Common wisdom suggests that 9/11 changed everything about refugee law in the United States and Canada. But did it? Refugee Law after 9/11 systematically examines the evidence to reveal that refugee rights were already so whittled down in both countries before 9/11 that there was relatively little room for negative change after the attacks. It also shows that the Canadian refugee law regime reacted to 9/11 in much the same way as its US counterpart, and these similar reactions raise significant questions about security relativism and national self-image in the two countries.

Obiora Chinedu Okafor's profile page

Obiora Chinedu Okafor is York Research Chair in International and Transnational Legal Studies (Tier 1) and a professor of law at Osgoode Hall Law School, York University, Toronto. He is the United Nations Independent Expert on Human Rights and International Solidarity and a former chair of the UN Human Rights Council Advisory Committee. He is also the author of The African Human Rights System, Activist Forces and International Institutions; Legitimizing Human Rights NGOs: Lessons from Nigeria; Re-defining Legitimate Statehood: International Law and State Fragmentation in Africa; and dozens of other scholarly works.