30th Anniversary of the Cartagena Declaration on Refugees

Adopted in 1984, the Cartagena Declaration on Refugees will turn 30 next year.  The upcoming anniversary has already spurred the organization of events, launching of initiatives, and publication of materials that reflect on the state of refugee protection in the Americas.  Here are a few examples:

2014:

1) The 15th Conference of the International Association for the Study of Forced Migration (IASFM) will be held 14–17 July 2014 in Cartagena Bogotá, Colombia. The theme is "Forced Migration and Peace: 30 Years of the Cartagena Declaration on Asylum Seekers."  The call for panels/papers is available here; the deadline for both has been extended to 15 January 2014. In addition to the general CFP, see also info on these two IASFM15 panels and their calls for papers (please let me know if you are aware of any others!):
- Critical Engagements with the Role of Humanitarianism in Durable Solutions for Forced Migrants, abstract deadline is 28 November 2013;
- Sanctuary without Refugee Camps, abstract deadline is 28 November 2013.

2) UNHCR's specific plans for commemorating the 30th anniversary have not yet been officially announced, but the organization has laid out some general objectives for 2014 in the following documents:

- "Americas: Regional Summary," Chapter in UNHCR Global Appeal 2014-2015 (UNHCR, Dec. 2013) [text]
- Update on UNHCR's Operations in the Americas (EXCOM, Sept. 2013) [text]

2013:

1) XI Curso Regional de Derecho Internacional de Refugiados en América Latina, Mexico City, 9-13 Sept. 2013 [info]
- "El 30º aniversario de la Declaración de Cartagena (como proceso para ampliar la protección de personas necesitadas de protección internacional y su importancia hoy para consolidar avances y enfrentar desafíos) será la cuestión medular del Curso." Follow the link above for the course agenda.  This news story provides an overview of the presentations, while this news story focuses particularly on the discussions relating to statelessness in Latin American countries.

2) IV Seminário Nacional da Cátedra Sérgio Vieira de Mello, Curitiba, Brazil, 30 Sept.-1 Oct. 2013 [info]
- This seminar, organized under the auspices of the "Sérgio Vieira de Mello Chair," brought academics in Brazil together to discuss, in part, the progress made since the adoption of the Cartagena Declaration and the protection challenges that remain.

3) Regional Advocacy: Cartagena +30 Civil Society Initiative (Asylum Access Ecuador) [info]
- Led by Asylum Access (Ecuador), Sin Fronteras (Mexico) and the Asociación de Consultores y Asesores (Costa Rica), this research project was set up "to identify and propose strategies to improve the protection and social inclusion of refugees, internally displaced persons (IDPs) and stateless persons in the Americas."

Resources:

The Cartagena Declaration on Refugees and the Protection of People Fleeing Armed Conflict and Other Situations of Violence in Latin America, Legal and Protection Policy Research Series, no. 32 (UNHCR, June 2013) [text]

Memoria del Vigésimo Aniversario de la Declaración de Cartagena sobre los Refugiados (1984-2004) = Memoir of the Twentieth Anniversary of the Cartagena Declaration on Refugees (1984-2004) (UNHCR, 2005) [spanish text] [english text]

Protección de Refugiados en América Latina: Buenas Prácticas Legislativas (ACNUR) [access]
- "Este trabajo comenta y destaca treinta buenas prácticas legislativas, por considerar que estas disposiciones jurídicas constituyen buenos ejemplos a seguir. La compilación no es exhaustiva y aprovechando las celebraciones por los 30 años de la Declaración de Cartagena, por el momento la primera buena práctica que se pone a disposición está dedicada a la definición regional de refugiado."  Thirty "good practices" are discussed.  Links to the legal texts from which the good practices are drawn are provided on the right.

"Revisiting Cartagena: Lessons from Ecuador’s Refugee Policy," Oxford Monitor of Forced Migration, vol. 3, no. 2 (Nov. 2013) [full-text]
- Scroll to p. 32.

[Image credit: "Salvadorian refugees en route home from Honduras, 1987," FMO]

Tagged Events & Opportunities, Publications and Web Sites/Tools.