New Visiting Researcher at MOBILE - Janna Wessels
Dr Janna Wessels is Associate Professor at the Amsterdam Centre for Migration and Refugee Law (ACMRL), Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. She is Principal Investigator of the project “Who is Empowered by Strasbourg? Migrants and States before the ECtHR”, which forms part of the Research Group ‘Human Rights Discourse in Migration Societies’ (MeDiMi), funded by the German Research Council DFG (2022-2026) and of the project ‘Countering human rights from within: Framing State interests in human rights language in migration-related jurisprudence’, funded by the Dutch Research Council Talent Scheme ‘Veni’ (2022-2026).
The overarching aim of her research is to investigate the link between human rights and migration law and policy. She uses of a combination of legal doctrine, qualitative empirical investigation, and critical theory, including feminist/queer theory. Previous research projects included the EU-H2020 project PROTECT – The Right to International Protection (2020-2023), exploring the legal implications of the new UN Global Compacts on Refugees and for Migration, and the Mercator Foundation funded project ‘Human Rights challenges to European Migration Policy (REMAP)’ (2018-2021).
Janna Wessels is the author of the monograph “The Concealment Controversy. Sexual Orientation, Discretion Reasoning and the Scope of Refugee Protection” (CUP 2021, paperback 2023) and co-author of “Human Rights Challenges to European Migration Policy. The REMAP Study” (Hart/Nomos 2022, open access), and her work has appeared in journals such as the International Journal of Refugee Law, AJIL Unbound, the European Journal of Migration and Law, the Refugee Survey Quarterly, the Netherlands Quarterly of Human Rights.
Janna Wessels serves as a member of the editorial board of the International Journal of Refugee Law and of the German Refugee Studies Blog (Fluchtforschungsblog), edits the ACMRL Migration Law Series, and is co-founder of the Oxford Monitor of Forced Migration (OxMo). She is a member of the Dutch Meijers Committee – Standing Committee of Experts in International Immigration, Refugee and Criminal Law, an Affiliate of the Refugee Law Initiative (London), and a member of the German Network Migration Law.
Prior to joining the ACMRL, Janna Wessels held positions at Justus Liebig University Giessen and the University of Technology Sydney (UTS). She received her PhD in refugee law from the Faculty of Law, University of Technology Sydney and the Faculty of Law, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (joint degree).
During her visit at MOBILE, Janna Wessels will focus on how States pursue their migration control interests not against, but with human rights law, by shaping the meaning of the law in migration-related jurisprudence and continue her work on reverse strategic litigation by governments.