Learning Outcomes:
The main objective of this module is to introduce you to International Migration Law (IML) and its workings in practice. The aim is to ensure that students understand, and can assess critically, the nature, content and scope of IML, and how it relates to international human rights law (IHRL). We will also consider the limits of IML, in particular its fragmented nature, and the capacious notion of state sovereignty in this field.
At the conclusion of this module students should have advanced their skills in the following areas:
Legal research, analysis and argumentation;
Treaty interpretation and interpretation of other legal acts;
Close reading of legal judgements and other legal sources;
Critical assessment of and engagement in legal and ethical argumentation based on scholarly sources and debates;
Oral communication and argumentation.
More concretely, the course aims to enable students to:
L01: Contextualise and historicise key sources, concepts and principles of international migration law and relevant international human rights law.
L02: Understand how international migration law develops over time, both formally and informally, including the role of states, and state institutions (including courts); regional organisations (eg the EU); migrants, citizens, civil society, and scholars in its development.
L03: Identify and recognise the content, potential, and limits of key international treaties in this field, including the 1951 Convention on the Status of Refugees, the 1990 International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families, and key treaties on trafficking and smuggling.
L04: Explore key interactions between international human rights law and international migration law, in particular around detention, discrimination and labour exploitation.
L05: Problematise the law and practices of the global migration regime, in particular by assessing the legality of contemporary migration control practices, in particular around detention, discrimination and labour exploitation.
L06: Identify, appraise and engage in key debates on the workings, effectiveness and protectiveness of international migration law.
Indicative Module Content:
Seminars are delivered by Professor Cathryn Costello, Mr Baha Ebdeir, and a number of guest speakers, so the list below is indicative only, and subject to change.
1 Introducing International Migration Law
2 Sources, Methods and Approaches to IML
3 Nationality, Statelessness, State Formation, including Displacement and Deportation
4 The refugee under the 1951 Convention on the Status of Refugees
5 Migrant Workers, including 1990 International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families
6 Family Migration
7 Trafficking and Smuggling
8 Immigration-related Detention
9 Discrimination
10 Labour Exploitation
11 Reform or Revolution?