Data-Driven Futures of International Refugee Law

William Hamilton Byrne*, Thomas Gammeltoft-Hansen, Sebastiano Piccolo, Naja Holten Moller, Tijs Slaats, Panagiota Katsikouli

*Corresponding author for this work

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Abstract

As refugee law practice enters the world of data, it is time to take stock as to what refugee law research can gain from technological developments. This article provides an outline for a computationally driven research agenda to tackle refugee status determination variations as a recalcitrant puzzle of refugee law. It first outlines how the growing field of computational law may be canvassed to conduct legal research in refugee studies at a greater empirical scale than traditional legal methods. It then turns to exemplify the empirical purchase of a data-driven approach to refugee law through an analysis of the Danish Refugee Appeal Board's asylum case law and outlines methods for comparison with datasets from Australia, Canada, and the United States. The article concludes by addressing the data politics arising from a turn to digital methods, and how these can be confronted through insights from critical data studies and reflexive research practices.

Original languageEnglish
Article numberfeac069
JournalJournal of Refugee Studies
Volume2023
Number of pages29
ISSN0951-6328
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2023

Keywords

  • international refugee law
  • empirical legal research
  • computational legal research
  • refugee status determination
  • critical data studies
  • HUMAN-RIGHTS
  • ASYLUM APPLICATIONS
  • CRITICAL DISCOURSE
  • MIGRATION
  • POLICY
  • DETERMINANTS
  • CREDIBILITY
  • PREFERENCES
  • TECHNOLOGY
  • CHALLENGES

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