The Cities of Refuge Podcast

In June 2019, 13 German cities decided to create the municipal alliance “Cities of Safe Harbours” that stands in solidarity with the “Seebrücke” movement in its quest to create safe pathways for refugees and end the criminalization of maritime rescue. Moritz Baumgärtel, Sara Miellet and UCR student Franziska Pett look at the origins of the initiative, the motivation behind cities’ participation, and some of the actions that have resulted from their commitments. They also zoom in on the roles played by Berlin and Potsdam, two of the alliance's founding cities, and discuss some of the tensions that exist between their municipal authorities and local civil society organisations.

Franziska Pett is a graduating student at University College Roosevelt (UCR) in Middelburg. She wrote her senior project on the Safe Harbours alliance and more specifically on the motivations and strategies of Berlin and Potsdam as two of its key members.

A growing number of communities in Europe are exploring options to “sponsor” refugees by directly resettling them from abroad and integrating them into their localities. Tihomir Sabchev talks to Lawrence Robinson, Senior Policy Coordinator at the Global Refugee Sponsorship Initiative, about the potential and the challenges of importing this model from Canada, where over 300,000 refugees have been welcomed under this scheme since 1979. Their discussion tackles key issues such as the respective roles of local and national governments in this model, the principle of additionality to national resettlement quotas, the merits of naming specific refugees or groups, as well as resources and funding.

The Global Refugee Sponsorship Initiative (GRSI) is based at the Refugee Hub of the University of Ottawa as a joint initiative with the Government of Canada, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, the Open Society Foundation, and the Giustra Foundation.

For a primer on city-led refugee resettlement, read this short article on the topic, published by Tihomir Sabchev and Moritz Baumgärtel in the February 2020 issue of the Forced Migration Review.

In less than a month, Joe Biden will be inaugurated as the 46th US president. Moritz Baumgärtel speaks with Hiroshi Motomura, Professor at the UCLA School of Law, about the immigration legacy of the Trump era, possible differences between the former Obama and a forthcoming Biden administration in their approach to migration policy, as well as the role that US sanctuary jurisdictions have played and will play in the future.

Hiroshi Motomura is the Susan Westerberg Prager Distinguished Professor of Law at UCLA and the author of Immigration Outside the Law (2014) and Americans in Waiting (2007). His most recent article, "The New Migration Law", was published in the Cornell Law Review earlier this year.

Localities across Europe have responded to the humanitarian crisis on Lesbos and other Greeks islands by declaring their willingness to receive refugees. In the Netherlands, likewise, they have continued to put pressure on a reluctant national government. In this first episode of the podcast, Barbara Oomen and Moritz Baumgärtel discuss the most recent developments related to the transfer of 100 unaccompanied minors and vulnerable migrants to the Netherlands and the broader lessons that we can draw from the Dutch debate.

Coming December 10th, the Cities of Refuge research project based at Utrecht University will launch a podcast of the same name. In this introductory episode, Barbara Oomen and Moritz Baumgärtel tell us more about the project and the team, and offer a glimpse into what we can expect from the first few episodes.

Learn more about the project at www.citiesofrefuge.eu and on Twitter: @UUCoR.