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Forced Migration & Human Rights in Int'l Law - LAWS3187

Faculty: Faculty of Law

School: Faculty of Law

Course Outline: See below

Campus: Kensington Campus

Career: Undergraduate

Units of Credit: 6

EFTSL: 0.12500 (more info)

Indicative Contact Hours per Week: 3

Enrolment Requirements:

Pre-requisite: Crime & Criminal Process (LAWS1021/JURD7121) & Criminal Laws (LAWS1022/JURD7122) OR Crim. Law 1 (LAWS1001/JURD7101) & Crim. Law 2 (LAWS1011/JURD7111). Co-requisite: Litigation 1 [LAWS2311/ JURD7211] OR Res. Civil Disp. (LAWS2371/JURD7271)

Excluded: JURD7387, JURD7490, 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.

Order from UNSW Bookshop

Resources

Refer to Course Outline provided by lecturer.