Associate Professor Jane McAdam and four international colleagues have won a research grant from the Canadian Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council International Opportunities Fund.

The research project is entitled `War Crimes and Refugee Status: The Application and Interpretation of International Humanitarian and International Criminal Law to the Adjudication of Refugee Status in Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand`. Collaborators on the project with Associate Professor Jane McAdam are Professor Guy Goodwin-Gill (Oxford), Professor Geoff Gilbert (Essex), Professor Kate Jastram (Berkeley) and Professor James Simeon (York University, Toronto).

Through a comparative analysis of case law in the five jurisdictions mentioned above, the aims of the project are to:

a) Determine whether decision-makers cite to treaty provisions of or case law on International Humanitarian Law and International Criminal Law in deciding cases where exclusion is an issue in a claim for Convention refugee status.

b) Explore whether there is a common understanding across these states as to the meaning of International Humanitarian Law and International Criminal Law provisions relevant to refugee status determination.

c) Assess whether judges and decision-makers refer to the international law of armed conflict or international criminal law via their incorporation in UNHCR guidelines and directives.