Profile
Biography
Professor Martin Jones
BA, BA (Hons.) (Queen’s, Canada); LLB (UBC)
Professor of International Human Rights Law
My work as a teacher and researcher uses the law to produce social change. I endeavour to better understand, celebrate, and support human rights activism on a range of issues and in a range of places. I take up the call of past activists: “to mend what has been torn apart, make justice imaginable again in a world so obviously unjust, to give happiness a meaning once more.” I am committed to reimagining the human rights project, including legal advocacy, as a local, bottom-up, community-based activity.
I joined the University of York in 2009. Prior to this I held various academic positions at the University of Melbourne (Australia), the American University in Cairo (Egypt), the University of Michigan (USA), Georgetown University (USA), the University of East London (UK), the Centre for Refugee Studies of York University (Canada), and Queen's University (Canada). In addition, I have held visiting professor positions at the Università di Pavia (Italy), the University of Hong Kong, and Universitas Islam Negeri Syarif Hidayatullah Jakarta (Indonesia). Before my academic career I worked as a barrister and solicitor and developed a specialist practice in human rights, immigration, and refugee law in Canada.
At York Law School, I am programme lead for the LLB in International Human Rights Law and I am Deputy Director of Research (Funding). I also teach on the undergraduate and postgraduate programmes.
Research
Overview
My research examines the role of activists and activism in the enjoyment of human rights. I have an interest in legal actors, processes, and institutions, particularly in the protection of individuals in vulnerable situations such as refugees and activists at risk. All of my research aims to support local actors and to produce change in the world.
The impact of my research was showcased in three impact case studies submitted by the University in REF 2021. My research is guided by a commitment to (and enjoyment of) collaboration and participation with local academics and practitioners in a range of jurisdictions.
Refugee law and lawyering
I have been involved in refugee protection since my work as a refugee lawyer in Vancouver. I am co-author of a textbook on refugee law in Canada and have been involved in the development of legal services for refugees around the world. I co-founded (and am vice-chairman) of the Egyptian Foundation for Refugee Rights, the largest provider of legal aid to refugees in Egypt. My current research explores the role of the law in refugee protection on the ‘frontier of asylum’ (jurisdictions traditionally seen as beyond the international refugee regime). I have developed the idea of a broader ‘law of asylum’ to explain how the law can be used to protect refugees in these jurisdictions.
I have recently been involved in two large, multi-year research projects examining refugee lawyering in Egypt (and the broader Middle East) as part of the RefArab project (funded by the Research Council of Norway) and the use of customary law to protect refugees in the province of Aceh (Indonesia) as part of the Verandah of Protection project (funded by the British Academy). I also am conducting doctrinal research exploring the limits of the
international definition of “refugee”, particularly in relation to those who flee to avoid compulsory military service. I have consulted to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), developing tools for local field offices to identify and remedy gaps in local legal frameworks protecting refugees.
Human rights defenders
My interest in the protection of human rights defenders is motivated by concern for the safety and well-being of friends and colleagues pursuing important human rights work in difficult places. My research has examined the role of international solidarity in protection (particularly in relation to temporary international relocation initiatives) and the role of wellbeing in understanding (and responding to issues of risk and security). I co-authored the Barcelona Guidelines on Wellbeing and Temporary International Relocation of Human Rights Defenders at Risk, which has become the internationally accepted standard for care in relocation.
I am currently pursuing research (funded by the Ford Foundation) on the challenges (in relation to protection and wellbeing) facing defenders with disability. I have consulted to the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights and the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders (UNSR). In this capacity, I supported the research and drafting of reports to the United Nations General Assembly and Human Rights Council on good practices in protection of defenders (A/HRC/31/55), environmental defenders (A/71/281), defenders of people on the move (A/HRC/37/51), and marking the 20th anniversary of the Declaration of Human Rights Defenders (A/73/215). I was also the lead researcher and drafter, coordinating an international research team, for the UNSR’s landmark World Report on the Situation of Human Rights Defenders (2018).
