Refugee Law Observatory Partners with HRAS

The Refugee Law Observatory has partnered with Human Rights at Sea (HRAS) for ongoing academic research and advocacy concerning refugees.

The purpose of the Observatory is to enhance the capacity of legal practitioners and others interested to understand and apply refugee law in practice using balanced, practice oriented videos on refugee law. It also provides a repository listing events and resources on refugee law.

The Observatory is based in Rome. It was founded by Susan Clements, former E.U. Justice and Home Affairs Policy Advisor, U.K. Law Societies Brussels, Assistant Lawyer, European Court of Human Rights, Associate Solicitor, Allen and Overy LLP and Hogan Lovells LLP, Temporary Legal Officer, Judicial Review of Immigration Law Team, the British Government Legal Service and Protection Intern, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

RLO Chairs

Professor Boštjan Zalar – Ad hoc Judge, European Court of Human Rights, Senior High Court Judge, Administrative Court, the Republic of Slovenia, Vice-President, European Chapter, the International Association of Refugee Law Judges, Co-Chair, Working Party on Country of Origin Information and Country Guidance, the International Association of Refugee Law Judges, immediate past Co-Chair, Working Party on Asylum and Immigration, the Association of European Administrative Judges, Lecturer, the Legal Clinics, Faculty of Law, the University of Ljubljana,Slovenia.

Dr Violeta Moreno-Lax – Lecturer in Law and co-founder of LLM in Immigration Law, Queen Mary, University of London, EU Asylum Law Coordinator, the Refugee Law Initiative, the University of London, Steering Committee member, UK-based Migration Law Network, European Sub-Committee member, the Immigration Law Practitioners Association (ILPA).

Professor Andrea Saccucci – Internationally renowned human rights law specialist practitioner and academic, for example acted before the European Court of Human Rights in Hirsi Jamaa and others v. Italy [GC], 23 February 2012, concerning the Italian push-backs to Libya of sea migrants of African origin, Managing Partner, Saccucci Fares & Partners, Studio Legale Internazionale, Italy, Associate Tenant, Doughty Street Chambers, London, Board member, the Unione forense per la tutela dei diritti umani, Associate Professor of International Law, the Second University of Naples, Adjunct Professor of Human Rights, the Catholic University of Miln, Adjunct Professor of International Law, the LUMSA University of Rome.

Professor James Simeon – Director, School of Public Policy and Administration, York University, Toronto, Member-at-Large, the Canadian Association for Refugee and Forced Migration Studies (CARFMS) Executive, a past President, CARFMS, Coordinator, the International Association of Refugee Law Judges’ (IARLJ) Inter-Conference Working Party Process and previously first Executive Director, IARLJ and Member and Coordinating Member, the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (IRB) and author, for example, The UNHCR and the Supervision of International Refugee Law, Cambridge University Press, 2013.

The Refugee Law Observatory becomes the 69th Supporting Entity to HRAS.