Guy Goodwin-Gill

Public Law and Human Rights, Public International Law

Al-Jedda v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2008] UKSIAC 66/2008
Guy Goodwin-Gill acted as co-counsel on this challenge to the decision of the Home Secretary to deprive Mr AlJedda of his British citizenship. Under section 40 of the British Nationality Act, the power to deprive may only be exercised if it would not result in the person concerned becoming stateless. under the 1963 Iraqi Nationality Act Law, the voluntary acquisition of another nationality resulted automatically in the loss of Iraqi citizenship. The preliminary issue decided in this hearing involved, among matters of interpretation, the authority of the Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq to legislate on and change Iraqi nationality law, and the precise status and powers of the 'Iraqi Governing Council' in the period of occupation.

R (Al Rawi) v Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs [2006] EWCA Civ 1279,  [2007] 2 WLR 1219.
Guy Goodwin-Gill was counsel for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) as Intervener in this case before the Court of Appeal, which involved two British recognized refugees detained in Guantanamo. Among other points, it was argued that the United Kingdom had the right in international law to intervene with the USA and to exercise protection on behalf of recognized resident refugees, given that both States are party to the 1967 Protocol relating to the Status of Refugees; that the refugees’ possession of valid British-issued refugee passports entitled them to return to the UK; and that any security considerations should be examined in accordance with established procedures, but only after the refugees’ return. The appeal to the House of Lords was withdrawn after the Government agreed to intervene and allow return.

European Roma Rights Centre v Immigration Officer at Prague Airport [2004] UKHL 55, [2005] 2 AC 1.
Guy Goodwin-Gill was again counsel for UNHCR as Intervener in this appeal to the House of Lords, which raised two important issues: (1) whether the operation of immigration control at Prague airport in relation to Czech citizens wishing to fly to the UK involved unlawful discrimination against Czech citizens who are Roma; and (2) whether such immigration control was compatible with the 1951 Refugee Convention and with customary international law. Guy Goodwin-Gill also represented UNHCR in the Court of Appeal: [2003]4 All ER 247.  UNHCR’s Written Case to the House of Lords is published in 17 International Journal of Refugee Law 427 (2005).

Advisory Opinion on the Legal Consequences of the Construction of a Wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, International Court of Justice, 9 July 2004.
Guy Goodwin-Gill was Junior Legal Adviser to the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan (with Sir Arthur Watts, KCMG, QC as Senior Legal Adviser), in these proceedings which examined the legality in international law of the Israeli ‘security fence’ being constructed in Palestinian territory, and the legal consequences for States and international organizations. 

Sepet and Bulbul v Secretary of State for the Home Department (UNHCR Intervening) [2003] UKHL 15; [2001] EWCA Civ 681.
Guy Goodwin-Gill provided detailed reports at various stages of the proceedings in these cases, which involved applications for asylum by Kurdish asylum seekers who objected to undertaking military service in Turkey. 

El-Ali v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2002] EWCA Civ 1103 (26 July 2002).
Guy Goodwin-Gill was counsel again for United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees as Intervener. The case dealt with the interpretation of Article 1D of the 1951 Refugee Convention and its Application to Palestinian refugees.

Kuwaiti Investment Authority v. Republic of Iraq, United Nations Compensation Commission, Geneva, September 2001.
Provided expert testimony on compensation and damages in international law.

Azinas v. Cyprus, European Court of Human Rights, Grand Chamber, Application No. 56679/00, ECHR 2004-III.
Guy Goodwin-Gill and Professor Vaughan Lowe were counsel for the Government of Cyprus in this case before the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights. Among other questions, it concerned the interpretation of Article 1 Protocol 1, with particular reference to pension entitlements following dismissal from the public service on conviction and sentence to imprisonment.

In addition, Guy Goodwin-Gill has provided expert testimony in 2002-2003 on behalf of Cherwell District Council and Rushcliffe Borough Council in separate planning inquiries examining proposals to locate “accommodation centres” for asylum seekers in remote rural areas.

As President of the Media Appeals Board of Kosovo, Guy Goodwin-Gill delivered decisions in the following cases: Belul Beqaj and the Newspaper Dita v. Temporary Media Commissioner, OSCE, September 2000, Nexhmedin Spahiu and Radio Mitrovica v. Temporary Media Commissioner, OSCE, February 2001, and Sylejman Aliu and the Newspaper Bota Sot v. Temporary Media Commissioner, OSCE, February 2001.

