PhD Thesis
Title: The Nationality of Individuals in International Law
PhD Supervisors: Andrew Clapham and Andrea Bianchi
Expected completion date: 2025
The aim of my research is to provide an innovative, less confused, and less confusing way of understanding nationality as an international legal concept. My main target is the old view that the nationality of individuals falls within the so-called reserved domain of domestic jurisdiction and that only elements of nationality affecting inter-state relations are of relevance to international law.
Profile
Rodolfo is a PhD Researcher in International Law and Teaching Assistant at the Geneva Graduate Institute, where he was also a Michael & Shadia Schneider scholar. His research interests range from general international law, international dispute settlement, international law-making, and the law of international organisations to international human rights law, international migration law, laws of war and neutrality, and international environmental law.
Prior to starting his doctoral studies, Rodolfo received an LL.B (Dean’s list) from the Federal University of Paraiba (Brazil), with a semester abroad at the University of Lausanne, and a Master’s degree in International Law from the Geneva Graduate Institute. He was also an intern with UNHCR's Division of International Protection, a consultant with the International Institute of Humanitarian Law, and a research assistant in a joint IOM/Graduate Institute research project. In the summer of 2022, he served as a Legal Assistant to H.E. Ambassador Hussein Hassouna at the International Law Commission (ILC) and currently assists Professor Patrícia Galvão Teles, chair of the ILC, with the report on the protection of persons affected by sea-level rise. Rodolfo is also an associate tutor at the School of Advanced Study, University of London, a Research Affiliate at the Refugee Law Initiative (University of London) and the Global Migration Center, and a former visiting fellow at the Lauterpacht Centre for International Law (University of Cambridge).
Research Interests
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International legal theory;
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International dispute settlement;
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The protection of individuals in international law;
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State responsibility;
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Refugees, migration, and diasporas;
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Nationality and statelessness.
Relevant Publications and Works
Books
The International Law Commission and the Development of International Migration Law', Max Planck Yearbook of United Nations Law (forthcoming).
O Princípio do Non-Refoulement no Direito Internacional Contemporâneo: Escopo, Conteúdo e Natureza Jurídica. Rio de Janeiro, Editora Lumen Juris, 2018, xx+126 p.
Peer review articles
Exclusion from Refugee Status for Taking Part in a War of Aggression, Frontiers in Human Dynamics (War and Asylum Special Edition) (forthcoming, 2022).
The Right to Access Consular Assistance and Protection and its Relevance to the Architecture of a Safe, Orderly, and Regular Migration, International Journal of Postcolonial Studies (Special Issue ‘Global Compacts, Mixed Migration, and the Transformation of Protection’, 2020).
Book chapters .
The African Union Convention for the Protection and Assistance of IDPs in Africa and its Application to Armed Groups and Their Members in: LL. Jubilut & R. Lopes (eds), Direitos Humanos e Vulnerabilidades e Migrações Forçadas, Santos, Editora UniSantos (2022, forthcoming).
Exclusão da Condição de Refugiado em Razão de Acusações de Crimes de Guerra in: LL. Jubilut & R. Lopes (eds), Direitos Humanos e Vulnerabilidades e o Direito dos Refugiados, Santos, Editora UniSantos (2022).
1. Da Proibição do Deslocamento Forçado no Direito Internacional Humanitário: (re)visitando os artigos 45 e 49 da Quarta Convenção de Genebra in: LL. Jubilut & R. Lopes (eds), Direitos Humanos e Vulnerabilidades e Direito Humanitário, Boa Vista, Editora Universidade Federal de Roraima, 2019.
Case notes
Views adopted by the UN Human Rights Committee under Article 5(4) of the Optional Protocol, concerning Communication 2918/2016, [2022] Statelessness & Citizenship Review (case note).
Book reviews
Book review of The Rights of Refugees under International Law by James Hathaway. International Journal of Refugee Law (forthcoming).
Book review of The Arc of Protection: reforming the international refugee regime by A Aleinikoff and L. Zamore. 33 International Journal of Refugee Law 1 (2021).
Blog posts
In memoriam: Antônio Augusto Cançado Trindade, EJIL: Talk!, 2022.
A species of rabbit (or duck) in the judicial hat, In: Symposium of Imogen Saunders’ book “General Principles as a Source of International Law”, International Law Agendas (2021).
Protecting the Rights of the Rightless: The UN Human Rights Committee and the Right to Acquire a Nationality under International Law, EJIL: Talk!, 2021.
Academic Work Experience
Teaching Experience
Teaching Assistant in International Law at the Graduate Institute
Teaching Assistant (MINT Programmes)
Tutor, School of Advanced Studies (University of London);
Visiting PhD Fellow, Lauterpacht Centre for International Law (University of Cambridge);
Consultant, Department of International Refugee Law and Migration Law, International Institute of Humanitarian Law.
Research Experience
Research Affiliate at the Refugee Law Initiative at the University of London
Research Assistant (IOM/IHEID)
OTHER WORK EXPERIENCES
Legal Assistant to H.E. Ambassador Hussein Hassouna during the 73rd Session of the International Law Commission.
Fellowships, Grants and Awards
1. IHEID Full Scholarship
2. Michael and Shadia Schneider Scholarship
3. Excellence Grant
4. Láurea Acadêmica Destaque da Graduação (summa cum laude), Faculty of Law, UFPB.