Prospects for Institutional and Policy Reform on International Migration and Refugees

Over two days in April 2018, Perry World House convened scholars, journalists, legal clinicians, researchers, policymakers, human rights defenders, city officials, local activists, and practitioners for its second annual colloquium for its Global Shifts: Urbanization, Migration, and Demography research theme. This rich array of stakeholders tackled critical questions around prospects for policy reform on migration; the role media played in shaping public perceptions to migrants and refugees; and the special needs of the increasing number of refugees in protracted situations. The colloquium was keynoted by the then High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein and included a rich dialogue that localized the global migration phenomenon by featuring the city of Philadelphia’s former City Solicitor Sozi Tulante, who defended Philadelphia’s status as a “sanctuary city” against the Justice Department, in conversation with Yasmine Mustafa, a Philadelphia-based women’s rights activist and entrepreneur with a compelling story about her own experience migrating to the U.S.