The right to be heard

Refugees have often been rendered speechless, excluded from the design and implementation of policy that directly affects them. How should the international legal framework respond to refugees’ push to be included in decisions and policy-making at every level? 

Kaldor Centre PhD candidate Tristan Harley explores how refugees can gain greater and more meaningful participation in policy decision-making, in this presentation to Oxford’s Refugee Studies Centre Conference 2019: Democratizing Displacement. 

How can decision-making processes change to reflect the diversity of refugee experiences, which include varying and distinct structural challenges, where individuals’ needs and aspirations are complex and often contested. How can these be truly represented?   

Can states, international organisation civil society and others include refugees  when designing policy responses? 

Listen to his 17-minute talk.