But the deeper problem isn’t just inaccuracy. It’s the ageist logic that sorts refugees into rights-bearing categories based on a rigid number.
We hope this opens space for rethinking age, borders, and protection.
Link: muse.jhu.edu/article/982247
DOI: 10.1353/hrq.2026.a982247 2/
How old is a refugee?
States treat that as a precise, answerable question. Entire asylum claims hinge on whether someone is under or over 18.
In our new article in HRQ, we argue that age assessment methods (from bone scans to psychosocial interviews) cannot reliably determine chronological age. 1/
All articles from our JIANL Special Issue are now available open access as author manuscript versions here: ilpa.org.uk/journal-of-i...
Thanks very much to @ilpaimmigration.bsky.social for allowing us to bring the Special Issue to a wider audience!
Happy to report that the special issue "Research and Practice Dialogues on Complex Protection Claims – A ‘Translational’ Agenda", including my contribution, is now available open access: ilpa.org.uk/journal-of-i...
📖 Open access: doi-org.libproxy.ucl.ac.uk/10.4324/9781...
📄 Preprint also available: papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.... 6/
I am grateful to the editors of the volume for including this contribution.
I also greatly valued the opportunity to present and discuss this work at the 2025
@ESILIGICJ
workshop in Berlin—many thanks to the convenors and participants. 5/
Comparative insights are drawn from Sierra Leone, Timor-Leste, and Liberia.
These experiences highlight the importance of reparations that are survivor-centred, gender-sensitive, and responsive to broader processes of social repair. 4/
It analyses Ukraine’s Urgent Interim Reparations Programme—the first of its kind to operate during an active conflict.
The programme provides survivors with financial, psychological, and medical support while hostilities continue. 3/
The chapter examines:
- the systemic use of conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV) in Ukraine;
- the difficulties of applying international reparations law during an ongoing armed conflict;
- specific challenges for addressing CRSV. 2/
My new chapter “Urgent Interim Reparations in Ukraine: Addressing Conflict-Related Sexual Violence” is now open access:
doi-org.libproxy.ucl.ac.uk/10.4324/9781...
A 🧵 on my arguments: 1/
We also warmly thank the previous E-i-C, @profjmcadam.bsky.social, @profgsgilbert.bsky.social & Guy S. Goodwin-Gill for marvellously steering the journal & all EB members, past & current for rich contributions! @myrmek.bsky.social @catbriddick.bsky.social @ndftan.bsky.social @yuliaioffe.bsky.social
In our free inaugural editorial as E-i-C w/Sarah Singer @rli-sas.bsky.social we trace 40 years of scholarship @ the #International_Journal_of_Refugee_Law (OUP) & reflect on new directions: academic.oup.com/ijrl/article...
@profjacob.bsky.social @stevepeers.bsky.social @lawinmaastricht.bsky.social
Totally agree. I just think some recent interpretations of IHL have stretched things so far they’ve become impractical to apply. That kind of overreach may be one factor in the loss of political will—when states feel like full compliance is impossible, they’re more likely to disengage entirely.
But the law may be also a problem if formed by those with luxury beliefs—by those who never been in or seen war, arguing from the safety of New York & London, insisting on standards that are only possible in their reality of absence of war.
🔗 Listen on:
🟢 Spotify: open.spotify.com/episode/5tba...
🔴 YouTube: m.youtube.com/watch?v=sgJj...
🎙️ I joined Dr. Kateryna Rashevska and Dr. Paul R. Williams on the latest Lawyering Peace episode to talk about the forced deportation of Ukrainian children to Russia.
We talked about the legal classification, the challenges of bringing children home—and what must happen next.
8/ Ultimately, adopting this approach would align UK policy more closely with international human rights obligations. 🔗Read the full article here: www.bloomsburyprofessionalonline.com/view/journal...
7/ I suggest practical ways lawyers can leverage this interpretation of Article 8 ECHR to better protect refugee children's right to family life.
6/ Current UK immigration rules bar refugee children from sponsoring parents or siblings for reunification, which contradicts international child rights standards, particularly the CRC.
4/ Specifically, I advocate for treating the best interests of refugee children as a paramount consideration—not merely a primary one—in family reunification decisions.
3/ I propose a more robust, child-centred interpretation of Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), guided by the best interests of the child.
2/ In this article, I argue that UK immigration rules currently fail refugee children by not adequately protecting their right to reunite with family.
🧵1/ Excited to share my latest article published in Immigration, Asylum & Nationality Law: "Family Reunification Claims of Refugee Children in the UK."
5/ Article 8 ECHR, interpreted correctly in line with Article 9 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), should presume against family separation.
📢 Call for Participants!
@refugeestudies.bsky.social & International Journal of Refugee Law invite prospective authors to apply for the 2025 RSC/IJRL Author Workshop — an opportunity to develop your work for publication with expert feedback.
🌟 Especially valuable for early-career scholars!
🗓️ Deadline: Friday 12 September 2025, 12 noon (UK)
🔗 www.rsc.ox.ac.uk/news/call-fo...
👀 The newest issue of the International Journal of Refugee Law is out
✍️ As the newest member of the IJRL's Case Law Editorial Team, I'll contribute with summaries covering Europe and the UK
🤝 Whenever a decision comes out in your country that you believe should be included, then please reach out
In ‘Family Reunification Claims of Refugee Children in the UK: Exploring the Potential of Article 8 ECHR Interpreted in Line with the Best Interests of the Child’, @yuliaioffe.bsky.social argues that Art 8 ECHR requires the articulation of a distinctive child-centred approach to family reunification
Cover of Issue 39(1) of the Journal of Immigration, Asylum & Nationality Law with an overview of the issue's contents
The new Special Issue of the Journal of Immigration, Asylum & Nationality Law which I co-edited with Violeta Moreno-Lax and @nikkibusu.bsky.social is out! The aim of this SI is to begin to investigate how we can translate legal academic work on immigration and asylum into practical legal arguments
Washington Post headline: Trump terminates program tracking mass abductions of Ukrainian children Observers fear the move has compromised evidence of war crimes by Russian officials and will hinder efforts to rescue thousands of missing Ukrainian children. The story is accompanied by a picture of an empty playground.
At that time, the researchers lost access to a trove of information, including satellite imagery and biometric data tracking the identities and locations of as many as 35,000 children from Ukraine. Most alarming to U.S. lawmakers briefed on the matter is the suspected deletion of the research lab's database amid the scramble to comply with the administration's termination notice - an action likely to set back efforts to find the missing children and hold to account those responsible for their abduction. "We have reason to believe that the data from the repository has been permanently deleted," a group of lawmakers led by Rep. Greg Landsman (D-Ohio) warned in a letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. "If true, this would have devastating consequences."
🚨NEW: This is horrific.
Musk & DOGE closed the specialist unit at Yale tracking down Ukrainian children kidnapped & stolen by Russia.
HOWEVER, it now emerges the entire database may have been DELETED, destroying years of research needed to find missing children.
If so, there should be arrests.