Selected Publications:

1.         Books and monographs

The Refugee in International Law, Third edition (with Dr Jane McAdam), Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007

Basic Documents on Human Rights, Fifth edition (with Ian Brownlie CBE QC, eds,) Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006

Free and Fair Elections, Geneva: Inter-Parliamentary Union, 2^nd rev’d and expanded edn., 2006; in French: Elections libres et régulières, 2006; and in Spanish: Elecciones libres y justas, 2007.

Toleranz in einem Zeitalter der Ungewiβheit/ Tolerance in an Age of Uncertainty, 2. Mary Levin Goldschmidt-Bollag Memorial Lecture, Herausgegeben von Willi Goetschel, Wien: Passagen Verlag, 2002.

The Reality of International Law: Essays in Honour of Ian Brownlie, with Stefan Talmon, eds., Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1999

Codes of Conduct for Elections, Geneva: Inter-Parliamentary Union,1998 (also available in French and Spanish)

The Refugee in International Law, Second edition, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1996; Russian edition, Moscow, 1997; First edition, Oxford: Clarendon Press,1983 (repr. 1984; as paperback, 1985, 1986, 1988, 1989, 1990; 1993; Chinese ed., 1990).

Free and Fair Elections: International Law and Practice, Geneva: Inter-Parliamentary Union, 1994 (also available in Arabic, French, Spanish, Khmer, Indonesian)

Child Soldiers, with Ilene Cohn, Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1994. (also published in French, Enfants soldats: le rôle des enfants dans les conflits armés, Montréal, Québec, Canada: Editions Méridien, 1995; and in Spanish, Los niños soldados, Cruz Roja Juventud, Madrid: Editorial Fundamentos,1997)

International Law and the Movement of Persons between States, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1978

2.         Chapters in books

‘Forced Migration: Refugees, Rights and Security’, in Jane McAdam, ed., Forced Migration, Human Rights and Security, Oxford: Hart Publishing, 2008, 1-18

‘Everyone and the Citizen: The Devaluation of Principles and Protection’, in Jenny Hocking & Colleen Lewis, eds., Counter-Terrorism and the Post-Democratic State, London: Edgar Elgar, 2007, 101-115

‘International and National Responses to the Challenges of Mass Forced Displacement’, in Jeff Handmaker, Lee Anne de la Hunt & Jonathan Klaaren, eds., Advancing Refugee Protection in South Africa, Oxford: Berghahn Books, 2007, 1-15

 ‘Migrant Rights and “Managed Migration”,’ in Vincent Chetail, 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

‘State Responsibility and the “Good Faith” Obligation in International Law’, in Malgosia Fitzmaurice and Dan Sarooshi, eds., Issues of State Responsibility before International Judicial Institutions, Hart Publishing, 2004, 75-104

‘Immigration Policy’, in Encyclopedia of Government and Politics, Mary Hawkesworth and Maurice Kogan, eds., London: Routledge, 2004, Ch. 48, 739-51

‘Article 31of the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees: Non-penalization, detention, and protection’, in Refugee Protection in International Law: UNHCR’s Global Consultations on International Protection, Erika Feller, Volker Türk, Frances Nicholson, eds., Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003, 185-252.

‘Forced Migration and International Law’, (with Kathleen Newland), in T. Alexander Aleinikoff & Vincent Chétail, Migration and International Legal Norms, Migration Policy Institute. Graduate Institute of International Studies. International Organization for Migration (IOM). T. M. C. Asser Press. 2003, 123-136.

‘The Individual Refugee, the 1951 Convention and the Treaty of Amsterdam’, in Elspeth Guild & Carol Harlow, eds., Implementing Amsterdam: Immigration and Asylim Rights in EC Law, Oxford: Hart Publishing, 2001, 141-163

‘Migration–International Law and Human Rights’, in Bimal Ghosh, ed., Managing Migration: Time for a New International Regime? Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000

‘Crimes in International Law: Obligations Erga Omnes and the Duty to Prosecute’, in Guy S. Goodwin-Gill & Stefan Talmon, eds., The Reality of International Law: Essays in Honour of Ian Brownlie, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1999, 199-223

‘Refugee Identity and Protection’s Fading Prospect’, in Frances Nicholson & Patrick Twomey, eds., Refugee Rights and Realities: Evolving International Concepts and Regimes, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999, 220-249

‘The West Bank and Gaza: Free and Fair Elections, Human Rights and the Transition to Democracy’, in Bowen, S., ed., Human Rights, Self-Determination and Political Change in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, Dordrecht: Kluwer Law International, 1997

‘AIDS and HIV, Migrants and Refugees: International Legal and Human Rights Dimensions’, in Haour-Knipe, M. and Rector, R., eds., Crossing Borders: Migration, Ethnicity and AIDS, London: Taylor & Francis, 1996. 50-69

‘The Principles of International Refugee Law’, in Asylum, Strasbourg: Council of Europe Publishing, 1995. (Also available in French: Asile, Strasbourg: Editions du Conseil de l'Europe, 1995)

‘The Right to Leave, the Right to Return and the Question of a Right to Remain’, in Gowlland-Debbas, V., ed., The Problem of Refugees in the Light of Contemporary International Law Issues, Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1995, 95-106

‘Problems of Stateless Persons and the Need for International Measures of Protection’, in Saksena, K.P., ed., Human Rights Perspective and Challenges (in 1990 and Beyond),  World Congress on Human Rights, New Delhi: Lancer Books, 1994. 378-401

‘Immigration Policy’, Routledge Encyclopaedia of Government and Politics, 1992. 714-29

‘Refuge or Asylum: International Law and the Search for Solutions to the Refugee Problem’, in Adelman, H. and Lanphier, C.M. eds., Refuge or Asylum? — A Choice for Canada, Toronto: York Lanes Press, 1990, 27-42

‘Different Types of Forced Migration Movements as an International and National Problem’, in Rystad, G., ed., The Uprooted: Forced Migration as an International Problem in the Post-War Era, Lund: University of Lund, (1990), 15-45

‘The Status and Rights of Non-Nationals’, in Henkin, L. and Rosenthal, A.J., eds., Constitutionalism and Rights: The Influence of the United States Constitution Abroad, New York: Columbia U.P.,  (1990), 151-75

‘International Law and Human Rights: Trends concerning International Migrants and Refugees’, in Tomasi, L.F., ed., International Migration: An Assessment for the '90s, Special Silver Anniversary Issue, 23 International Migration Review 526-46 (1989)

‘Voluntary Repatriation: Legal and Policy Issues’, in Loescher, G. and Monahan, L., eds., Refugees and International Relations, Oxford: Clarendon Press, (1989), 255-91

‘Refugees: The Functions and Limits of the Existing Protection System’, in Nash, A., ed., Human Rights and the Protection of Refugees under International Law, Halifas, NS: Canadian Human Rights Foundation/The Institute for Research on Public Policy, (1988), 149-82

‘Non-refoulement and the New Asylum-Seekers’, in Martin, D.A., ed., The New Asylum-seekers: Refugee Law in the 1980s, Leiden: Nijhoff, (1988); also published in the Virginia Journal of International Law (1986)

‘Immigration, Nationality and the Standards of International Law’, in Dummett, Ann, ed., Towards a Just Immigration Policy, (1986), 3-32

‘Obligations of Conduct and Result’, in Alston, P. and Tomasevski, K., eds., The Right to Food, Leiden: Nijhoff, (1984), 111-8

‘The Refugee Situation Today’, in Price, C.A., ed., Refugees: The Challenge of the Future, Canberra: Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia, (1981), 9-21

3.         Articles in refereed journals

‘The Politics of Refugee Protection’, 27 Refugee Survey Quarterly 8-23 (2008)

‘Refugees and Responsibility in the Twenty-First Century: More Lessons Learned from the South Pacific’, 12 Pacific Rim Law & Policy Journal 23-47 (2003).

‘Refugees: Challenges to Protection’, 35 International Migration Review 130-42 (2001)

‘Danian v. Secretary of State for the Home Department. Comment: Refugee Status and “Good Faith”,’ 12 International Journal of Refugee Law 663-71 (2000)

‘The Margin of Interpretation: Different or Disparate?’ 11 International Journal of Refugee Law 730-7 (1999)

‘Judicial Reasoning and “Social Group” after Islam and Shah’, 11 International Journal of Refugee Law 537-43 (1999)

‘Unaccompanied refugee minors: The role and place of international law in the pursuit of durable solutions’, 3 International Journal of Children's Rights 405 (1995)

‘Chi es un refugiato?’ Politica Internazionale, October 1991

‘The Language of Protection’, 1 International Journal of Refugee Law 6-19 (1989)

‘Non-refoulement and the New Asylum-Seekers’, 26 Virginia Journal of International Law 897-918 (1986); also published in Martin, D.A., ed., The New Asylum-seekers: Refugee Law in the 1980s, Nijhoff, Leiden, (1988)

‘International Law and the Detention of Refugees and Asylum-Seekers’, 20 International Migration Review 193 (1986)

‘Entry and Exclusion of Refugees: The Obligations of States and the Protection Function of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees’, in Transnational Legal Problems of Refugees, Michigan Yearbook of International Legal Studies, New York, (1982)

‘Ordre public considered and developed’, 94 Law Quarterly Review 354 (1978)

‘Ordre public and the Limits to Discretionary Power: the Rutili case’, 92 Law Quarterly Review 53 (1976)

‘The Limits of the Power of Expulsion in Public International Law’, 47 British Yearbook of International Law 55 (1976)

‘Judicial Reasoning and the Right to Picket’, 91 Law Quarterly Review 173 (1975)

4.         Other publications

‘Editorial – Asylum 2001: A Convention and a Purpose’, 13 International Journal of Refugee Law 1-19 (2001)

‘UNHCR and Internal Displacement: Stepping into a Legal and Political Minefield’, in U. S. Committee for Refugees, World Refugee Survey 2000, Washington, D.C., (2000), 26-31

‘Editorial – The International Protection of Refugees: What Future’, 12 International Journal of Refugee Law 1-6 (2000)

‘Editorial – Refugees and Security’, 11 International Journal of Refugee Law 1 (1999)

‘Asylum: The Law and Politics of Change’, The University of Amsterdam, Inaugural Lecture: 19 October 1994; also published in 7 IJRL 1 (1995)

‘Towards a Comprehensive Regional Policy Approach: The Case for Closer Inter-Agency Co-operation’, IOM/UNHCR, Geneva, 1993; also published in 5 IJRL 347 (1993)

‘The Determination of Refugee Status in Canada: A Review of the Procedure: Preliminary Study’, Law Reform Commission of Canada, Ottawa, (Feb. 1991)

‘Refugees, Non-Nationals and the Relevance of Constitutional Values’, In Defense of the Alien, vol. X, (1987), 126-34

‘The Detention of Non-Nationals, with particular Reference to Refugees and Asylum-Seekers’, In Defense of the Alien, vol. IX, (1986) 138-51

‘The Determination of Refugee Status: Problems of Access to Procedures and the Standard of Proof’, 1985 Yearbook of the International Institute of Humanitarian Law, 56-75

5.         Seminar and Conference Papers (selection)

‘The One, True Way: National Courts, Refugee Law and the Interpretation of Treaties,’ York University, Toronto, 1 May 2008

‘UNHCR and the Cold War: The Politics of Protection’, Institut Universitaire de Hautes Etudes Internationales, Geneva, 19 October 2007

‘International Migration: Rights and Realities’, Chatham House, London, 5 June 2007

‘Elections, Democracy, the Rule of Law and International Law’, International Law Association, Australian Branch, Sydney, NSW, 28 November 2006      

‘The Extraterritorial Processing of Claims to Asylum or Protection: The Legal Responsibilities of States and International Organizations’, University of Technology, Sydney, NSW, Australia, 24 November 2006

‘Forced Migration: Refugees, Rights, and Security’, University of Sydney, NSW, Australia, 25 November 2005

‘The International Protection of Refugees – A Work in Progress’, The Kenneth Rivett Orations, Canberra, Sydney, Melbourne, Australia, 23-25 November 2005

‘People moving between States: New Challenges for International Law’, University of Cardiff Law School, 13 October 2005

‘Europe and the Myths of Managed Migration’, Institut Universitaire de Hautes Etudes Internationales, Geneva, 10 March 2005

‘The United Nations and Refugees: Time for a New Order’, Evan Luard Memorial Lecture, Oxford, 2 December 2003

‘Refugees and their Human Rights’, Barbara Harrell-Bond Lecture on Human Rights, Oxford, 12 November 2003

‘Toleranz im Zeitalter der Ungewissheit’ (Tolerance in an Age of Uncertainty), Second Mary Levin Goldschmidt-Bollag Memorial Lecture, December 2001, Zurich, Switzerland, organized under the auspices of Die Stiftung Dialogik der Lehrstuhl für Rechtsgeschichte und Rechtsphilosophie der Universität Zürich and Das Englische Seminar der Universität Zürich

‘Good Governance and the United Nations’, Paper presented at the University of Reading Conference on ‘Good Governance and Democratization’, 15 January 2000

‘Asylum in Europe: Who does International Law Protect and How?’ Lecture given at the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, London, on 24 January 1997, under the auspices of Justice and the Immigration Law Practitioners' Association

‘Repatriation and International Law—The Legal Safeguards’, Paper given at a Roundtable on Refugees, organized by the Robert Schuman Centre, European University Institute, Florence, on 7 June 1996

‘The Protection of Refugees, the Safe Third Country Rule, and the Notion of “Safe Country of Origin” in International Law,’ International Judicial Conference on Asylum Law and Procedures, Middle Temple, London, 30-Nov.-1 Dec. 1995

‘Protecting the Human Rights of Refugee Children: Some Legal and Institutional Possibilities’, Children on the Move, Hague Conference on Private International Law, The Hague, The Netherlands, 22-26 October 1994; published in Doek, J., van Loon, H. & Vlaardingerbroek, eds., Children on the Move: How to Implement their Right to Family Life, Martinus Nijhoff, The Hague, 1996

‘Causes, Intervention and the United Nations’, Migration and Population Displacements: The View from the Third World, Group of 78, Ottawa, Canada, 2-4 October 1992

‘Root Causes in the New World Order’, Canadian Council for Refugees, Spring 1992 Session, Montréal, 28 May 1992

‘Effective Advocacy for the Displaced’, The Psychological Well-Being of the Child, Geneva, Switzerland, 23-27 September 1991

‘The Refugee Regime: A Perspective on the 1951 Convention and the 1967 Protocol relating to the Status of Refugees’, Refugees and the New Host Countries, Budapest, Hungary, 29 April-3 May 1991

‘Who is a Refugee?’, Keynote paper presented at the International Conference, Refugees in the World: The European Community's Response, The Hague, The Netherlands, 6-7 December 1989

‘Human Rights Limitations and the Limits of Tolerance’, Conference on Law and Contemporary Affairs, University of Toronto, January 1989

‘International Law and the Influx of Aliens: Sanctuary and the Right to Exclude’, American Society of International Law, 80th Annual Meeting, April 1986

6.         Related activities

November 2002 – Written evidence to the European Union Committee of the House of Lords, Sub-Committee E (Law and Institutions), on ‘Amended Proposal for a Council Directive on Minimum Standards on Procedures in Member States for Granting and Withdrawing Refugee Status’ (with Agnès Hurwitz)

April 2002 – Oral and written evidence to the European Union Committee of the House of Lords, Sub-Committee E (Law and Institutions), on ‘Qualification as a Refugee and on Subsidiary Protection’ (with Agnès Hurwitz)

January 2002 – Written evidence to the European Union Committee of the House of Lords, Sub-Committee E (Law and Institutions), on the Draft Regulation to determine the Member State responsible for examining an asylum application (with Agnès Hurwitz)

February 2001 – Oral evidence to the European Union Committee of the House of Lords, Sub-Committee E (Law and Institutions), on ‘Minimum Standards in Asylum Procedures’

February 2001 – Written evidence to the European Union Committee of the House of Lords, Sub-Committee F, on a ‘Common Migration Policy in Europe’

April, July 2000 – Oral and written evidence to the Home Affairs Committee of the House of Commons ‘Inquiry into Physical Controls at UK Ports of Entry Evidence’

February, May 1998 – Oral and written evidence to the Neill Committee on Standards in Public Life on ‘The Funding of Political Parties’

Other Professional Activities:

Professional Posts and Related Activities: