About the Lecture
Current asylum-granting regimes are based on the idea that individuals have to arrive in a place to submit a request for asylum there. The link between claim and place has been criticized by many, and for different reasons: Some argue that it asks individuals who seek asylum and shelter to endanger their lives in the search for asylum, since safe places are not within safe distances. A second critique underlines the wrong incentives such a system poses for the selection of place. The current link between claim and place then motivates those seeking asylum to make their way to prosperous rich countries to lodge their claim there in search of the best possible conditions of asylum. In this lecture, I discuss the rationale for the link between claim and place. In a second step, I analyze how prosperous rich countries that are difficult to reach could satisfy their duties of asylum outside of their territory. How to fulfill the duties of asylum outside of the territory of a nation-state is an important issue in the context of a revised asylum system, yet one that also raises very difficult questions.

About the Speaker
Christine Straehle is Associate Professor of Ethics and Applied Ethics at the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs with a cross appointment in the department of Philosophy at the University of Ottawa. Her work addresses issues of global justice, migration and vulnerability.