FFVT on point: Genocide, Displacement and Refugee Law

Dr. Aleksandra Ancite-Jepifánova will present and discuss her research – examining the implications of temporal limits in European refugee law in cases of genocide, an extreme form of group-based persecution. The case of Iraqi Yezidis, a non-Muslim religious minority subjected to ISIS’s genocide in 2014, offers a paradigmatic example in this regard. Tens of thousands of Yezidis have sought protection in Europe, particularly in Germany. Following ISIS’s territorial defeat, authorities concluded that group-based persecution had ended, effectively producing a temporal cut-off for genocide. Following a 2023 informal readmission agreement with Iraq, Germany has begun deporting Yezidis, including to the very IDP camps they once fled. Dr. Aleksandra Ancite-Jepifánova will give a lecture on this topic, followed by a discussion with discussant Farhad Shamo Roto and the audience.

Dr Aleksandra Ancite-Jepifánova is an interdisciplinary legal scholar working at the intersection of conflict, displacement, human rights, and refugee law in Europe and the Middle East. She holds a PhD in Law from Queen Mary University of London and is currently an FFVT Fellow at the Bonn International Centre for Conflict Studies (BICC). She is also affiliated with the Refugee Law Initiative, University of London, and the Democracy Institute at Central European University.

Farhad Shamo Roto is a Refugees International alumni fellow and founder of Voice of Ezidis, a Yezidi advocacy organisation. He is a co-author in the report Humanitarian Pathways and Ezidi Family Unification in Europe Ten Years After Genocide.

HOW TO PARTICIPATE:

The event is held online as a ZOOM meeting.

Meeting ID: 697 7510 5150

Code: FFVT2026

The event is free of charge.