A participant who has successfully completed this course should have a clear understanding of:

• the conventional and customary law obligations of States in respect of refugees and other asylum-seekers and of the rights of applicants
• the protection mechanisms, both national and international, that operate for the immediate and long-term protection of refuge-seekers and the policy considerations that affect contemporary State attitudes to such groups
• the legal problems affecting national interpretations and application of refugee concepts, with particular emphasis on definitional problems, status determination procedures and non-refoulement.

Content

The course will focus mainly on the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and the 1967 Protocol, supplemented by additional materials that assist in the interpretation, construction and critique of these instruments. Particular attention will be paid to national implementation of refugee protection and status determination procedures in Australia, comparing and contrasting the approach taken, where appropriate, with that of other nations.

Addressed will be the origins of the international system of protection, its limitations and deficiencies; the role and relevance of UNHCR; definitional problems; exclusion and cessation of refugee status; core concepts of protection (including complementary protection), asylum, non-refoulement, penalization and refugee rights; asylum, temporary refuge, temporary protection and burden-sharing; durable solutions; protracted refugee situations; status determination procedures; detention; ‘deflection' techniques; other categories such as ‘environmental' refugees and internally displaced persons; and a consideration of possible future directions for refugee law.

The broad purpose of the course is to examine the international mechanisms and norms that have been developed for the protection of refugees, and the reciprocal interaction between these mechanisms and norms and national policies. As refugee law exists to address a specific humanitarian need, students will be expected to consider critically the law's effectiveness in managing the global refugee situation, the protection needs of refugees, and the impact on national societies.

Consequently a participant who has successfully completed this course should:

• be conversant with the substance of the legal norms that govern the international protection system for refugees, the rights international law bestows upon them and the obligations of States in this area
• have acquired a familiarity with the legal problems caused by definitional and operational issues under the provisions of the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees
• be able to discuss and debate the various policy issues raised by the implementation of international and domestic protection systems in light of contemporary circumstances.

The domestic implementation of refugee law will be considered primarily in the Australian context. As a result, students will be expected to develop a sound knowledge of the structure of refugee law in Australia, including relevant legislation, case law, policy and determination procedures. For the purposes of comparative analysis, British and European refugee law will also be examined.

The assessment for this course will involve three components: class participation, formal presentation, and research assignment. Students will be encouraged to develop a research proposal of their choice in coordination with the lecturer; it may be on the same topic upon which they presented. Attendance at 80% of classes will be compulsory, with marks deducted for failure to attend. The overall aim of these components is to provide students with an opportunity to engage at all levels with both the ongoing subject matter of the course, as well as to develop their research skills, and to allow them to direct their energies towards areas of specific interest.

More information about the means of assessment, including the relationship between the assessment and the learning outcomes of the course, will be available on the course home page by the first week of semester.

Depending on class size, it is expected that every week there will be a two-hour lecture and a one-hour student-lead seminar based around presentations.  Students are generally expected to devote approximately 10 hours overall per week to this course.

LAWS2250 International Law and LAWS2201 Administrative Law.
Completed or completing five LAWS courses at 1000 level.

It would be helpful but not compulsory for students to have completed International Law of Human Rights prior to commencing this course.   

Information about prescribed texts will be made available in the course outline.  See the course home page.

The preliminary reading required for this course will be available from the course home page at least one week prior to the commencement of the course.

A reading guide will be available on the course web page.