Undergraduate - UnitLAW4164 - International refugee law and practice 406

This unit entry is for students who completed this unit in 2014 only. For students planning to study the unit, please refer to the unit indexes in the the current edition of the Handbook. If you have any queries contact the managing faculty for your course or area of study.

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6 points, SCA Band 3, 0.125 EFTSL

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Level	Undergraduate
Faculty	Faculty of Law
Offered	Clayton First semester 2014 (Day)

Synopsis

Topics include: sources of international refugee law and the evolution of the international regime for refugee protection; comparative implementation of the refugee definition in Europe and other jurisdictions; modification of the Refugees Convention in domestic legislation; restrictive concepts such as 'internal protection' and 'safe third country'; the development of 'complementary protection' for asylum-seekers; issues raised by regional responses and creation of 'burden sharing' arrangements between States; procedures for determination of refugee status; proposals to reformulate the refugee protection regime.

Outcomes

Upon completion of this unit students should:

understand the background and nature of international refugee law
have detailed knowledge of the international instruments applicable to asylum seekers, including the Refugees Convention
have acquired detailed knowledge of the concept of a 'refugee' under the Refugees Convention and of the various elements of the definition
be able to evaluate comparative state and regional practices towards refugee applicants and application of the Refugees Convention
understand and be able to evaluate measures adopted to modify the Refugees Convention
have further developed legal research, writing and legal argument skills by undertaking research, into issues relating to international refugee law
have further developed skills of oral presentation and argumentation in an interactive class context.

Assessment

Research assignment (2,500 words): 50%
Examination (2 hours writing time plus 30 minutes reading and noting time): 50%.

Chief examiner(s)

Mrs Maria O'Sullivan

Workload requirements

Four hours of lectures per week (for 9 weeks)

Prerequisites

LAW1100 or LAW1101 and LAW1102 or LAW1104
International/Partner universities: General Introduction to Law

Co-requisites

None