Event: Lowy Lecture Series: Australia and the 1951 Refugee Convention – Dr Khalid Koser

The UN Convention relating to the Status of Refugees is the key international legal document relating to refugee protection. Australia’s signature on 22 January 1954 brought the Convention into force. But, sixty years later, the Convention is in need of reform.

At this event, migration and refugee expert Dr Khalid Koser explained why it is time for Australia to again take the lead, to reform the Convention so it better serves the interests of Australia, the international community, and the refugees themselves.

Dr Khalid Koser is Executive Director of the Interim Secretariat of the Global Community Engagement and Resilience Fund (GCERF) and Associate Fellow at the Geneva Centre for Security Policy. Dr Koser is also a Nonresident Fellow at the Lowy Institute, Non-Resident Senior Fellow in Foreign Policy Studies at the Brookings Institution, Associate Fellow at Chatham House, Research Associate at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva, and extraordinary Professor in Conflict, Peace and Security in the Faculty of Humanities and Sciences at the University of Maastricht. He is also chair of the World Economic Forum Global Agenda Council on Migration, and editor of the Journal of Refugee Studies. Dr Koser is a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE).