PROFILE
 

PhD Paris II Panthéon-Assas

A faculty member since 2003, Vincent Chetail is Professor of International Law and Director of the Global Migration Centre. He held research positions at Harvard Law School, King’s College London and European University Institute, and has taught at various other universities, such as Sciences Po Paris, Queen Mary University, Queen’s University of Belfast, or University Paris Pantheon-Assas.

An internationally recognized authority on migration, displacement and international law, Prof Chetail regularly serves as a consultant and advisor to governments, NGOs and international organizations (including AU, EU, OAS, UNITAR, UNHCR, IOM, WHO). As an independent expert, he has been notably involved in the drafting of several international instruments, such as the African Union Protocol on the Free Movement of Persons, and has authored the first report of the WHO documenting national migration policies in times of Covid-19.

His work is frequently referred to by the media, governments, courts and the United Nations. He was awarded 20 research grants from different funding agencies and he has published over 20 books and 70 articles on different topical issues related to human rights, migration, refugee protection, collective security, armed conflicts, criminal justice and legal history.

Prof. Chetail is General Editor of two book series Theory and Practice of Public International Law (Martinus Nijhoff, Leiden/Boston) and Organisation internationale et relations internationales (Bruylant, Brussels), as well as Emeritus Editor-in-Chief of the Refugee Survey Quarterly (Oxford University Press) and a member of several editorial boards (including Cambridge Asylum and Migration Studies; Jus Gentium: Journal of International Legal History).

He is a member of the governing board for several academic institutions and non-governmental organizations and has exercised different directory positions, as for instance President of the Geneva Academy (2019-2024), Head of the Graduate Institute Master in interdisciplinary studies (2009-2012) or Vice-President of the French-speaking Network of International Law (2007-2012).

Vincent Chetail’s papers are available on the Social Science Research Network (SSRN).
 

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

Books

• The Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration: A Commentary (editor), Oxford: Oxford University Press, Oxford Commentaries on International Law, forthcoming.
• International Migration Law, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2019, 449 p.
• Unity and Diversity of International Law (co-editor with D. Alland, O. de Frouville & J. Vinuales), Leiden/Boston : Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, 2014, 1007 p.
• The Roots of International Law/Les fondements du droit international (co-editor with P.-M. Dupuy), Boston/Leiden: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, 2013, 764 p.
• Permanence et mutation du droit des conflits armés (éditeur), Bruxelles : Bruylant, 2013, 683 p.
• Privatizing War: Private Military and Security Companies under Public International Law (co-author with L. Cameron), Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2013, 720 p.
• Vattel’s International Law in a XXIst Century Perspective/Le droit international de Vattel vu du XXIè siècle (co-editor with P. Haggenmacher), Boston/Leiden: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, 2011, 442 p.
• Post-Conflict Peacebuilding – A Lexicon (editor), Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009, 387 p.
• Mondialisation, migration et droits de l’homme : le droit international en question  / Globalisation, Migration and Human Rights: International Law under Review (éditeur), Bruxelles : Bruylant, 2007, 728 p.

Articles in peer-reviewed journals

• ‘Crisis without Borders: What Does International Law Say About Border Closure in the Context of Covid-19?’, Frontiers in Political Science, 2020, 1- 6.
• ‘The Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration: a Kaleidoscope of International Law’, International Journal of Law in Context, 2020, 16, 3, 253 – 268.
• ‘The Architecture of International Migration Law: A Deconstructivist Design of Complexity and Contradiction’, American Journal of International Law (unbound), 2017, 18-24.
• ‘Sovereignty and Migration in the Doctrine of the Law of Nations: An Intellectual History of Hospitality from Vitoria to Vattel’, European Journal of International Law, 27(4), 2016, pp. 901-922.
• ‘Is There Any Blood on My Hands? Deportation as a Crime of International Law’, Leiden Journal of International Law, 2016, No. 29, 917-943.
• ‘Looking Beyond the Rhetoric of the Refugee Crisis: The Failed Reform of the Common European Asylum System’, European Journal of Human Rights, 5, 2016, 584-601.
• ‘The Human Rights of Migrants in General International Law: From Minimum Standards to Fundamental Rights’, Georgetown Immigration Law Journal, 2013, Vol. 28, N° 1,  225-255.
• ‘Théorie et pratique de l’asile en droit international classique: étude sur les origines conceptuelles et normatives du droit international des réfugiés’, Revue générale de droit international public, 2011, Tome 115, No. 3, 625-652.
• ‘Paradigm and Paradox of the Migration-Development Nexus: The New Border for North-South Dialogue’, German Yearbook of International Law, Vol. 53, 2009, 183-215.

