
Working Group on Externalisation
Established in 2020, the Externalisation Working Group is the first working group to be created at the RLI. It provides an academic platform for promoting exchange and developing collaborative research on the global effects of externalisation policies on refugees and asylum-seekers. Currently, it consists of experts from Australia, Asia, Africa, the US and Europe.
Key outputs and activities
- The Working Group contributed to the first RLI Declaration on Externalisation and Asylum, recently published by the International Journal of Refugee Law. The Declaration and its accompanying analytical paper are available here.
- Working Group Panel, Chain-Externalisation of EU Migration Management Policies, 6th RLI annual conference, 2022
- Working Group Panel, Externalisation, Responsibility Sharing, and the Global Compact on Refugees, 5th RLI annual conference, 2021
- Working Group Panel, Under-explored Obligations and Accountability Mechanisms in the Externalisation of Asylum Policies, 5th RLI annual conference, 2021
The Externalisation Working Group is convened by Dr Nikolas Feith Tan and Dr Mariana Gkliati. RLI network members who wish to become involved should email the convenors directly.
Current members

Asher Hirsch
Senior Policy Officer with the Refugee Council of Australia
& a PhD candidate at Monash University in Law Faculty

Dr. Elizabeth Mavropoulou
Visiting Lecturer University of Westminster and Programme Manager, Human Rights at Sea

Dr. Annick Pijnenburg
Assistant Professor in International and European Law at Radboud University Nijmegen

Dr. Almamy Sylla
Senior Lecturer at the Université des Lettres et des Sciences Humaines de Bamako (ULSHB), Mali

Matthew Zagor
Associate Professor at Australian National University
Director of Law Reform and Social Justice (ANU)