MOBILE - Mobility Law Open Lab with Ramy Abdelhady

Safe Third Country Agreements as Tools of Externalisation: An African Perspective

Presenter: Ramy Abdelhady is a PhD Candidate, Graduate Teacher, and Administrator of the Human Rights Implementation Centre at the University of Bristol. Beyond his doctoral research, Ramy brings extensive practical experience in criminal justice, human rights, and refugee protection. He served in the Egyptian Judiciary for a decade, first as a Public Prosecutor and later as a Chief Judge. He has worked with UN agencies (UNODC and UNHCR) and the African Union, where he served as a Senior Litigation Expert at the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights. He holds two LLM degrees from the American University in Cairo and Queen Mary University of London.

Presentation: During the seminar, Ramy will draw on his PhD thesis, which aims to address a gap in the literature concerning the use of Safe Third Country Agreements (STCAs) as tools of externalisation in Africa, giving a voice from the South. It shifts the focus from Europe to Africa, examining STCAs within African human rights and regional refugee law frameworks. The seminar will begin by showcasing recent examples of STCAs in Africa, such as the Israel-Rwanda, UK-Rwanda, and the recent United States third-country nationals (TCN) agreements with multiple African states. It will then explore the extent to which the concept of a safe third country aligns with the African Charter and the 1969 OAU Refugee Convention, and whether ‘safety’ can be so defined. It will reflect on the African perspective regarding concepts such as ‘solidarity’ and ‘burden-sharing’ in migration management and refugee protection. The seminar will then consider the role of African regional mechanisms as avenues for litigation and advocacy in addressing STCAs across the continent. Finally, the seminar will briefly discuss the concept of irresponsibilisation that STCAs aim to achieve, and how different modes of state responsibility, which may be attributed to the sending, transit, and receiving states, are involved in STCAs

Time: 4 June 2026 14:00-15:15

Place: MOBILE – 6B-2-22 Southern Campus + ONLINE

Online participation

For online participation, please contact MOBILE's Student Assistant Kamille at xdm242@jur.ku.dk to receive a Zoom link.