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Ethics Around the Table: Abbey Burke (UNC Philosophy)
March 5 @ 12:30 pm - 1:30 pm
Ethics Around the Table: Abbey Burke, UNC Philosophy
March 5, 2024 | 12:30PM | Toy Lounge, Dey Hall 4th floor
Gangs, armed groups, and asylum: stretching a good thing too far?
The paradigm case of a refugee is that of someone fleeing political or religious persecution at the hands of their government. But what if you fear violence from a local gang? Do you qualify as a refugee under the official definition? How, exactly? Should asylum protect people from gangs and other non-state actors, or is that stretching a good thing too far? Faced with large numbers of people seeking protection from gangs – should we expect to see signs of “cohort compassion fatigue”? What if someone says they were coerced into supporting a gang or other armed group? Should that affect their claim? Professor Burke will consider some recent case studies from the US and Australia, where she is originally from.
Abbey Burke is a dual-qualified attorney (Australia and New York), specializing in immigration law, currently visiting the UNC Philosophy Department. She holds an LL.M. from the London School of Economics, and previously worked pro bono at Media Defence, London. Before coming to UNC, she was a supervising immigration attorney at the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre in Melbourne, Australia.