Michael Barutciski is Associate Editor of Global Brief.
Barutciski is an associate professor at Glendon College, York University, Toronto. He is the only scholar to have held the most prestigious fellowships in refugee law: the Atle Grahl-Madsen Fellowship in Law at York University’s Centre for Refugee Studies, and the Prince El Hassan bil Talal Fellowship in Law at Oxford University’s Refugee Studies Centre.
Prior to joining the Glendon faculty, Barutciski directed the diplomacy programme at the University of Canterbury in New Zealand, where he held a tenured appointment in both the law school and the department of political science. Upon his return to Canada, he chaired the Department of Multidisciplinary Studies at Glendon College and helped create the Glendon School of Public and International Affairs, where he served for several years as director of graduate studies. He was also editor-in-chief of Refuge (Canada’s Journal on Refugees).
Barutciski has conducted research in conflict zones and refugee camps in Asia, Africa and the Balkans, and has authored various UN and governmental reports. His early academic work in the 1990s influenced the UNHCR to refocus on its core mandate in order to avoid mission creep following the end of the Cold War. His publications have been used in university courses on all continents, as well as to train government officials and humanitarian workers. He has been a visiting lecturer at the Alexandru Ioan Cuza University in Romania, a visiting fellow at the Institute of International Public Law and International Relations in Greece, and a visiting scholar at the University of Michigan Law School.
Barutciski’s latest book is Les dilemmes de protection internationale des réfugiés. He holds a doctorate in international law from the Université Paris II (Panthéon-Assas), and has been a member of the Quebec bar for over 25 years.