Decolonality
My work increasingly seeks to explicitly adopt a decolonial approach, both in how it is structured and its objectives. Such an approach is central to the reimagining of the human rights project as a local, bottom-up, community-based activity. I work alongside researchers in other parts of the world and actively pursue models and impact that disrupts (post)colonial power structures. For example in Aceh, I worked with local researchers to explore a fundamentally local approach to the protection of refugees and to reinforce public support for this approach by local communities through locally developed artistic and cultural interventions. I recognise that decolonisation is an ongoing and unfinished project.
Research funding
My research has benefited from support from a range of academic and philanthropic funders, including the Arts and Humanities Research Council, British Academy, Economic and Social Research Council, the Ford Foundation, Research Council of Norway, the Morrell Trust, and the Wellspring Philanthropic Fund.
Research students
I accept requests for doctoral supervision from students pursuing doctrinal or socio-legal research in relation to refugee and human rights law, in particular on topics and in places that connect with my own research. I am proud to have supervised and accompanied eight doctoral students to completion working on a broad range of topics and applying a range of methodologies; we have frequently continued our collaborations long after their completion.
Teaching
Undergraduate
My teaching is informed by my research and impact activities and seeks to prepare students for the challenges of legal advocacy in practice, whether as a lawyer or as a human rights practitioner.
Programmes
I am programme leader of the Law School’s innovative LLB in International Human Rights Law (LLB IHRL). The LLB IHRL programme provides students with a grounding in legal practice (by way of a qualifying law degree) and exposure from the beginning of their studies to human rights practice. The programme gives students opportunities to study alongside human rights defenders, work on current issues alongside local and international human rights organisations, and provide legal advice to clients facing human rights violations.
I have also previously been involved in the development and leadership of the Law School’s LLM in International Human Rights Law and Practice.
Modules
My current teaching includes:
- International Human Rights Law 1: Theory, movement and institutions (Law 00016C, undergraduate)
- International Human Rights Laboratory (LAW 00065M, post-graduate)
- Asylum: Theory, law and practice of the international protection of refugees (LAW 00066H / LAW 00008M, undergraduate and post-graduate)
I also contribute lectures and seminars to a range of core and optional modules offered by the Law School.
Beyond the University of York, I have developed and taught on continuing professional development (CPD) for legal professionals on refugee protection offered by a range of providers including the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the Law Society of Hong Kong, the Malaysian Bar Council, the Asia Pacific Refugee Rights Network, and the Centre for Migration and Refugee Studies (Egypt).
I have been invited to guest lecture and convene modules on refugee and human rights law at a range of other law schools, including at Osgoode Hall (Canada), Queen’s University (Canada), University of Melbourne, and the University of Hong Kong (where I was a visiting professor until recently). I co-convened a Jean Monnet funded module on migration and politics at Università di Pavia (Italy) (until 2023) and have guest lectured and convened training on socio-legal research at Universitas Islam Negeri Syarif Hidayatullah Jakarta.
I have written on my approach to teaching, particularly in relation to refugee law and human rights law.
External activities
Overview
I have provided consultant advice on human rights and refugee protection to a range of international and human rights organisations including most recently:
- Ara Trust (2019-2023): External expert on refugee legal aid programming
- United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) (2018): Consultant on the situation of human rights defenders
- United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) (2018-2019): External expert on the evaluation of the incorporation of refugee rights into national legal frameworks
- African Commission on Human and People’s Rights (2017): External expert on the right to peaceful assembly and freedom of association
I am also involved in the leadership of a range of civil society organisations and networks working on human rights and refugee protection including:
- Co-founder and vice-chairman of the Egyptian Foundation for Refugee Rights (EFRR) (2009 – present): EFRR is the largest provider of legal services to refugees in Egypt in domestic administrative and judicial proceedings. EFRR annually provides representation in more than 2,000 cases (providing services that have impacted on the life of more than 100,000 people since its inception).
- Co-convenor and lecturer on the Refugee Rights and Advocacy Course of the Asia Pacific Refugee Rights Network (APRRN) (2011 – 2022): APRRN is a network of more than 500 civil society organisations and people working on refugee protection in the region. Its annual course on refugee rights has become one of its flagship programmes.
