Course

Forced Migration & Human Rights in Int. Law - JURD7387

Faculty: Faculty of Law

School: Faculty of Law

Course Outline: See below

Campus: Sydney

Career: Postgraduate

Units of Credit: 6

EFTSL: 0.12500 (more info)

Indicative Contact Hours per Week: 4

Enrolment Requirements:

Pre-requisite: 36 UOC of JURD courses for students enrolled prior to 2013. For students enrolled after 2013, pre-requisite: 72 UOC of JURD courses.

Excluded: JURD7490, LAWS3187, LAWS8190

CSS Contribution Charge: 3 (more info)

Tuition Fee: See Tuition Fee Schedule

Further Information: See Class Timetable

View course information for previous years.

Description

This course focuses on the theoretical underpinnings of the international legal regime for those who are forcibly displaced, and queries why States have agreed to protect certain categories of persons and not others, and whether this is legally and/or ethically sound. Within the framework of international refugee law, human rights law, humanitarian law and international criminal law, the course examines various aspects of forced migration, such as refugeehood, statelessness, human trafficking, flight from human rights abuses or civil war, development-induced displacement, movement due to climate change or environmental catastrophe, and migration due to lack of economic opportunities. In doing so, the course considers the legal obligations of States and international organisations to assist and protect forced migrants.



Recommended Prior Knowledge

None

Course Objectives

This course aims to teach you to:
  • Think critically about international law and policy relating to forced migration
  • Understand the relationship between the international legal regime and domestic law
  • Analyse different conceptual approaches to forced migration
  • Identify the ethical bases of particular legal approaches
  • Evaluate the role of law in dealing with political issues and humanitarian assistance
  • Appreciate the role of the international community and international institutions in regulating forced migration
  • Understand how law shapes understandings of and responses to forced migration as a phenomenon
  • Appreciate the dynamic and evolving nature of this area of international law

Main Topics

  • Conceptualising 'forced migration'
  • The international refugee law regime
  • Climate-induced displacement
  • The role of human rights law: complementary protection
  • Protection in mass influx situations
  • The role and function of UNHCR
  • The ethics and politics of humanitarian assistance
  • Development-induced displacement
  • The asylum-migration nexus
  • The right to seek and enjoy asylum
  • Statelessness
  • Smuggling and trafficking

Assessment

Class participation (10%)
Class test (30%)
Research essay (60%)

Course Texts

Prescribed
GS Goodwin-Gill and J McAdam, The Refugee in International Law, 3rd edn, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2007.

Students will be required to access additional readings online.

Recommended
Refer to Course Outline provided by lecturer.

Resources

Refer to Course Outline provided by lecturer.
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