International Refugee Law:Refugee Rights

This subject is not offered in 2016.

The pre-teaching period commences four weeks before the subject commencement date. From this time, students are expected to access and review the Reading Guide that will be available from the LMS subject page and the subject materials provided by the subject coordinator, which will be available from Melbourne Law School. Refer to the Reading Guide for confirmation of which resources need to be read and what other preparation is required before the teaching period commences.

Applicants without legal qualifications should note that subjects are offered in the discipline of law at an advanced graduate level. While every effort will be made to meet the needs of students trained in other fields, concessions will not be made in the general level of instruction or assessment. Most subjects assume the knowledge usually acquired in a degree in law (LLB, JD or equivalent). Applicants should note that admission to some subjects in the Melbourne Law Masters will be dependent upon the individual applicant’s educational background and professional experience.

Students who have undertaken International Refugee Law cannot enrol in this subject

The Melbourne Law Masters welcomes applications from students with disabilities. The inherent academic requirements for study in the Melbourne Law Masters are:

• The ability to attend a minimum of 75% of classes and actively engage in the analysis and critique of complex materials and debate;
• The ability to read, analyse and comprehend complex written legal materials and complex interdisciplinary materials;
• The ability to clearly and independently communicate in writing a knowledge and application of legal principles and interdisciplinary materials and to critically evaluate these;
• The ability to clearly and independently communicate orally a knowledge and application of legal principles and interdisciplinary materials and critically evaluate these;
• The ability to work independently and as a part of a group;
• The ability to present orally and in writing legal analysis to a professional standard.

Students who feel their disability will inhibit them from meeting these inherent academic requirements are encouraged to contact the Disability Liaison Unit: www.services.unimelb.edu.au/disability/

This workshop-style subject affords students the opportunity for both conceptual analysis and hands-on application of internationally guaranteed refugee rights.

The first part of the subject addresses the way in which rights are allocated under the Refugee Convention, and the interrelationship between refugeespecific rights and more general norms of international human rights law. Against this background, students will take up as a case study the right of refugees to work in asylum countries.

The second part of the subject is student-directed, with each student in the class taking responsibility to investigate a current situation in which refugee rights are arguably at risk, and to conceive and present an international legal intervention strategy for critique by the lecturer and other students.

Principal topics will include:

• Rights under the Refugee Convention
• Case study: The right to work
• Strategising for effective international intervention.

A student who has successfully completed this subject should:

• Understand the international development of refugee law
• Have a knowledge of the different international instruments governing refugee law at the international level
• Understand the key questions involved in the definition of a refugee, and the different approaches taken to these issues in the comparative jurisprudence
• Understand the refugee rights regime set out in the 1951 Refugee Convention
• Understand the way in which international refugee law interacts with the Australian domestic legal system
• Understand how comparative material may be used in refugee cases in Australia.

Draft intervention strategy (20%)

Conceiving and leading discussion of a class members draft strategy (20%)

6,000 word research paper (60%) on a topic approved by the subject coordinator

Core subject materials will be provided free of charge to all students. Some subjects require further texts to be purchased. Details regarding any prescribed texts will be provided prior to the commencement of the subject.

This subject is not available as a breadth subject.

This subject has a quota of 30 students. Please refer to the website www.law.unimelb.edu.au/masters/courses-and-subjects/subjects/subject-timing-and-format for further information about the management of subject quotas and waitlists.