Global Migration Lecture Series
The Rights of Refugees under International Law
3 QUESTIONS TO Prof. C James Hathaway
What brought you to the field of Refugee Rights?
I studied international politics as an undergraduate — so the fact that refugee law involves global politics made it a natural focus for me to take on when I subsequently went to law school. The direct genesis of my engagement with refugee law was, however, actually quite practical: while working as a law student in a community legal clinic in Toronto in the late 1970s, my Spanish language skills made me the designated point person for Chileans and Argentinians then seeking asylum. While preparing cases for them, I fell in love with the combination of exciting and difficult legal questions combined with the interpersonal dynamics of working with clients who had so much at stake and to whom I could truly be useful. When I ultimately decided to go to graduate school as preparation for an academic career, my love of refugee law dictated the focus of my research and writing.
What is the key idea of your recent publication?
The fundamental point is that refugee rights are an amalgam of refugee-specific entitlements and generic international human rights entitlements. Neither alone can do nearly as much to advance the dignity of persons seeking protection as the synthesis of the two. Equally important, I wanted to illustrate and apply how often difficult conceptual principles play out on the ground — hence the 1000+ case studies that inform the doctrinal analysis in the book.
What are your future projects?
I’ve just begun working on a third edition of the companion treatise — The Law of Refugee Status (which addresses the question of who is a refugee). Michelle Foster and I are delighted to welcome Jason Pobjoy of Blackstone Chambers (and author of the wonderful The Child in International Refugee Law) as our co-author for this volume.
