Today, more than 30 million people live in exile, forced to flee their homes due to war and human rights violations. Increasingly, however, the doors which host communities once opened to the stranger seeking shelter are slamming shut. Across the globe states are increasingly viewing the refugee as a drain on economic resources and a threat to security—a perception intensified by the politics of the “war on terrorism.” In this new political and economic climate, even the international law framework which protects the displaced is in flux.

About the International Refugee Rights Initiative (IRRI)

The goal of International Refugee Rights Initiative (IRRI) is to enhance the protection of the rights of the displaced worldwide. IRRI grounds its advocacy in the rights accorded in international human rights instruments to those who are forced to flee and strives to make these guarantees effective in the communities where the displaced and their hosts live.

IRRI aims to contribute to the improvement and creation of models of law and practice which best guarantee the rights of the displaced. We engage in legal and field-based research in order to better understand how policy affects refugees and we bring our findings to the attention of policy makers in national, regional and international fora.

IRRI recognizes that it is vital that the voices of displaced and host communities are heard—and heeded. IRRI works with local advocates to identify the key challenges facing those communities and collaborates with them to advance appropriate changes in law, policy and practice. IRRI acts a bridge between these local advocates and the international community, enabling local knowledge to infuse international developments and helping local advocates integrate the implications of global policy in their work at home.

History of the International Refugee Rights Initiative

The International Refugee Rights Initiative is a 501(c)(3) non-profit, non-governmental organization based in New York, the United States, and in Kampala, Uganda. In the United States, IRRI has close ties with the Social Science Research Council. In Uganda, IRRI works collaboratively with the Refugee Law Project of Makerere University in Kampala.

IRRI was founded in June 2004 by Olivia Bueno, Deirdre Clancy and Dismas Nkunda, all team members of the previous International Refugee Program of Human Rights First (formerly the Lawyers Committee for Human Rights). IRRI builds on the expertise and partnerships built by Human Rights First in its work on international refugee law and policy.

International Refugee Rights Initiative Staff

The Directors

Déirdre Clancy is Co-Director of the International Refugee Rights Initiative. She was formerly the Director of the International Refugee Program at Human Rights First (formerly the Lawyers Committee for Human Rights). Before joining Human Rights First, Déirdre worked with the police and human rights program at the Council of Europe's Human Rights Division and on monitoring commitments to human rights at the Secretary General's Monitoring Unit. Prior to that she was founding director of the first legal assistance service for refugees in Ireland, heading advocacy efforts around the passage of Ireland’s first refugee legislation and the development of asylum policy and practice. Déirdre received her European Masters Degree in Human Rights and Democratization from the Universities of Padua, Italy (1998) and Robert Schumann University, Strasbourg, France (1998). She holds an L.L.B. (law degree) with honors from Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland (1994). Déirdre has lectured on human rights and immigration law in Ireland, the United Kingdom and the United States.

Dismas Nkunda is Co-Director of the International Refugee Rights Initiative. Dismas was previously Africa Coordinator of the International Refugee Program at Human Rights First (formerly the Lawyers Committee for Human Rights) where he was responsible for designing, coordinating and implementing advocacy strategies to enhance refugee protection in Africa. Before joining Human Rights First, Dismas worked as Program Officer for Africa Humanitarian Action, an African NGO that provides relief to displaced populations across the continent. An award-winning journalist, Dismas worked as reporter for many years for newspapers in Uganda, where he covered politics and conflicts in the Great Lakes region, including the 1994 Rwanda genocide. Dismas graduated with an M.A. in Humanitarian Assistance from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University (2001). He also holds a B.A. in Mass Communication from Makerere University, Uganda (1992) and a Certificate in the Study of Refugees and Forced Migration from the University of Dar Es Salaam, Faculty of Law, Tanzania (2000).

The Staff

Sandrah Akello is the Programme Assistant and is responsible for ensuring the general administration of the IRRI Uganda office. Sandrah holds a Bachelor of Arts in Environmental Management from Makerere University.

Olivia Bueno is Associate Director. She was previously Program Associate at the International Refugee Program at Human Rights First (formerly the Lawyers Committee for Human Rights). She is responsible for managing IRRI's information resources, carrying out research, coordinating publications, and organizing public events. Olivia holds a B.A. in Russian Language and Literature from Barnard College at Columbia University (2000).

Lucy Hovil is the Senior Researcher for a research and advocacy project initiated by the International Refugee Rights Initiative and the Social Science Research Council, Citizenship and Forced Migration in the Great Lakes Region. She was formerly the Senior Research and Advocacy officer at the Refugee Law Project, Faculty of Law, Makerere University, Uganda, where she founded the organisation's research department and oversaw their Working Paper series. She obtained her PhD (1999) from the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, in which she explored the relationship between violence and identity in South Africa during the period of conflict that preceeded the country's first inclusive election in 1994.

Marina Sharpe is a Program Associate at the International Refugee Rights Initiative. Before joining IRRI, she was associated with the New York law firm of Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP. Prior to that, Marina was a volunteer legal officer at the Refugee Law Project of Makerere University, Kampala, and has also worked as a legal officer with AMERA-Egypt. Marina is also a founder and serves on the board of directors of Asylum Access, a San Francisco-based refugee legal aid and policy advocacy organization. Marina holds degrees in common and civil law from McGill University in Montreal (2005), a Masters of Science in Development Management from the London School of Economics (2002) and a Bachelor of Arts in Economics and International Development Studies from McGill (2001).

Karin van der Tak is the Communications and Outreach Associate. She is responsible for supporting the Associate Director in managing the organization's communications and outreach strategy, including maintenance of the organization's website, contribution to the content and distribution of the Refugee Right News newsletter, implementation of new audio/visual outreach projects, research on policy issues, coordination of meetings and conferences and general administrative duties. She has a Master of Arts in Near Eastern Studies from New York University (2004) and a Bachelor of Arts with honors in Business Administration from Webster University, St. Louis (1996).

Supporters

The International Refugee Rights Initiative is grateful to for the support of:

The Ford Foundation

The Foundation Lawyers for Lawyers

The Moriah Fund

The Open Society Network and others.