Roojin Habibi
Assistant Professor, University of Ottawa’s Faculty of Law (Common Law Section), Senior Visiting Fellow of the United Nations University’s International Institute for Global Health; Research Fellow of the Global Strategy Lab at York University and University of Ottawa, https://www.roojinhabibi.org/
International law, Global health, Sexual and reproductive health and rights, Health and human rights, Health policy
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
Interview with Alex Jensen from tbs eFM This Morning in Seoul, South Korea.
The HIV/AIDS crisis showed us how to equitably overcome a pandemic
Canada should not join other countries in instituting travel restrictions – or in breaking international law
The Global and Mail, February 13, 2020Print
Health Canada dangerously opaque when it comes to pharmaceuticals
Toronto Star, March 24, 2014Print
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
Health experts question coronavirus quarantine measures on cruise ship
The Guardian, March 18, 2020Online
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
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
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
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
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
International legal barriers to cannabis legalization
by Steven J. Hoffman, Roojin Habibi
Published by Canadian Medical Association Journal
May 17, 2016
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
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
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
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
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
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
Biography
Roojin Habibi is an international lawyer and academic working to promote global health equity through research, teaching, consulting and advocacy. She is also Barrister and Solicitor in Good Standing with the Law Society of Ontario, and fluent in English, French and Farsi.
As an Assistant Professor at the University of Ottawa’s Faculty of Law (Common Law Section), a Senior Visiting Fellow of the United Nations University’s International Institute for Global Health, and a Research Fellow of the Global Strategy Lab based at York University and the University of Ottawa, Habibi examines how laws, norms and power structures influence global health equity and the realization of health as a human right. Bridging the fields of international law, health law and human rights, her current research program examines normative interpretation and change in global health law.
Currently, Habibi is closely studying ongoing negotiations to draft a WHO pandemic instrument and to amend the International Health Regulations. In 2022, she was appointed by the WHO Director-General to the Review Committee regarding amendments to the International Health Regulations (2005), providing technical recommendations to States on more than 300 proposed amendments to the Regulations. Alongside these roles, she has led consensus-building initiatives at the frontiers of health and human rights, charting a partnership between the Global Health Law Consortium and the International Commission of Jurists that culminated in the 2023 Principles and Guidelines on Human Rights and Public Health Emergencies.
Having worked for government, nongovernmental and international organizations, Habibi also committed to research in the service of promoting health justice, informing public debate and achieving policy impact. She collaborates regularly on health rights advocacy with external partners such as the International Commission of Jurists, the HIV Legal Network, and the Canadian Partnership for Women and Children’s Health, speaks at national and international conferences and events, and interviews with print, radio, and television media.
At the core, her commitment to international human rights law scholarship and advocacy is rooted in her lived experience as a daughter of Kurdish migrants who left Iran in the aftermath of the 1979 Revolution. Habibi holds a Joseph-Armand Bombardier Canada Graduate Doctoral Award for my ongoing doctoral research at Osgoode Hall Law School, York University (Toronto, Canada), as well as 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.
Past Talks
International legal dimensions of cannabis legalization: reconciling national priorities with international obligations
McGill Institute for Health and Social Policy Annual Conference
Montreal, QC, April 27, 2018
Current and future roles of global health law
International Studies Association Annual Convention
Baltimore, MD, February 25, 2017
2018 Calgary Luncheon Speaker Series (Canadian Global Affairs Institute)
Calgary Petroleum Club, Calgary, AB, November 30, 2018