Lt. Adam Smith, Region Legal Service Office EURAFSWA Detachment Rota, presented independent research at the Nordic Asylum Law Seminar at the University of Iceland in Reykjavik, Iceland on May 29, 2017.
This seminar was hosted by the University of Iceland Human Rights Institute and the Nordic Institute for Migration and Refugee Policy. The theme of the 2017 Asylum Law Seminar was "Migration Management and Human Rights - Refugee Protection in Crisis," and focused on the legal issues associated with the growing number of refugees and asylum seekers who have fled to Europe to escape instability and persecution in countries such as Syria, Iraq, Eritrea and Somalia.
Featured participants included scholars, policy makers, politicians, judges, non-governmental organization (NGO) representatives, state officials and other stakeholders. Smith's presentation, "Heroes, Deputies or Outlaws? NGO SAR Operations in the Central Mediterranean," examines the legal and policy implications of non-governmental organizations conducting search and rescue operations in the context of the current migration crisis. The work will be published this year in "Paix et Securite Internationales," a journal run through the Faculty of Law at the University of Cadiz, Spain. Bravo Zulu to Smith for taking advantage of being stationed overseas to engage with the international legal community and work towards a solution on this critical legal issue.