The 1951 Refugee Convention and the Collapse of the International Order post 1945

She will speak with journalist Dinah Riese (taz) about the 1951 Geneva Convention on Refugees as a central document of human rights protection. The discussion will address dilemmas that have plagued the document since its inception: the exclusion of countries in the Global South, the problematic assumptions underlying the categories of “protected groups,” and the bureaucratic and legal difficulties in proving a “well-founded fear of persecution” for recognition as a refugee.

The utopian hope of the Geneva Convention to create safe havens and a world free of persecution currently lies in ruins. Key signatory states such as the United States and the European Union have developed entry bans, extradition, and deportation techniques that have created “lawless zones and subjects without rights.” Seyla Benhabib explains why she sees the Geneva Convention—in light of the destruction of a world order based on international law and human rights—as the first sign of failure.

The new Digital Lecture Series reflects on the history, present, and future of human rights. Against the backdrop of Jewish migration history, five scholars, together with journalist Dinah Riese (taz), examine developments in international refugee protection from diverse perspectives. In doing so, they highlight historical achievements that are increasingly being called into question today.

What lessons from the past and what legal or philosophical perspectives can help us transcend current limitations in thinking about migration? And where can we find approaches to a more open future in the here and now?

Seyla Benhabib

Seyla Benhabib was born in Istanbul in 1950 into a Sephardic-Turkish family. She is one of the most influential political philosophers and political theorists of our time. Until her retirement, she was the Eugene Meyer Professor of Political Science and Philosophy at Yale University and also taught at Harvard University and the New School for Social Research. Since then, Benhabib has been conducting research and teaching at Columbia Law School in New York. In 2025, she was awarded the 2025 Hannah Arendt Prize for Political Thought. Her published works include *The Rights of Others: Strangers, Migrants, Citizens* (2017) and *Cosmopolitanism Without Illusions: Human Rights in Turbulent Times* (2016).

Dinah Riese

Dinah Riese heads the domestic affairs desk at taz. Prior to that, she was taz’s editor for migration and integration. She has received multiple awards for her research and reporting on the so-called ban on abortion advertising, Section 219a of the German Criminal Code. Her interview with survivors of the attack in Halle was nominated for the Reporter Award. In March 2022, she co-authored the book *Self-Determined: For Reproductive Rights* with Gesine Agena and Patricia Hecht.

IN ENGLISH