Global Consultations - Lisbon Roundtable - Exclusion and Cessation

Dear Colleagues,

As many of you know, as part of the Global Consultations on International Protection, UNHCR is hosting 4 Expert Roundtables on a range of key legal issues arising underthe 1951 Convention.

The first of these will take place in Lisbon on 3-4 May and will addressthe questions of cessation (article 1C) and exclusion (article 1F).  Discussion papers by an identified expert will be posted on the web (see addresses at the end of this message)  prior to the meeting and comment is invited from as wide an audience as possible.

For the Lisbon Roundtable, the Exclusion paper (by Geoff Gilbert) has just gone up on the web and the the list of confirmed participants attending the meeting should be posted shortly. The Cessation paper (by Joan Fitzpatrick) should go up later in the week. 

I would strongly encourage you to provide comment (however brief) and to encourage others to do so as well.   Gender and age are cross-cutting issues in the Global Consultations, so please bear this in mind in making comments. 

In relation to Track 2, for example, addressing the legal issues from the perspective of the applicability of other human rights instruments (e.g. CEDAW and the CRC) would certainly enrich the debate around these issues.

We would strongly encourage commentators to focus on the individual papers themselves (send to Kate Jastram jastram@unhcr.ch).  However, please feel free to forward to me (lester@unhcr.ch) any other material that you might have which is on point. I am preparing a summary document of materials provided by NGOs to be fed into the Expert Roundtable on Cessation and Exclusion in Lisbon on 3-4 May.  In addition, Simon Russell at ICVA will be posting NGO input on the PARinAC website (www.icva.ch/parinac ) so you should also send your input to him: simon@icva.ch

ICVA has also advised that the PARinAC website contains a section entitled "Discussion Forum". ICVA intends to use this as part of the Global Consultations and encourage people to send in their thoughts about the consultations as a whole or input on particular subjects. You do not need to be a member of ICVA to participate in the discussion but you will need to register to enter the Discussion Forum.

This is an important opportunity to provide input specific to Europe into the consultations process, so I would encourage you to contribute your perspective. Please feel free to circulate this message amongst your colleagues as we have a strong interest in obtaining reactions to the discussion paper from as wide an audience as possible.

Other input might include: * interesting case submissions; * articles or academic papers that you have authored; * information on domestic laws governing questions of cessation and/or exclusion.

I look forward to hearing back from you and would ask you to bear in mind that the earlier we receive input from you, the better placed we will be to ensure that your perspective is taken into account.

Please note that even though you may be unable to provide input into this Expert Roundtable, we would nonetheless welcome your input into other Roundtables or other parts of the Global Consultations process. I will be in contact again on other aspects of the Consultations. 

We would also welcome any feedback you may have on how to strengthen the NGO participation in the Consultations process. If you have any queries, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Best wishes, Eve

Eve Lester NGO Liaison Officer (Global Consultations)

Department of International Protection

UNHCR,Geneva

Tel:+41-22-7398279

Fax: +41-22-7397354

Email:lester@unhcr.ch

Global Consultations websites:

http://www.unhcr.ch/issues/asylum/globalconsult/main.htm

http://www.unhcr.ch/prexcom/globalcon.htm

Please be also free to send relevant documents/statements to ECRE as well:Dstarck@ecre.org