Chapters in edited books

• “The International Organization for Migration and the Duty to Protect Migrants: Revisiting the Law of International Organizations”, in: J. Klabbers (ed.), The Cambridge Companion to International Organizations Law, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2022, 244-264.
• ‘Moving Towards an Integrated Approach of Refugee Law and Human Rights Law’, in: C. Costello, M. Foster & J. McAdam (eds), The Oxford Handbook of International Refugee Law, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2021, 202-220.
• ‘The Committee on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families’, in: P. Alston & F. Megret (eds.), The United Nations and Human Rights: A Critical Appraisal, 2nd edn., Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2020, 601-644. 
• ‘The Common European Asylum System: bric-à-brac or system?’, in: V. Chetail, P. De Bruycker & F. Maiani, Reforming the Common European Asylum System: The New European Refugee Law, Boston/Leiden: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, 2016, 3-38.
• ‘The Transfer and Deportation of Civilians’, in: A. Clapham, P. Gaeta & M. Sassoli (eds), The Geneva Conventions: A Commentary, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2015, 1185-1213.
• ‘The Legal Personality of Multinational Corporations, State Responsibility and Due Diligence: The Way Forward’, in D. Alland, V. Chetail, O. de Frouville & J.E. Viñuales, (eds), Unity and Diversity of International Law. Essays in Honour of Prof. Pierre-Marie Dupuy, Boston/Leiden: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, 2014, 105-130.
• ‘Armed Conflict and Forced Migration: A Systemic Approach to International Humanitarian Law, Refugee Law and Human Rights Law’, in A. Clapham & P. Gaeta (eds), The Oxford Handbook of International Law in Armed Conflict, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014, 700-734.
• ‘Vattel and the American Dream: An Inquiry into the Reception of the Law of Nations in the United States’, in V. Chetail & P.-M. Dupuy (eds), The Roots of International Law. Liber Amicorum Peter Haggenmacher, Boston/Leiden: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, 2013, 251-300.
• ‘Droit international général et droit international humanitaire: retour aux sources’, in V. Chetail (ed.), Permanence et mutations du droit des conflits armés, Bruxelles : Bruylant, 2013, 13-51.
• ‘Tous les chemins ne mènent pas à Rome. La concurrence des procédures dans le contentieux international pénal à l'épreuve du principe de complémentarité’, in Y. Kerbrat (ed.), Forum Shopping et concurrence des procédures contentieuses internationales, Bruxelles: Bruylant, 2011, 127-182.
• ‘The Human Rights Council and the Challenges of the United Nations System on Human Rights: Towards a Cultural Revolution?’, in L. Boisson de Chazournes & M. Kohen (eds), International Law and the Quest for its Implementation. Liber Amicorum Prof. Vera Gowlland, Boston/Leiden: Brill, 2010, 193-241.
• ‘Migration, droits de l’homme et souveraineté : le droit international dans tous ses Etats’, in V. Chetail (ed.), Mondialisation, migration et droits de l’homme : le droit international en question / Globalisation, Migration and Human Rights: International Law under Review (éditeur), Bruxelles : Bruylant, 2007, 13-133.

Reports and Research Papers

• Refugees and migrants in times of COVID-19: mapping trends of public health and migration policies and practices, World Health Organization; 2021, 62 p.
• COVID-19 and human rights of migrants: More protection for the benefit of all, Policy Brief, International Organization for Migration, 2020, 11 p.
• Peacebuilding: A Review of the Academic Literature (co-author with O. Jütersonke), White Paper Series No.13, Geneva Peacebuilding Platform, 2015, 14 p.    
• Stranded Migrants: Giving Structure to a Multifaceted Notion (co-author with M. A. Braeunlich), Global Migration Research Paper No. 5, 2013, 58 p.