Displaced People at a Crossroads: The Refugee Convention at 75
Seventy-five years ago, the world made a promise to its most vulnerable people — is it still keeping it?
Following World War II, a landmark agreement established how nations should protect the millions of people who had been forcibly displaced from their homes.
To mark the 75th anniversary of the 1951 Refugee Convention, Columbia Global is launching the event series, "Displacement in a Changing World: Global Dialogue Across Campus and Continents." The series opens with an in-person discussion at The Forum at Columbia University, bringing together Sivanka Dhanapala, director of the UN Refugee Agency's New York office, and Daniel Naujoks, Chair of the Committee on Forced Migration at Columbia Global and Professor at the School of International and Public Affairs and, to reflect on the convention's legacy and how today's shifting world order has changed the way nations treat displaced people.
About the Launch Event
Seventy-five years after the 1951 Refugee Convention, the protection system faces profound strain. Humanitarian funding is contracting, geopolitical priorities are shifting, and political skepticism toward multilateral norms is rising, challenging assumptions of international solidarity and responsibility-sharing.
Yet this is also a moment of transformation. Displaced-led organizations and civil society actors are taking on leadership roles in service delivery, advocacy, and livelihoods. Host states are innovating through national system integration, labor market access, and public-private partnerships, demonstrating that protection is increasingly locally shaped.
Seventy-five years on, the central question is no longer whether protection is needed-but how it must evolve to respond to a complex and changing landscape of displacement.
About the Series
This event will set the stage for a series of regional webinars this spring hosted by Columbia Global Centers around the world. Upcoming events will feature experts, policymakers and Columbia faculty, students, and scholars. Students and faculty on campus can join us at watch parties for each event as well.
Next fall, the commemoration will continue with another series of events hosted by schools across Columbia’s campus.
Join us for this exciting kick-off to our series, and stay tuned for more information about all these upcoming events!
