Media Alert: Professor Emerita Gillian Triggs to Address Canberra Forum on Global Impact of Australia’s Refugee Policies

The Refugee Action Campaign (RAC) Canberra is pleased to announce a public forum titled “Australian Cruelty and the Alternative,” featuring Professor Emerita Gillian Triggs. The event will take place on Wednesday, 12th March at 6:30 pm in the Copland Lecture Theatre, Australian National University.

Professor Triggs, who recently completed her role as UN Assistant Secretary General and Assistant High Commissioner for Protection with UNHCR, will discuss the global impact of Australia’s refugee policies. In October 2022, she emphasized the need for collaborative efforts to address global protection crises, stating, “Efforts to externalize asylum processes, to deny access to asylum at the border, to push back or adopt draconian deterrence policies are not the answer. The global protection crises we face cannot be resolved unilaterally…We must act collaboratively, and we have the tools to do so.”

The forum will address the increasing hostility faced by refugees, asylum seekers, and disadvantaged migrants in a world influenced by Trump-like policies. Under Donald Trump, the US has frozen its humanitarian resettlement program and pursued aggressive deportation policies. Similarly, right-wing governments across Europe have united in their anti-migrant, anti-refugee stance.

Australia has implemented punitive policies towards asylum seekers arriving by boat for over two decades. As the Australian Human Rights Commissioner, Professor Triggs faced political attacks for documenting the harm suffered by children in immigration detention facilities. Her recent roles at the UN have provided her with unique insights into how Australia’s approach has been adopted internationally under the guise of the ‘Australian Solution.’

With global displacement at unprecedented levels, the securitization of borders is expected to create further political and humanitarian crises. The forum will explore the impacts of current policies and discuss feasible alternatives.

Forum Panel Speakers:

• Professor Emerita Gillian Triggs: Former UN Assistant Secretary General and Assistant High Commissioner for Protection with UNHCR, former President of the Australian Human Rights Commission, and Companion of the Order of Australia.
• Emeritus Professor William Maley: ANU Professor of Diplomacy, Member of the Order of Australia, and author of “The Afghanistan Wars” (2021) and “Australia: The Politics of Degraded Democracy” (2024).
• Emeritus Professor John Minns: ANU Professor of Politics and International Relations, former director of the Australian Centre for Latin American Studies, and long-term member of the Refugee Action Campaign Canberra.

Interviews Available:

• Professor John Minns

For further information on this event, please contact us at mail@refugeeaction.org.