Monash University Handbook 2011 Postgraduate - Unit

Refer to the specific census and withdrawal dates for the semester(s) in which this unit is offered.

Synopsis

This unit will introduce students to current issues about forced migration and human rights. Topics to be discussed include:

• Causes of forced migration and human rights abuse, including development induced displacement, environmental degradation, decolonisation, conflict and war, globalisation of market economies, including trafficking in humans.
• Legal categories and consequences: refugees, internally displaced persons, victims of trafficking, smuggled migrants, victims of torture, stateless people.
• The overlap between international human rights law, refugee law and international migration law.

Objectives

A student who has completed this unit will have the following outcomes:

1. an understanding of the causes of forced migration and the links with human rights abuse
2. knowledge about the legal categories of forced migrants
3. knowledge of the significance and consequences of attributing legal status to the different categories of forced migrants
4. the ability to critically evaluate the role of law in defining the rights of forced migrants
5. knowledge about the institutional arrangements for protecting the rights of the different categories of forced migrants
6. the ability to critically evaluate the role of institutions in providing protection and solutions to forced migrants
7. knowledge about the various options and solutions for dealing with forced migration, and the ability to critically evaluate them
8. enhanced oral and written communication skills, including the ability to conduct research and to devise a research project.

Assessment

Research paper (3,750 words): 50%
Take home examination (3,750 words): 50%
or
Research paper (7,500 words): 100%

Chief examiner(s)

Professor Susan Kneebone

Contact hours

24 contact hours per semester (either intensive, semi-intensive or semester long, depending on the Faculty resources, timetabling and requirements)

Prerequisites

LAW7026 Overview of international human rights law