Humanity in Crisis

Online Zoom Webinar
12:00 p.m.–1:30 p.m., May 19, 2020
How Ethics and Religion Shape Policy Responses to Refugees

This event has now concluded. A story and full-length video recording are available below.

In his newly released book, Humanity in Crisis: Ethical and Religious Response to Refugees, Rev. David Hollenbach, S.J., examines the scope of our responsibilities and considers practical solutions to the global refugee crisis. Drawing on the values that have shaped major humanitarian initiatives over the past century and a half, as well as the values of diverse religious traditions, including Catholicism, he uncovers key moral issues for both policymakers and for practitioners working in humanitarian agencies and faith communities.

In this book launch event, Hollenbach will engage with key policymakers and ethicists who will evaluate his proposed ethical imperatives and how these principles can be reflected in policy. Respondents T. Alexander Aleinikoff, former United Nations deputy high commissioner for refugees; Elizabeth Ferris, research professor at Georgetown’s Institute for the Study of International Migration; and Clemens Sedmak, professor of social ethics at the University of Notre Dame, will reflect on Hollenbach’s book and consider what specific policies look like when they are consistent with ethical values. Panelists will also offer their perspectives on US refugee and immigration policy actively being developed, including policy platforms of 2020 presidential candidates, and how the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted the refugee crisis.

The conversation will be moderated by Berkley Center Managing Director Michael Kessler.

This event is presented by the University of Notre Dame’s Keough School of Global Affairs and the Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs at Georgetown University. It is co-sponsored by Georgetown University’s Human Rights Institute, Initiative on Catholic Social Thought and Public Life, and Institute for the Study of International Migration.

Originally published at berkleycenter.georgetown.edu.

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Speakers

David Hollenbach

Pedro Arrupe Distinguished Research Professor, Walsh School of Foreign Service; Senior Fellow, Berkley Center; Affiliated Professor, Department of Theology and Religious Studies, Georgetown University

T. Alexander Aleinikoff

Director, Zolberg Institute on Migration and Mobility; Professor, New School for Social Research

Michael Kessler

Managing Director, Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs, Georgetown University; Associate Professor of the Practice of Moral and Political Theory, Department of Government; Adjunct Professor, Georgetown Law

Elizabeth Ferris

Research Professor, Georgetown Institute for the Study of International Migration (ISIM); Non-resident Senior Fellow in foreign policy, Brookings Institution

Clemens Sedmak

Professor of Social Ethics; Interim Director, Nanovic Institute for European Studies