Tendayi Achiume

Tendayi Achiume is a leading voice in international law, combining academic expertise with global advocacy to combat systemic racism, xenophobia, and gender discrimination. Her career is marked by an unwavering commitment to social justice, grounded in the belief that (interdisciplinary) collaboration is essential for impactful knowledge production. Through her work, she has distinctively contributed to rethinking human rights in the context of colonial legacies and migration justice.

“We must connect legal and power centers to those living on the front lines of racial subordination, those living the violence of borders. Their knowledge and experiences should be informing the policy that governs their lives.”

Global Roots, Global Impact: A Path to Defending Refugee Rights

CC: John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.

Achiume’s upbringing in Zambia, Zimbabwe and Botswana shaped her understanding of global migration challenges. Her family’s frequent moves, driven by both family and economic reasons, significantly influenced her perspective. Her grandmother became an early key role model in her life, as she overcame numerous challenges to receive an education, become a nurse, establish maternity clinics, teach midwives in Rhodesia and South Africa, and eventually migrate to the UK. Achiume finds her grandmother’s story particularly impressive for its significant geographical, social and political movement: “When I look at where her life started and everywhere she has been… I can’t help but celebrate women who move”.

At school, Achiume was initially inspired by a physics teacher to pursue careers in physics or engineering. However, her focus shifted to international law at Atlantic College in Wales, a diverse environment connecting people from across the globe and giving her a sense of the intertwined challenges worldwide. But it was a seminar on law and international development, taught by then law student Bernadette Atuahene, that solidified Achiume’s passion for law as a tool for social change. Drawing from her own migration experiences, she began to focus on refugee rights. After graduation, Achiume earned a B.A. in Ethics, Politics and Economics from Yale University, followed by a J.D. at Yale Law School, where she received several fellowships, including the Bernstein International Human Rights Fellowship. Recalling her time at Yale, Achiume credits the Schell Center with enabling her later work and shaping her identity as a human rights advocate through its material and ideational support, highlighting Jim Silk as an important mentor who continues to influence her.

Advancing Innovation in Legal Academia

Following her studies, Achiume gained practical experience at the Constitutional Court of South Africa and at Lawyers for Human Rights in Johannesburg, where she represented refugees, becoming aware of how borders unequally impact lives. A major milestone in her career occurred when she joined the University of California, School of Law (UCLA). There, she rose from Assistant Professor of Law to Professor of Law, eventually becoming Alicia Miñana Professor of Law and receiving the Distinguished Teaching Award, UCLA’s highest honor for excellence in teaching. She also became a core faculty member in several programs, including the Critical Race Studies Program, where many legal scholars had laid the groundwork for her to teach at UCLA. As a black queer African woman, Achiume recognizes her status as a “presumptive outsider” in her field, but also the privilege of her education and professional opportunities. On her path to becoming a law professor, particularly in international law, she has faced a system within academic institutions and international law associations historically characterized by racial and gender-based exclusion. For instance, the American Society of International Law (ASIL), of which Achiume is a member, revealed it excluded people of color for its first sixty years based on ethnicity, culture, religion, or sexual orientation, deeming them not “appropriate” for ASIL membership. To combat such racism, Achiume argues that institutions like UCLA must transform to align with their inclusive goals, addressing affirmative action, hiring practices, and the distribution of power and resources.

In addition to her teaching, Achiume directed the International Human Rights Clinic, mentoring students to provide pro bono legal services. In this role, she deliberately focused on local social justice issues alongside the international projects, such as working with Dignity and Power Now, an organization advocating for incarcerated individuals and their families. Under her guidance, students also worked on litigation before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention.

Rethinking Migration and Decolonization

Achiume’s research research focuses on the global governance of racism and xenophobia, and the lasting impact of colonialism on international migration, aiming for racial justice. She examines examines how global frameworks can be radically reframed to include the perspectives of the Global South, marginalized nations and affected communities, bringing these frameworks closer to the people they intend to serve. With her practical and academic background, she takes a functional approach to understanding understanding constructs in international law. Thereby, Achiume critically analyzes postcolonial theory and intersectionality, challenging assumptions about concepts like “borders” and “race” in their complex social, political, and historical contexts, including their impacts on power dynamics and societal structures.

Amongst others, two of her articles have made significant contributions to migration studies and the understanding of border regimes. In “Migration as Decolonization”, Achiume examines migration from the perspective of state sovereignty. By connecting migration to the colonial past and the unequal distribution of wealth in contemporary society, she questions the sovereign right to exclude.¹⁾ She empirically bases her argument on the interconnection²⁾ between the Global North and Global South, asserting that individuals from former colonies are part of a transnational community, not political outsiders³⁾. Achiume contends that international law is shaped by a neocolonial relationship that subordinates the Global South for the benefit of the Global North.⁴⁾ In response, she advocates for a reconceptualization of the doctrinal understanding of sovereignty and self-determination, granting people from the Global South the individual reparative right⁵⁾ to migrate as corrective justice.⁶⁾

In “Racial Borders”, Achiume examines how migration management systems favor certain nations and racial groups while marginalizing others. She traces the origins of today’s supposedly race-neutral migration policies to exclusionary practices that privileged whiteness, such as literacy tests used to disenfranchise Black voters and colonial authorities selectively issuing passports to limit migration based on national origin.⁷⁾ Achiume highlights how everyday legal and political regulations, like visa policies, continue to enforce systemic racial exclusion.⁸⁾ In doing so, she argues that contemporary national borders are inherently racial, as liberal border policies racialize inclusion and exclusion.⁹⁾

Shaping Global Conversations on Racism, Migration and Colonialism

In 2017, Achiume was appointed as the fifth United Nations Special Rapporteur on Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance, becoming the first woman and first Southern African to hold this position. As Special Rapporteur, she worked voluntarily and independently, without receiving a salary, while simultaneously maintaining her role as professor. She raised global awareness about different forms of discrimination by investigating cases, conducting country visits and submitting reports to the Human Rights Council and General Assembly. Among the issues she addressed in those reports were the unjust causes and consequences of environmental degradation and climate change and the threat to racial equality posed by ethnonationalist populism. She also highlighted the need for reparations for racial discrimination rooted in colonialism and slavery.

