‘Arc of Protection’ Book Launch and Discussion

The Zolberg Institute on Migration and Mobility and the Center for International Cooperation at NYU are pleased to host authors Alex Aleinikoff and Leah Zamore in a discussion of their newly published book ‘The Arc of Protection: Reforming the International Refugee Regime’. The conversation will be moderated by James Traub.

Alex Aleinikoff is University Professor and the Director of the Zolberg Institute on Migration and Mobility at The New School.

Leah Zamore directs the Humanitarian Crises program at NYU’s Center on International Cooperation.

James Traub is a journalist and writer for Foreign Policy.

Refreshments will be served.

Please RSVP to reserve your seat. This event is open to the public.

About the book:

The international refugee regime is fundamentally broken. Designed in the wake of World War II to provide protection and assistance, the system is unable to address the record numbers of persons displaced by conflict and violence today. States have put up fences and adopted polices to deny, deter, and detain asylum seekers. People recognized as refugees are routinely denied rights guaranteed by international law. The results are dismal for the millions of refugees around the world who are left with slender prospects to rebuild their lives or contribute to host communities. Alex Aleinikiff and Leah Zamore lay bare the underlying global crisis of responsibility.

The Arc of Protection adopts a revisionist and critical perspective that examines the original premises of the international refugee regime. Alex Aleinikoff and Leah Zamore identify compromises at the founding of the system that attempted to balance humanitarian ideals and sovereign control of their borders by states. This book offers a way out of the current international morass through refocusing on responsibility-sharing, seeing the humanitarian-development divide in a new light, and putting refugee rights front and center.