Digital Refugee Lawyering

Risk, Legal Knowledge, and Accountability

Bibliographic Data

ID12334060
AuthorsKristin Bergtora Sandvik (0000-0003-4671-6410, University of Oslo, corresponding author)
Year2021
Volume40
Issue4
Pages414-432
Publication date2021-09-30
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueRefugee Survey Quarterly (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1020-4067 • E-ISSN: 1471-695X
PublisherOxford University Press (OUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1093/rsq/hdab013
OpenAlexW3205583656
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited10

This article explores how the digital transformation of humanitarianism, and the refugee regime reshapes refugee lawyering. Much refugee lawyering is based on a traditional understanding of legal protection – and a focus on legal aid, law reform advocacy, and specific protection procedures (such as refugee status determination). Refugee lawyering must now grapple with the challenges offered by the digital transformation of international protection. This entails identifying emergent protection issues and how they relate to the law and legal claims. To that end, the article puts forward suggestions regarding the risks of the digital transformation as it pertains to the humanitarian space, the refugee management infrastructure, and refugee lawyering. The article also considers its implications for legal knowledge and the possibility that law may be “displaced” by technology. The article concludes by discussing what it means for refugee lawyering and for being accountable to the norms and values of rule of law standards, international protection, and to individual clients

Digital transformation · Political science · Refugee · Refugee law · Sociology · European Criminal Justice and Data Protection · Global Security and Public Health · Migration, Refugees, and Integration · Law