Bina D'Costa
Professor Bina D'Costa
Bina is Professor in the Department of International Relations in the Coral Bell School. She is also CAP Associate Dean for Inclusion, Diversity, Equity & Access.
At the height of Europe’s refugee emergency, she moved to UNICEF’s Office of Research-Innocenti as its senior migration and displacement research specialist to build its Migration and Displacement program (2016‒18). Most recently, she has served in UNICEF’s Rohingya Emergency Response Team in Cox’s Bazar Bangladesh.
Bina’s research interests span migration and forced displacement; children and global protection systems; gender-based violence in conflicts; and human rights and impunity. She has undertaken studies on refugees, stateless communities and IDPs, and has provided inputs and technical advice to Human Rights bodies, UN agencies and NGOs.
She has contributed to various projects in South Asia, the Middle East, Horn of Africa, East Africa and Southern Africa. She has worked as a policy analyst for UNRISD (United Nations Research Institute for Social Development), UNDP (United Nations Development Programme), OHCHR (Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights), DFAT (Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade) and DfID (British Department for International Development).
Bina currently serves on the editorial boards of the International Studies Review, the Internatioanl Journal for Transitional Justice and the International Journal of Feminist Politics. Bina is also a member of the UNDP Gender, Crisis Prevention and Recovery expert panel and an Advisory Council member of the Social Science Research Council’s International Center for Gender, Peace and Security.
Bina has held visiting fellowships at the Graduate Institute for International and Development Studies, Geneva (2012‒14); the Refugee Studies Center, Oxford University (2011‒12) and the Global Justice Center, New York (2008). Bina has also served as the Asia Rapporteur for the Asia-Europe 55 member states ASEM global meeting on Children and Human Rights in 2017.
Teaching
Bina teaches the graduate courses Gender, War, and Justice in South and Southeast Asia INTR8064 (Semester 1, 2021), and Women, Peace and Security: Defining and Addressing Complex Security Challenges of the 21st Century INTR8077 (Semester 2, 2021).
Protecting children on the move
A refugee camp is not the easiest place to conduct field research, but when you are exploring how best to protect children during their migration journey, that is where the need is greatest.
Why research should be a priority in the global response to the child migration crisis
With world leaders gathering at the United Nations for high level deliberations on the global migration crisis, the need for solid evidence to develop better policies on child migration has never b
Migration and Displacement Discussion Group
Migration and Displacement are inherently complex issues, inviting approaches from each and every discipline.
Children and the Responsibility to Protect Project
The Responsibility to Protect (R2P) framework lays down a responsibility to protect populations from the crimes of genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and ethnic cleansing.
