Bio
Dr Deborah Casalin is a SNSF Ambizione Fellow, and in this capacity is principal investigator of the research project “Actors Beyond the Territorial State and Durable Solutions to Internal Displacement in International Law”. This project builds on her previous research on resolving displacement in international law, which she conducted as a doctoral researcher and teaching/research assistant and then as principal research fellow at the Law and Development Research Group, University of Antwerp Faculty of Law, Belgium (2016 – 2022: reparations for displacement via international and regional (quasi-)judicial human rights bodies; 2022 – 2025: durable solutions to internal displacement in international human rights law).
Deborah Casalin has taught university courses on international humanitarian law, international law and sustainable development, legal research methodology, and comparative legal research methods. She has been invited to give guest lectures, talks and training sessions by academic institutions, UN bodies and civil society organisations in Belgium, Italy, South Africa, Switzerland, and the United States.
Prior to academia, she worked for several years in various capacities in humanitarian and development organisations (CIDSE, ACTED, ICRC and IFRC), primarily in connection with international humanitarian and human rights law.
Deborah Casalin holds a PhD in Law from the University of Antwerp; a Master of Laws from the Vrije Universiteit Brussel; an LLM from the Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights; and an LLB from Nelson Mandela University, South Africa.
Selected publications
“Developing international law on reparations for displacement: foundational cases from four corners of the international human rights system”, in O. Spijkers, I. Iakovidis, P. Thielbörger & E. Abrusci (eds) Reimagining Reparations in Human Rights, Brill (in press)
“Regional institutional responses” (co-authored with Allehone Abebe), in D. Cantor, M. Bradley, W. Ekezie, U. Pape & N. Baal (eds) Oxford Handbook on Internal Displacement, Oxford University Press (in press)
Questions of Evidence in the UN Human Rights Treaty Bodies’ Individual Communication Procedure(co-edited with Marie-Bénédicte Dembour & Cornelia Klocker), Cambridge University Press (in press)
“Displacement reparation decisions of international and regional (quasi-)judicial bodies (individual & group claims, 1985 - 2020)”, Dataset, Zenodo, 2025
“Reparations for displacement since Chorzów: moving from the ‘problems of displacement’ to the ‘problems of the displaced’ via international and regional human rights bodies”, Netherlands Yearbook of International Law 2022, Vol. 53, 2024
“Regional protection of human rights and the environment” (co-authored with Liliana Lizarazo Rodríguez), in Philippe De Lombaerde (ed), ‘Handbook on Regional Cooperation and Integration’, Edward Elgar, 2024
“Durable solutions for IDPs: normative anchors in international human rights law”, Researching Internal Displacement, Working Paper No. 37, 2023
“Discriminatory practices in armed conflict contexts: Exploring (parallel) proceedings under the ECHR and ICERD” (co-authored with Cornelia Klocker), International Journal of Human Rights, 27(5), 2023
“The role of international (quasi-)judicial mechanisms in ensuring reparation for arbitrary displacement”, Doctoral dissertation, University of Antwerp Law Faculty, 2022
“Addressing climate change through international human rights law: From (extra)territoriality to common concern of humankind” (co-authored with V. Bellinkx, G. Erdem Türkelli, W. Scholtz & Wouter Vandenhole), Transnational Environmental Law, 11(1), 2022
“Humanitarian crisis”, in K. De Feyter, G. Erdem Türkelli & S. de Moerloose (eds) ‘The Encyclopedia of Law and Development’, Edward Elgar, 2021
“Legal obligations of non-state armed groups and Sustainable Development Goal 16”, in W.L. Filho et al (eds) ‘Peace, Justice & Strong Institutions’, Springer, 2021
“Human rights treaty mechanisms and reparation for IHL violations: Fragmentation, partiality, selective justice?”, Human Rights and International Legal Discourse, 13(1), 2019
“Klimaatmigratie- en ontheemding: welke rol voor internationale mensenrechten?”, Tijdschrift voor Mensenrechten, 17(3), 2019
“A green light turning red?: The potential influence of human rights on developing customary legal protection against conflict-driven displacement”, Human Rights and International Legal Discourse, 12(1), 2018
“Prohibitions on arbitrary displacement in international humanitarian law and human rights: a time and a place for everything”, in P. De Hert, M. Holvoet & S. Smis, ‘Convergences and divergences between international human rights law, international criminal law and international humanitarian law’, Intersentia, 2018
“Taking prisoners: Reviewing the international humanitarian law grounds for deprivation of liberty by armed opposition groups”, International Review of the Red Cross, Vol. 93, No. 883, 2011
“Participation of states in the plenary assemblies of international organizations and in the International Conference of the Red Cross and Red Crescent” (co-authored with Christopher Lamb), International Review of the Red Cross, 91(876), 2009