Camille Lefebvre is a PhD Candidate at the Van Vollenhoven Institute at Leiden University, in a joint programme with the Graduate School of International Studies at Université Laval. She is a 2026 Fellow at the Lauterpacht Centre for International Law at the University of Cambridge. She works part-time as a legal officer for Canada on International Court of Justice cases. She was previously interim legal officer of Canada to the Netherlands, Judicial Fellow at the International Court of Justice and Judicial Clerk to the Federal Court of Appeal of Canada.
She has been a research assistant for the Canada Research Chair in International Criminal Justice and Human Rights, the Canada Research Chair in Immigration and Security, the UNESCO Chair of Diversity and Cultural Expressions and the International Criminal and Humanitarian Law Clinic of Université Laval.
She currently serves as an administrator on the Board of the Canadian Council of International Law, and as a member for the International Migration and International Law Committee of the International Law Association. She is also the recipient of the Louis Philippe Pigeon Award (2024), the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council Doctoral Grant (2021) and the John Peters Humphrey Fellowship (2021).
The Geopolitics in the Global Compacts: Sovereignty, Emerging Norms, and Hypocrisy in Global Migration Governance
2024
The Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration (GCM) and the Global Compact on Refugees (GCM) were adopted by the UN General Assembly in 2018. After nearly five years, it is time for a critical reflection on the geopolitical interests that motivated the negotiations, agreements, and implementation. The purpose of this special issue was to critically examine how states used the Global Compacts to achieve their strategic interests using migration diplomacy. Each article attempts to question and problematise the assumptions, logics, and rhetoric put forward in the Global Compacts and resulting implementation by states and international organisations. The special issue also highlights the emerging norm of state responsibility for well-managed migration within the Global Compacts, and the notable silences around non-refoulement, internal displacement, and climate migration. The authors in this special issue worked to understand the gaps, hypocrisy, and contradictions in the implementation, now five years after the adoption of the Global Compacts. This introduction article lays out the driving questions for the special issue, along with our main themes, concepts, and contributions.
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National policies on immigration detention and the global compacts: A comparative analysis of Canada and France
2024
The adoption of the Global Compacts on Migration and Refugees in 2018 marked a turning point in international migration governance. According to objective 13 of the Global Compact for Migration, States Parties have committed to use immigration detention as a measure of last resort and work towards alternatives. As for the Global Compact on Refugees, States Parties and relevant stakeholders also pledged to contribute to the development of non-custodial and community-based alternatives to detention, particularly with respect to children. Five years later, the enhancement of human rights protection for migrants, refugees, and asylum seekers within national territories remains a challenge. We argue that two states of the Global North – Canada and France – are actually using the Global Compacts to push forward their own agenda on the international scene, as a tool to influence other states. Even if Canada and France have engaged in multilateral discussions on the regulation of migration and the protection of refugees through soft law instruments, we find that national practices have not been altered since 2018. As such, this paper will demonstrate that the implementation of the Global Compacts is, in fact, used to advance foreign national policy for both states.
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The exclusion clause in Canada: Prioritizing practical expediency
2021
Applying the Canadian legal framework for refugees in compliance with binding international instruments has entailed significant challenges. In order to fulfil its dual obligations of protecting people under threat of torture and persecution, while denying refugee status to those responsible for such atrocities, Canada relies on the exclusion clause of the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees as a practical and expedient solution. This article provides a comprehensive review of the jurisprudence related to Canada’s exclusion system, examining the judicial reasoning of decisions issued by the Immigration and Refugee Board, the Federal Court, the Federal Court of Appeal, and the Supreme Court of Canada. The analysis endorses the position that Canada’s continuing prioritization of security trumps humanitarian aims by an overly broad application of article 1F of the Refugee Convention. The interpretation of Canadian judiciary can lead to the improper application of international law, prompting the need for a reassessment of the Canadian exclusion system 70 years after the adoption of the Refugee Convention.
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Louis-Philippe Pigeon Award
2024
Award recognizing the exceptional contribution of a member of the Young Bar of Québec
Joseph-Armand Bombardier Canada Graduate Scholarship
2021
Awarded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) to develop research skills and assist in the training of highly qualified graduate students.
John Peters Humphrey Fellowship, Canadian Council on International Law
2021
National award to two or three outstanding students to pursue full-time graduate studies in International Human Rights Law
Canada Research Chair in Immigration & Security Scholarship
2020
Scholarship to pursue full-time graduate studies on migration and security related issues.
