On the second day of the conference Kees Groenendijk (University of Nijmegen) spoke on the treatment of settled immigrants. He recalled that the Churches Committee on Refugees and Exiles had looked at four strategies for the improvement of the legal status of aliens and discussed each strategy. Professor Goodwin-Gill (Oxford University) followed, with a lecture which began with an account of the view, held until remarkably recent times, that the right of asylum is the right of a State to grant it, not the right of an individual to receive, asylum. But on the basis of the principle of international protection, he contended, the right to receive asylum is now a real right, worthy of respect by international law.
Adam Weiss (AIRE Centre, London) reviewed the case-law of the two European Courts. Although the logic of the European Court of Human Rights and the European Union are divergent, he explained that the would coalesce and increasingly they do so.
Dimitry Kochenov (University of Groningen) spoke on the right the leave one’s country. Illustrated by examples from his own life he discussed in an energetic speech the problems that a citizen can face when he wants to discard his or her nationality.
Clifford Mailer (Immigration Judge, UK) led us into to the world of the UK Asylum Law and give us same examples of cases he had judged. At the end of his speech a lively discussion between him and the audience took place. Alessia Di Pascale (University of Milan) discussed exceptional duties to accept aliens.
At the end Sir Richard delivered the closing address and expressed his gratitude to all the speakers, chairs and participants, all of whom contributed so magnificently to the success of the conference.
