Roojin Habibi

International Consultant & Lawyer, https://www.roojinhabibi.com/

International treaty interpretation, Sexual and reproductive health and rights, Health and human rights, Health policy, International, Global health

Media

International Law and Quarantine on Diamond Princess Cruise Ship

Live television interview with BBC News Channel on February 19, 2020.

Canada breaches international treaties for legalizing recreational marijuana

Television interview with CGTN America on Canada's breach of international treaties governing the use of recreational cannabis.

International Legal Dimensions of Cannabis Legalization

Presentation delivered at the McGill University Institute of Health and Social Policy's Annual Conference on the international legal dimensions of cannabis legalization (2018, Montreal).

tbs eFM This Morning, February 27, 2020Radio/Podcast

URL: https://podcasts.apple.com/kr/podcast/0227-news-focus-1-legal-human-rights-issues-covid-19/id1038822609?i=1000466813840&l=en

Interview with Alex Jensen from tbs eFM This Morning in Seoul, South Korea.

Canada should not join other countries in instituting travel restrictions – or in breaking international law

The Global and Mail, February 13, 2020Print

URL: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/article-canada-should-not-join-other-countries-in-instituting-travel/

Health Canada dangerously opaque when it comes to pharmaceuticals

Toronto Star, March 24, 2014Print

URL: https://www.thestar.com/opinion/commentary/2014/03/24/health_canada_dangerously_opaque_when_it_comes_to_pharmaceuticals.html

Les Canadiens meritent d'en savoir plus sur les médicaments qu'on leur prescrit

Huffington Post Québec, April 14, 2014Print

URL: https://quebec.huffingtonpost.ca/roojin-habib/medicaments-sante-canada_b_5125083.html

The COVID-19 vaccination race

Open CanadaOnline

URL: https://opencanada.org/canada-isnt-in-a-covid-19-vaccination-race-against-other-countries-were-all-in-a-race-against-time/

Health experts question coronavirus quarantine measures on cruise ship

The Guardian, March 18, 2020Online

URL: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/feb/18/global-health-experts-question-cruise-ship-coronavirus-quarantine-measures

Senators push for plan to deal with fallout when Canada legalizes cannabis and breaks international law

The Lawyers Daily, May 10, 2018Online

URL: https://www.thelawyersdaily.ca/articles/6489/senators-push-for-plan-to-deal-with-fallout-when-canada-legalizes-cannabis-and-breaks-international-law

Canada’s cannabis conundrum

OpenCanada, June 28, 2019Online

URL: https://www.opencanada.org/features/canadas-cannabis-conundrum/

International law experts say legal cannabis defies Canada’s UN treaty obligations

Canadian Lawyer, November 8, 2018Online

URL: https://www.canadianlawyermag.com/legalfeeds/author/aidan-macnab/international-law-experts-say-legal-cannabis-defies-canadas-un-treaty-obligations-16470/

2018 Calgary Luncheon Speaker Series

Human Rights and Coronavirus: What’s at Stake for Truth, Trust, and Democracy?

by Alicia Ely Yamin & Roojin Habibi

Published by Health and Human Rights Journal

March 1, 2020

URL: https://www.hhrjournal.org/2020/03/human-rights-and-coronavirus-whats-at-stake-for-truth-trust-and-democracy/

Do not violate the International Health Regulations during the COVID-19 outbreak

by Roojin Habibi, Gian Luca Burci, Thana C de Campos, Danwood Chirwa, Margherita Cinà, Stéphanie Dagron, Mark Eccleston-Turner, Lisa Forman, Lawrence O Gostin, Benjamin Mason Meier, Stefania Negri, Gorik Ooms, Sharifah Sekalala, Allyn Taylor, Alicia Ely Yamin, Steven J. Hoffman

Published by The Lancet

February 13, 2020

URL: https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(20)30373-1/fulltext

Quality and quantity of information in Summary Basis of Decision documents issued by Health Canada

by Roojin Habibi, Joel Lexchin

Published by PLoS One

March 20, 2014

URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0092038

Do efficacy claims in pharmaceutical sales visits vary by approved product information or national policy?

