Dr Bríd Ní Ghráinne’s research has recently been published in the Oxford Handbook of International Refugee Law, edited by Professors Cathryn Costello, Michelle Foster, and Jane McAdam. Oxford Handbooks give critical examinations of the progress and direction of debates from leading figures in the discipline and set the agenda for future research.
The Oxford Handbook provides a comprehensive and state-of-the-art analysis of international refugee law. The 65-chapter reference work involved 78 authors, including 48 women. It is global in scope, with 10 chapters focusing in detail on specific regions, including Africa, Latin America, Asia, Oceania and the Middle East.
Dr Ní Ghráinne’s chapter focuses on the Internal Protection Alternative. The Internal Protection Alternative concept posits that an refugee status can be denied if an individual can receive protection in another part of their home country. Most refugee receiving states apply the Internal Protection Alternative so that they can limit their refugee intake and its application will soon become mandatory under EU law. Dr Ní Ghráinne’s chapter traces the history of the Internal Protection Alternative concept, surveys state practice, and sets out the minimum binding criteria that apply when determining whether an Internal Protection Alternative exists. You can read a pre-print version of her chapter here.
Dr Ní Ghráinne’s research on the Internal Protection Alternative has also appeared in the International and Comparative Law Quarterly and the International Journal of Refugee Law. Her monograph ‘Internally Displaced Persons and International Refugee Law’ (forthcoming Oxford University Press, 2022) also examines the Internal Protection Alternative, and specifically how this concept relates to internal displacement.