Emilie McDonnell

Dr Emilie McDonnell is an international lawyer and human rights advocate, with expertise in international human rights law, refugee law and international law more broadly.

Prior to joining Human Rights Watch, Emilie completed her Doctorate in Law at the University of Oxford on protecting the right to leave of asylum seekers, refugees and other migrants during externalized migration control. She has experience working with a wide range of organizations, actors and people at risk, including the Department of Legal Affairs at UNRWA in East Jerusalem, the Refugee Studies Centre, a UK legal aid law firm in the immigration detention and deportation team, and a legislative and policy consulting firm in Australia. She publishes regularly on human rights and refugee issues and appears on radio and television, such as the BBC and Al Jazeera. A book based on her doctoral thesis is forthcoming with Hart Publishing in 2025. 

Emilie began her career focused on advancing the rights of asylum seekers and refugees. This led her to co-found the Tasmanian Refugee Legal Service in 2013, which she was a Director of until 2016, and to her being awarded the 2016 Tasmanian Rhodes Scholarship. She holds an MPhil in Law and Bachelor of Civil Law with Distinction from the University of Oxford, after completing her undergraduate studies in law and criminology at the University of Tasmania.

Emilie is a qualified Australian lawyer, an Adjunct Researcher at the University of Tasmania School of Law, and has taught on various subjects at the University of Oxford and the University of Tasmania.