by Roojin Habibi

Published by McMaster University Dissertations and Theses

April 27, 2015

URL: https://macsphere.mcmaster.ca/handle/11375/17216

International legal barriers to cannabis legalization

by Steven J. Hoffman, Roojin Habibi

Published by Canadian Medical Association Journal

May 17, 2016

URL: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4938706/

Conflicts of interest in neoliberal times: perspectives of Australian medical students

by Christopher Mayes, Ian Kerridge, Roojin Habibi, Wendy Lipworth

Published by Health Sociology Review

June 21, 2016

URL: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14461242.2016.1198713

Regulating information or allowing deception? Pharmaceutical sales visits in Canada, France and the United States

by Roojin Habibi, Line Guénette, Joel Lexchin, Ellen Reynolds, Mary Wiktorowicz, Barbara Mintzes

Published by Journal of Law, Medicine and Ethics

December 20, 2016

URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1073110516684803?journalCode=lmec

Unwarranted claims of drug efficacy in pharmaceutical sales visits: Are drugs approved on the basis of surrogate outcomes promoted appropriately?

by Roojin Habibi, Joel Lexchin, Barbara Mintzes, Anne Holbrook

Published by British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology

August 19, 2017

URL: https://bpspubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/bcp.13360

Decoding disclosure: Comparing conflict of interest policy among the United States, France, and Australia

by Quinn Grundy, Roojin Habibi, Adrienne Shnier, Christopher Mayes, Wendy Lipworth

Published by Health Policy

URL: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.healthpol.2018.03.015

Legal Barriers to Humanitarian Intervention in Natural Disasters

by Nicole Cvercko, Anna Jeffrey, Meghan Blom, Roojin Habibi

Published by Global Strategy Lab

May 1, 2018

URL: https://globalstrategylab.org/clinic/reports/legal-barriers-to-humanitarian-intervention-in-natural-disasters-2017.pdf?admin_panel=1

Legalizing Cannabis Violates the UN Drug Control Treaties, But Progressive Countries Like Canada Have Options

by Roojin Habibi, Steven J. Hoffman

Published by Ottawa Law Review

November 30, 2018

URL: https://rdo-olr.org/fr/2018/legalizing-cannabis-violates-the-un-drug-control-treaties-but-progressive-countries-like-canada-have-options/

Biography

Roojin Habibi is an Iranian-Canadian scholar, international consultant and lawyer specialized in global health and human rights law. Her work is guided by the underlying premise that the fulfillment of health as a universal human right is shaped by laws, norms, and power relations operating at global, national, and community levels.

As research fellow at the Global Strategy Lab, Osgoode Hall Law School and the Canadian International Council, Roojin bridges law, human rights, and global health, and interweaves methods from the health, social, and juridical sciences. Her research has been featured in a range of peer-reviewed medical and public health journals such as The Lancet, PLOS One, and BMJ Global Health, as well as scholarly legal journals including The Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics; International Organizations Law Review; University of Ottawa Law Review and PKI Global Justice Journal.

Having worked for government, nongovernmental and international organizations, Roojin is driven to generate scholarship that has salience and impact both within and beyond academia. Her academic career is enriched through deep engagement and dialogue with the broader community, evidenced by her contributions to national and international speaking events; interviews with print, radio, and television media; as well as her past and current collaborations with external partners such as the International Commission of Jurists, the HIV Legal Network, Birth Rights Bar Association of Canada, and the Canadian Partnership for Women and Children’s Health.

Roojin actively teaches and provides research supervision to students who are passionate about having a positive impact on human rights and global health. For the past three years, she taught Medicines Policy, Economics, and Ethics online to over 150 students in graduate programs ranging from public health to law and business at the University of Sydney. She regularly delivers guest lectures at Canadian and US academic institutions, including the University of Washington, University of Ottawa, and Osgoode Hall Law School in Toronto. Beyond teaching, Roojin is passionate about building the runway for the next cadre of leaders in global health law and justice. Her formal and informal mentorship experience is underpinned by the goal of fostering professional and academic fulfillment.

Roojin's passion for the betterment of the human condition through rights and freedoms is rooted in her own lived experience as a child of migrants fleeing oppression in the aftermath of the Iranian Revolution. She holds a law degree (J.D.) from the University of Ottawa's French Common Law program, a specialization in transnational law from the University of Geneva Faculty of Law, and a Master’s of Science in Global Health from McMaster University. She is a Barrister and Solicitor in Good Standing with the Law Society of Ontario, and fluent in English, French and Farsi.