During her tenure, Achiume visited the UK at the government’s invitation to investigate the surge in race-related crimes, exacerbated by Brexit. However, she expanded her investigation beyond the original mandate, criticizing UK’s treatment of the Windrush generation of Caribbean migrants and the vilification of Muslims through Prevent, the government’s anti-radicalization strategy. She expressed concern about rising ethnic and religious intolerance linked to Brexit, including extreme views gaining ground in mainstream political parties. Achiume was particularly shocked by the criminalization of ethnic minorities, especially young black men, who are over-represented in police searches, prosecutions and the prison system. While acknowledging UK’s efforts to combat racism, Achiume called for a comprehensive national policy to systematically tackle racial disparities, with ethnic minorities involved in development and oversight.

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Achiume studied the increase in racism and xenophobia, particularly against East Asian communities, and emphasized the importance of incorporating the issues of racial and xenophobic discrimination into education. She noted that populist regimes exploited pandemic-related fears to demonize minorities, undermining their power. To ensure equitable public health responses, she argued that minorities must be included in decision-making and resource allocation.

In 2022, Achiume concluded her 6-year term. Reflecting on that time, she highlighted the absence of ethnicity in migration policy, linking “racial phobia” to the colonial legacy shaping global mobility today. She also expressed hope for more women of color in leadership roles in organizations like the UN, envisioning a future where such appointments are no longer noteworthy but simply given.

From Human Rights Advocacy to New Academic Roles

Achiume’s impact extends beyond the UN. She has delivered lectures and presentations on human rights at institutions such as the World Bank, at universities in China, Lebanon, Turkey, UK and Germany and at events like the Health as a Human Right Conference. In recognition of her work, Achiume was named World Economic Forum Young Global Leader and received the Louis B. Sohn Human Rights Award. Her research earned her the 2023 MacArthur Fellowship, commonly known as the “genius grant”. This award is not open to applications; instead, candidates must be nominated.

In 2023, Achiume, along with 177 other legal scholars, signed a letter addressed to Joe Biden, condemning Israel’s bombardment and intensifying blockade of Gaza. The letter, which was sent just before Biden’s visit to Israel, criticized Israel’s actions as a “moral catastrophe” and called for an immediate ceasefire. While condemning both Hamas atrocities and Israel’s reprisals that deprive the civilian population of the “basic means of survival”, the scholars urged Biden to use all available means to secure a diplomatic solution and the restoration of humanitarian aid to Gaza.

Ultimately, Stanford Law School announced in 2024 that Achiume will join its faculty as a Law Professor, marking the next chapter in her academic career. She will also spend the academic year 2024-2025 as a Scholar in Residence at the Institute for Advanced Study, examining how colonial and contemporary transnational corporations have exploited borders and ethnicities for economic profit. Her appointment will undoubtedly have a profound influence on future generations of human rights advocates, providing them with an inspiring example of dedication and passion.

Further Readings

Achiume, Transnational Racial (In)Justice in Liberal Democratic Empire, 134 Harv. L. Rev. F. 378, 2021, available at: https://harvardlawreview.org/forum/vol-134/transnational-racial-injustice-in-liberal-democratic-empire/

Achiume, Governing Xenophobia, 51 Vanderbilt Law Review 333, 2021, available at: https://scholarship.law.vanderbilt.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1083&context=vjtl

Achiume, Black Lives Matter and the UN Human Rights System: Reflections on the Human Rights Council Urgent Debate, EJIL:Talk!, December 2020, available at: https://www.ejiltalk.org/black-lives-matter-and-the-un-human-rights-system-reflections-on-the-human-rights-council-urgent-debate/

Achiume, Racial discrimination and emerging digital technologies : a human rights analysis: report of the Special Rapporteur on Contemporary Forms of Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance, A/HRC/44/57, 2020, available at: https://digitallibrary.un.org/record/3879751?v=pdf

Achiume, Syria, Cost-sharing, and the Responsibility to Protect Refugees, UCLA: International Institute, 2016, available at: https://escholarship.org/uc/item/7p87x1mt

Achiume, Beyond Prejudice: Structural Xenophobic Discrimination Against Refugees, Georgetown Journal of International Law, Vol. 45, No 3, 2014, UCLA School of Law Research Paper No. 13-28, available at: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2294557

Further publications are available at: https://law.stanford.edu/publications/?primary_author=E.%20Tendayi%20Achiume&page=1

Further Sources

Interview with Achiume on the intersection of climate and racial justice, NPR, 4 October 2023, available at: https://www.npr.org/2023/10/04/1203733004/macarthur-fellow-e-tendayi-achiume-on-the-intersection-of-climate-and-racial-jus

Keynote: E. Tendayi Achiume on Climate Justice and Reparations From a Racial Justice Perspective, available at: https://youtu.be/_lu7x7O15_I?feature=shared

Contemporary forms of racism, xenophobia and intolerance – Press Conference 30 October 2019, available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=noejtJqObt8