Module LAW3581: Migration, Asylum, and Refugee Law

Department: Law

LAW3581: Migration, Asylum, and Refugee Law

Prerequisites

• LAW1081 The Individual and the State
• LAW2221 Criminal Law
• LAW2131 Public International Law

Corequisites

• None

Excluded Combination of Modules

• None

Aims

• The purpose of this module is to develop an understanding of migration, asylum, and refugee law both at the domestic and international levels. The module will help students distinguish between the three categories that comprise its title, understand the history, consequences, and doctrinal content of domestic prerogatives and international legal requirements in these areas and how they relate, and introduce them to key debates and questions in the field(s).

Content

• The following may be among the topics covered by this module:
• An introduction to the different terms used in the title of the module and their distinction in law
• The basics of the history of migration, refugee, and asylum law
• Fundamentals of domestic immigration law, including citizenship and border control
• Enforcement of immigration law through detention and deportation
• The obligations of the 1951 Refugee Convention
• The role of human rights in offering protections to migrants, asylum-seekers, and refugees
• The relevance of other areas of international law to migration, including but not necessarily limited to labour law, the law of the sea, trade law, and anti-trafficking law
• Freedom of movement and skilled migration.

Learning Outcomes

• Students should be able to:
• Understand distinctions between migration, asylum, and refugee law
• Comprehend the basic domestic and international legal frameworks governing migration, asylum, and refugee issues
• Have a sense of how domestic and international law interact in their relationship to migration, asylum, and refugee issues
• Underline key questions and controversies in these field(s) and develop positions relating to them

• Students should be able to:
• Legally distinguish between (im)migrants, asylum-seekers, and refugees to the extent possible
• Evaluate how different elements of domestic and international law apply to international migrants
• Apply knowledge of how domestic and international law relate to controversies concerning migration, asylum, and refugee issues
• Hold an informed discussion or give an informed presentation and critically analyze in writing controversies involving migration, asylum, and refugee law.

• Students should be able to:
• Demonstrate sophisticated analytical and writing skills both for academic and wider audiences
• Demonstrate the ability to hold informed discussion and make an informed presentation involving academic sources and contentious legal and political subjects
• Demonstrate the ability to think critically on these complex topics in both writing and speaking
• Manage time efficiently and work independently within a limited time frame to complete specified tasks

Modes of Teaching, Learning and Assessment and how these contribute to the learning outcomes of the module

• Teaching will be in the form of lectures and seminars for which students must prepare reading. During some weeks the lecture content of the period will be longer, during some weeks the seminar period will be.
• Seminars will be guided by key questions focused on exploring the themes of each session in depth or building connections with other sessions and topics in preparation for the summative. They will proceed on the basis of assigning groups of students to lead the discussion of the readings and these questions.
• Assessment will test relevant learning outcomes. The formative will help to build and demonstrate the ability to analyse recent or hypothetical migration, asylum, and/or refugee legal issues from an informed perspective derived from the contents on the module delivered thus far. The assignment will require students both to write a "blog post" (Digital Output) analysing a specific issue for a broader public audience and to produce an analysis (Commentary) which answers a question that engages with academic debates.
• The summative assessment activities will be identical in form in order to give students the opportunity to build on the skills developed in the formative and apply them to areas covered in the latter half of the module and to themes from across the entire module.
• Class discussions will provide additional guidance for the topics and ideas on which formative and summative questions will be built.
• Feedback on both essays will be provided in accordance with law school guidelines, with feedback on the formative designed to assist with performance on the summative.

Teaching Methods and Learning Hours

Summative Assessment

Formative Assessment:

2000 words, half of which is a “blog post” on a recent or hypothetical migration, asylum, or refugee legal issue written for a general audience, and half of which involves engagement with academic debates

■ Students who do not attend monitored activities shown under Teaching Methods and Learning Hours, or who fail to complete the summative or formative assessment(s) specified above, may be subject to the Academic Progress procedures defined in the University's General Regulation V, and may be required to leave the University.