- Advisory board member of Health Equity Initiatives (HEI) in Malaysia (2012 – present). HEI has pioneered access to health by refugees through empowering refugee communities.
- Trustee of Africa and Middle East Refugee Assistance International (AMERA). (2012 – 2018): AMERA was a pioneer in the development of new programmes of legal aid for refugees in the Global South, supporting a range of new programmes in Turkey, Egypt, Uganda and beyond.
I have helped organise York’s annual Refugee Week celebrations, been involved in Refugee Action York (RAY), and the initial York City of Sanctuary steering group. I belong to the University of York’s University of Sanctuary Monitoring and Evaluation Group.
Publications
Selected publications
Selected indictive publications include the following:
Books
Jones, Martin (with Baglay, Sasha), Refugee Law (2 nd edition), Irwin Law, Toronto, 608 pp., 2017
Journal Articles
Jones, Martin “The rights of resettled refugees in the UK: lessons for 'new' resettlement states and rights based advocacy for refugees” International Journal of Migration and Border Studies, 3(1), 67 – 97, 2017.
Jones, Martin “Expanding the Frontiers of Refugee Law: Developing a Broader Law of Asylum in the Middle East and Asia’, Journal of Human Rights Practice, 9(2), 212–215, 2017.
Jones, Martin “Legal empowerment and refugees on the Nile: the very short history of legal empowerment and refugee legal aid in Egypt" International Journal of Human Rights,19(3), 308 – 318, 2015.
Jones, Martin “Protecting human rights defenders at risk: asylum and temporary international relocation” International Journal of Human Rights, 19(7), 935 – 960, 2015.
Chapters in books
Jones, Martin and Nah, Alice “Canada’s Influence on Refugee Protection in Southeast Asia” (Chapter 10) in Benson, Nathan; Milner, James; and, Nakache, Delphine, eds. Canada and the Global Refugee Regime: Continuity, Change, Challenges and Critiques (McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2024) 363-391.
Jones, Martin “On building a boat (or, learning how not to teach refugee law)”, in Grimes, R.; Honuskova, V. and Stege, U. (eds.) Teaching migration and asylum law: theory and practice, London: Routledge,, 99 - 109, 2021.
Jones, Martin “Moving Beyond Protection Space: Developing a Law of Asylum in South East Asia” in Susan Kneebone, Dallal Stevens and Loretta Baldassar, eds. Refugee Protection and the Role of Law: Conflicting Identities, Routledge, London, 251 – 270, 2014.
Jones, Martin "The Governance Question: UNHCR, the Refugee Convention, and the International Refugee Regime” in James Simeon, ed. The UNHCR and the Supervision of International Refugee Law, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 75 – 96, 2013.
Practitioner publications
Nah, Alice; Jones, Martin; and, Unal, Marjorie Strengthening the Inclusion, Protection, and Wellbeing of Human Rights Defenders with Disabilities (Protection International, 2024)
www.protectioninternational.org/researchpublications/guide-human-rights-defenders-with-disabilities.
Jones, Martin Working Paper: Refugee Recognition Regime: Egypt Country Profile (RefMig Project, July 2023)
Jones, Martin Practice Note 1: Legal Advice by Telephone as a Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic (Access to Justice in Displacement Project, University of York, 15 April), www.frontierofasylum.net/a2jd, 2020.
Jones, Martin (with Nah, Alice) Submission to the Foreign Affairs Select Committee on human rights defenders (2019) [reviewing and suggesting changes to existing UK policy on human rights defenders].
Jones, Martin (with Nah, Alice) The Barcelona Guidelines on Wellbeing and Temporary International Relocation of Human Rights Defenders (Human Rights Defender Hub, 2019).
Jones, Martin (with Nah, Alice and Bartley, Patricia) “Introduction” and “Temporary Relocation Initiatives from the persepective of managers” in Muller, Maik, ed. Temporary Shelter and Relocation Initiatives: Perspectives of Managers and Participants (IFA, 2019), 7 to 17 and 18 to 48.
