These were intended to provide a 'sandpit' within which to explore the challenges and opportunities before us, to help us think afresh about what we might need to do today to ensure protection for displaced people in the decade to come. Speaker: Frances Voon, Executive Manager, Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law Recorded on 20 November 2023

NZYQ v Minister for Immigration (NZYQ) changed the landscape for immigration detainees in Australia. It led to the release of at least 149 people from indefinite immigration detention where there was no real prospect of removing them from Australia in the 'reasonably foreseeable future’. It also led to the rapid passage of new legislative provisions that could be used to restrict the freedom of those released. Under this legislation, the Commonwealth can seek Community Safety Orders if those released are considered to pose an ‘unacceptable risk of seriously harming the community by committing a serious violent or sexual offence’, allowing re-detention or the imposition of other restrictive conditions. Continuing detention orders have been accepted by the High Court of Australia as valid for people convicted of serious violent, sex or terrorism crimes in Australia. Community Safety Orders, however, differ from continuing detention orders in important ways, and they have not yet been tested in Australian courts. This fully subscribed event was held on 3 April 2024, and sought to examine Community Safety Orders in detail, explaining what they are and what you should do if the Commonwealth seeks to issue one to your client. It also sought to examine the broader ramifications of NZYQ, including the conditions that people are being released under. Speakers included: Scientia Professor George Williams, UNSW Law, leading Australian constitutional scholar, who can advise on the possible constitutional ramifications of NZYQ and follow up cases. Paul Coady, NSW Public Defender, who has ample experience responding to continuing detention orders under state and territory legislation and can provide insight into how the existing system operates. Sanmati Verma, Acting Legal Director at the Human Rights Law Centre, who represents a number of clients in immigration detention and, along with the Kaldor Centre, intervened as amicus curiae in NZYQ v the Minister for Immigration. Sanmati will explain how NZYQ has impacted on immigration detainees since it was determined and what the future might hold for them. Chair: Anna Talbot, Affiliate and Strategic Litigation Network Coordinator, Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law

As the number of displaced people around the world continues to increase, the gap between the needs and availability of durable solutions grows wider. Resettlement plays an important role in providing solutions, and there is an increasing recognition of the potential role of complementary pathways, which can provide access to safety through other migration channels. These include labour mobility, education pathways, and community sponsorship programs. What is the current state of play in resettlement and complementary pathways? What potential do they hold to provide solutions to a greater number of displaced people? On 27 February 2024, a panel of international experts provided an update on current developments from around the world, in an event jointly hosted by the Refugee Council of Australia and the Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law. This year, Australia was the chair of the Consultations on Resettlement and Complementary Pathways (CRCP), the most important multilateral forum for UNHCR, States, NGOs, private sector representatives, academics and refugees to discuss resettlement and complementary pathways. International delegates gathered in Sydney as part of these consultations, and this free public event provided an opportunity to hear from some of these global experts. Moderated by: Basma Alawee, Deputy Executive Director of the Community Sponsorship Hub, USA Speakers included: Jackie Keegan, Head of Resettlement and Complementary Pathways Service, UNHCR Colm O'Gorman, Global Director, Community Engagement, Pathways International Mohammad Naeem, Deputy Director, Strategy and Partnerships, American Immigration Council and a member of the CRCP Refugee Advisory Group

As Shuja Jamal walked to the Presidential Palace in Kabul for work at 8.30am on 15 August 2021, ‘it was clear that this is unlike any other day … something in the air in the city ... You can actually feel it.’ Shuja is the former director-general for international relations for Afghanistan’s National Security Council, and his new book is 'The Decline and Fall of Republican Afghanistan', co-authored with William Maley. He takes us back to the day the Taliban took over. Ahmad Shuja Jamal speaks with the Kaldor Centre's Lauren Martin.

Rejoignez des chercheurs de premier plan sur la mobilité climatique en Afrique alors qu’ils discutent du lancement de la nouvelle série de publications Climate Mobility Africa Insights. Développé et publié par le Climate Mobility Africa Research Network (CMARN), avec le généreux soutien de la Robert Bosch Stiftung et du Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law, Insights vise à faire progresser les réponses juridiques et politiques fondées sur des données probantes à la mobilité climatique en Afrique. Rejoignez des chercheurs de domaines tels que la réduction des risques de catastrophe, la transhumance, la violence sexuelle et fondée sur le genre et les droits de la personne, alors qu’ils partagent leurs points de vue sur les défis actuels et les options futures en matière de lois et de politiques. Les notes d’orientation et les fiches d’information d’Insights constituent une ressource incontournable pour les gouvernements africains, les décideurs et les autres chercheurs travaillant sur la mobilité climatique en Afrique. La série Insights offre également une formation et un soutien éditorial aux auteurs qui souhaitent publier leurs recherches, faisant progresser la diversité et la représentation dans le dialogue politique sur la mobilité climatique en Afrique et au-delà. https://www.cmarnetwork.com/insightsfr Intervenants: - Dr Rose Auma est maître de conférences à l’Université des sciences et technologies Masinde Muliro (MMUST), Kenya, et administratrice du Réseau de recherche sur la mobilité climatique en Afrique (CMARN) - Dr Cheikh Tidiane Wade est géographe à l’Université Assane Seck, Sénégal - Christina Daskiewicz est chargée de projet à la Division de la migration, de l’environnement, du changement climatique et de la réduction des risques de l’Organisation internationale pour les migrations (OIM)

Join leading researchers on climate mobility in Africa as they discuss they launch of the new Climate Mobility Africa Insights publication series. Developed and published by the Climate Mobility Africa Research Network (CMARN), with the generous support of Robert Bosch Stiftung and the Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law, Insights aims to advance evidence-based law and policy responses to climate mobility in Africa. Join researchers from fields such as disaster risk reduction, transhumance, sexual and gender-based violence and human rights, as they share insights into current challenges and future law and policy options. Insights policy briefs and fact sheets provide a ‘go to’ resource for African governments, policy makers and other researchers working to address climate mobility in Africa. The Insights series also provides training and editorial support to authors who wish to publish their research, advancing diversity and representation within policy dialogue regarding climate mobility in Africa and beyond. https://www.cmarnetwork.com/insightsen Speakers: • Professor Ademola Oluborode Jegede is a Professor of Law at the School of Law, University of Venda, South Africa • Dr Nicodemus Nyandiko is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Disaster Management and Sustainable Development at Masinde Muliro University of Science and Technology (MMUST), Kenya • Dr Oluwatoyin Adejonwo is a Senior Lecturer at the Faculty of Law, University of Lagos and a Solicitor and Advocate of the Supreme Court of Nigeria