Week-long migration event hosted with McGill University

The week-long programme has been lined up by the Oppenheimer Chair in Public International Law - which is hosting the event at the Law Faculty – in the context of a new WTI-McGill collaboration.

Lecturers from the University of Bern Law Faculty will take part in the migration event, alongside WTI researchers.

The line-up features a conference on 17 February on ’Facilitating Mobility, Fostering Diversity: The Challenges of Contemporary Migration Policies in a Free-Trade Context’, at which WTI Professor Thomas Cottier will provide opening and closing remarks.

PhD candidate and NCCR researcher Rosa Maria Losada will present a paper on ‘Mapping Swiss Migration Partnerships’.

Other Swiss speakers include Walter Kälin, addressing migration and human rights, and Stefan Schlegel from the University of Bern, whose subject will be the implementation of the Swiss initiative on mass immigration.

Seminar series

Ahead of the conference, a seminar series launches on 11 February, with Rosa Maria Losada giving a guest lecture entitled ‘Multilateral Discussions on Migration Governance: A Swiss Perspective’.

The series continues on 16 February when Prof. Cottier lectures on ‘The Common Law of International Trade and the Future of Multilateralism’.

On 18 February Prof. Kälin of the University of Bern will speak on ‘The Nansen Initiative: Linking Climate Change, Disasters and Human Mobility’.

On 19 and 20 February lectures will be given by Stefan Schlegel and Alberto Achermann, both from the University of Bern.

Francois Crépeau, Oppenheimer Professor in Public International Law at McGill University, was key speaker at a migration event organised by Rosa Maria Losada at the WTI in April 2014.

WTI and McGill hope their collaboration will extend beyond the conference and seminar series.