Public Lectures during the Winter Term 2026/27
04.11.2026 16:15-17:45 (CET), online via Zoom (please register below)
Dr. Anne Trebilcock (associated with the Institute for Labour Law at the University of Göttingen, Germany)
Abstract
This lecture situates the International Labour Organization’s (ILO) legal and policy instruments within the broader framework of international human rights contexts. It provides a brief overview of key ILO contents and explores how these ILO instruments could be used in pursuing fair migration.
Dr. Anne Trebilcock is a former ILO Director of Legal Services and earlier worked on international labour standards and labour law. She is an author of articles, book chapters and co-editor of publications on global labour law. She earned her Bachelor and Juris Doctor degrees from the US, and Dr. h.C. from the University of Göttingen (2020), where she is associated with the Institute for Labour Law. She has also served as a Judge on several international administrative tribunals (e.g. Asian Development Bank, NATO) and is on the editorial board of the International Labor Rights Case Law Journal.
Dr. Anne Trebilcock is a former ILO Director of Legal Services and earlier worked on international labour standards and labour law. She is an author of articles, book chapters and co-editor of publications on global labour law. She earned her Bachelor and Juris Doctor degrees from the US, and Dr. h.C. from the University of Göttingen (2020), where she is associated with the Institute for Labour Law. She has also served as a Judge on several international administrative tribunals (e.g. Asian Development Bank, NATO) and is on the editorial board of the International Labor Rights Case Law Journal.
02.12.2026 16:15-17:45 (CET), online via Zoom (please register below)
Prof. Elspeth Guild (Mercator Fellow & Global Professor of Social Justice at the University of Liverpool, United Kingdom)
Abstract
Since the 2000s there has been much academic and policy discussion about the global governance of migration. Among the arguments most commonly stated about it and which are generally agreed is that no single state can regulate migration which by its very nature is a transnational phenomenon involving at least two countries. This line of reasoning has become pervasive in discussions about migration (and refugee protection). From 2016-2018 the UN member states engaged in a significant effort to establish a framework for the global governance of migration in the form of two Global Compacts, one for migration the other for refugees. This process revealed deep fault lines in the international community regarding even the principle of global governance. In this presentation I will examine the concept of global governance of migration, the actors and the attempt to create a framework for it.
Prof. Elspeth Guild is a Mercator Fellow in the RTG 2987 “Mobility Rights in the Global Context of Multiple Crises” programme at the University of Gottingen. She holds a Global Chair in Social Justice at the University of Liverpool and is Emerita Professor at Radboud University, Nijmegen, Netherlands and Queen Mary University of London. She has a PHD in law from the Radboud University and a PHD honoris causa from the University of Lund. She has been a partner at the London based law firm Kingsley Napley where she acted for clients in the field of immigration, borders and asylum law. She regularly advises EU and Council of Europe institutions on migration and asylum related matters. She has written numerous studies for the European Parliament including Visas for Human Rights Defenders in 2024. She also advises the Council of Europe and has written two Issue Papers for the Commissioner for Human Rights, one on the right to leave a country the other on criminalization of migration. Her most recent book is The EU Citizenship Directive: a Commentary OUP (2026).
Prof. Elspeth Guild is a Mercator Fellow in the RTG 2987 “Mobility Rights in the Global Context of Multiple Crises” programme at the University of Gottingen. She holds a Global Chair in Social Justice at the University of Liverpool and is Emerita Professor at Radboud University, Nijmegen, Netherlands and Queen Mary University of London. She has a PHD in law from the Radboud University and a PHD honoris causa from the University of Lund. She has been a partner at the London based law firm Kingsley Napley where she acted for clients in the field of immigration, borders and asylum law. She regularly advises EU and Council of Europe institutions on migration and asylum related matters. She has written numerous studies for the European Parliament including Visas for Human Rights Defenders in 2024. She also advises the Council of Europe and has written two Issue Papers for the Commissioner for Human Rights, one on the right to leave a country the other on criminalization of migration. Her most recent book is The EU Citizenship Directive: a Commentary OUP (2026).
16.12.2026 16:15-17:45 (CET), online via Zoom (please register below)
in Cooperation with Gender Studies, University of Göttingen
Prof. Jane Freedman (Professor at the Université Paris 8, France)
Abstract
This presentation will examine the ways in which European asylum and refugee law and policies may fail to protect women who have been victims of gendered persecution or violence at all stages of their migratory journeys and after arrival in Europe. Whilst recent EU asylum directives have qualified victims of gendered and sexual violence as “vulnerable” and therefore in need of special protections, in practice a securitisation of migration as exemplified in the new Pact on Migration and Asylum and its increased border control and harsh return measures, for example, has rendered access to protection increasingly limited. Further, the group-based approach to vulnerability has been criticised for the way in which it essentialises vulnerability in a gendered fashion and potentially ignores hidden or invisible vulnerabilities. The presentation will examine the ways in which Europe thus fails to offer protection to those who have experiences gendered and sexual violence, and the ways in which European migration policies in fact contribute to creating the conditions in which women are rendered vulnerable to such violence.
Jane Freedman is a professor at the Université Paris 8 and member of the Paris Centre for Social and Political Research (CRESPPA). Her research has focused for many years on issues of migration and borders, with an intersectional and postcolonial approach. She is particularly interested in the ways that migration and border policies create gendered and racist forms of violence and vulnerability for people on the move, and the ways in which people on the move resist this violence.
Jane Freedman is a professor at the Université Paris 8 and member of the Paris Centre for Social and Political Research (CRESPPA). Her research has focused for many years on issues of migration and borders, with an intersectional and postcolonial approach. She is particularly interested in the ways that migration and border policies create gendered and racist forms of violence and vulnerability for people on the move, and the ways in which people on the move resist this violence.
27.01.2027 16:15-17:45 (CET), online via Zoom (please register below)
Sir Tim Eicke (Barrister at the Essex Court Chambers, London, United Kingdom)