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Guy S. Goodwin-Gill

Guy S. Goodwin Gill

Senior Research Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford
Professor of International Refugee Law in the University of Oxford

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Guy S. Goodwin Gill, MA, DPhil (Oxon), is a Senior Research Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford and Professor of International Refugee Law in the University of Oxford. He was formerly Professor of Asylum Law at the University of Amsterdam, and served as a Legal Adviser in the Office of United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in various countries from 1976-1988. Since 1997, he has been President of Refugee and Migrant Justice (formerly the Refugee Legal Centre), a UK non-governmental organization providing legal advice and representation to refugees, asylum seekers and migrants, a member of the Council of the Overseas Development Institute (ODI) since 2007, and a Patron of AsylumAid since 2008.

He is the Founding Editor of the International Journal of Refugee Law (Oxford University Press) and was Editor-in-Chief from 1989-2001. Professor Goodwin-Gill has written extensively on refugees, migration, elections, and child soldiers. Recent publications include The Limits of Transnational Law, with Hélène Lambert, eds., Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010; The Refugee in International Law, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 3rd edn. (with Dr Jane McAdam), 2007; Free and Fair Elections, Geneva: Inter-Parliamentary Union, 2nd edn., 2006; Basic Documents on Human Rights, with Ian Brownlie, eds., Oxford: Oxford University Press, 5th edn., 2006; ‘The Politics of Refugee Protection’, 27 Refugee Survey Quarterly 8-23 (2008); ‘Forced Migration: Refugees, Rights and Security’, in Jane McAdam, ed., Forced Migration, Human Rights and Security, Oxford: Hart Publishing, 2008, 1-18; ‘The Extra-Territorial Processing of Claims to Asylum or Protection: The Legal Responsibilities of States and International Organisations’, 9 UTS Law Review 26-40 (2007); ‘Migrant Rights and “Managed Migration”,’ in Chetail, V., ed., Mondialisation, migration et droits de l’homme: le droit international en question / Globalization, Migration and Human Rights: International Law under Review, Bruxelles: Bruylant, 2007, Vol. II, 161-187.

Professor Goodwin-Gill is a Barrister and practices from Blackstone Chambers, London. Recent cases in which he has acted or been a member of the legal team, include R (Al-Jedda) v. Secretary of State for the Home Department [2008] UKSIAC 66/2008 (on statelessness); RB (Algeria) v. Secretary of State for the Home Department [2009] UKHL 10; [2009] 2 WLR 512 (on ‘withdrawal’ of refugee status); and R (Al Saadoon) v. Secretary of State for the Department of Defence [2008] EWHC 3098 (Admin); [2009] EWCA Civ 7; Application No. 61498/08, European Court of Human Rights – decision on admissibility, 30 June 2009 (on the extraterritorial application of human rights obligations); judgment on the merits, 2 March 2010. He has also represented the UNHCR on a number of occasions, including in the House of Lords in R (European Roma Rights Centre and others) v. Immigration Officer at Prague Airport and another (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees intervening) [2005] 2 AC 1, [2004] UKHL 55; and in the Court of Appeal in R (Al Rawi and others) v. Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs and another [2007] 2 WLR 1219, [2006] EWCA Civ. 1279.