Kathryn Allinson

Kathryn's research concerns the establishment of state responsibility for breaches of international law focussing on the interaction of human rights and humanitarian law in relation to displacement, and the protection of socio-economic human rights during conflict. Specific interests includes issues of causation, attribution and jurisdiction as well as treaty interpretation and the fragmentation of international law.

Kathryn has a PhD from Queen Mary University of London (QMUL) for her thesis entitled: 'Establishing responsibility for causing displacement: An inquiry into the role of ‘Displacing Third States.' It provides a nuanced understanding of today’s realities of population displacement due to armed conflict. The research addresses the imbalance between ‘Displacing Third States’ (DTSs) that engage in displacement-generating activities whilst simultaneously denying responsibility for refugees. Kathryn has presented her research at numerous international confereces including: the Refugee Law Initiative (RLI) Conference in 2018, 2019 and 2021; at the Society for Legal Scholars in 2018, the SLSA in 2021 and at postgraduate conferences at the University of Liverpool, Edinburgh and Queen Mary. She completed a visting fellowship at the University of Bristol in 2019.

Kathryn is a Research Affiliate of the Refugee Law Initiative and a Researcher on the Horizon 2020 PROTECT project. She has published three peer-reviewed journal articles, a range of blogs on the impact of EU responses to Covid19 on refugees, as well as, chapters in an edited volumes on the human rights of migrants and migration governance. She has also published numerous commentaries on the Global Compact on Migration. Kathryn has presented on the Global Compact at conferences at the Zoldberg Institute in New York, at the Migration Centre in Geneva and the University of Geneva as well as convening workshops with NGOs, CSOs and practitioners in London and Geneva on implementation of the Global Compacts.