THE LAW OF FORCED MIGRATION Law457H1F, 2 hours / 3 credits
Instructors: Prof. Audrey Macklin, Flavelle 211, 946.7493,
Mr. Michael Battista, Jordan Battista, 203.2899 X 31,
Office Hours: After class or by appointment
Class Time: Wednesdays, 14h00 – 16h00, FA4
Course Website:
This course begins with an exploration of forced migration as a phenomenon independent from the legal categories into which migrants are placed. It then proceeds to an examination of the national and international legal regimes that define and govern refugees and, to a lesser extent, internally displaced persons (IDPs). The course will survey international, regional and domestic institutions and instruments, and will engage with the issues on a policy, jurisprudential and theoretical level. Students will be expected to participate actively in class discussion. This may include presentation of course material or other in-class activities. Observation of a refugee hearing and/or judicial review application may also be required.
SYLLABUS (subject to change)
September 14: Normative Claims about Forced Migration
September 21: History and Institutions of Refugee Protection
September 28:The Refugee Definition
October 5: The Refugee Definition(cont’d)
October 12:The Refugee Definition (cont’d)
October 19: Refugee Determination Process
October 26:Report Back from Hearings
November 2:Exclusion and Security
November 16:Exclusion and Security (cont’d)
Interdiction and Deterrence
November 23:Interdiction and Deterrence (cont’d)
Internally Displaced Persons
November30:IDPs (cont’d)
December 7:The Way Forward?
COURSE MATERIALS
- The Law of Forced Migration (Cases and Materials) Prof. Macklin and Mr. Battista (2 volumes)
- Immigration and Refugee Protection Act and Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations. Available online at I have excerpted the parts of the statute we will use most often into a Word document: IRPA (Protection)
COURSE OBJECTIVES
The course has two main objectives:
1. To impart the core concepts of Canadian refugee law as situated in the international legal regime governing forced migration. These involve the basic operations of the refugee determination process and the substance of the refugee definition as well as the new concept of “persons in need of protection”.
2. To put the law in context. This context includes the history, the politics and the institutions of the international refugee regime. We will also return, in various ways, to the sufficiency of the legal category “refugee” as a means of capturing the phenomenon and human rights concerns arising from situations of forced migration.
The instructors bring a combination of academic knowledge and practical experience that will be reflected in our approach to the subject matter. We expect and look forward to your active participation.
EVALUATION
Paper (25 pages)
You are free to choose any topic in the field of forced migration. You are not limited in terms of methodology (historical, theoretical, jurisprudential, comparative etc.) or geographical scope (national, regional, international), but you must clear the paper topic with the instructors in advance.
PLUS
Participation
Each student will be asked once during the term to assist in leading the class or present a draft of his/her paper. Each student will observe a refugee hearing before the Refugee Protection Division and/or a judicial review. We will provide you with a series of questions to answer as a means based on your observation.
INTERNET RESOURCES
The Webpage for this course contains dozens of links to sites dealing with forced migration. We may assign documents available from these sites from time to time. The links will also be very helpful in researching your paper. We encourage you to bring new websites to our attention for inclusion.
CANADA
Governmental
Canadian Security Intelligence Service
Citizenship and Immigration Canada (use this to locate existing and proposed legislation, backgrounders, news releases, the Immigration Manual, IntegrationNet and RefugeeNet)
Federal Court of Canada (Trial Division)
*Federal Court of Canada (Court of Appeal)
Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada
Immigration Quebec
Non-governmental
Canadian Council for Refugees
E-Refugee– Canadian Refugee Resource
*Empirical – an online multi-discplinary, multi-part course on Canadian migration, citizenship, settlement, integration and multiculturalism produced in conjunction with the Metropolis project
Maytree Foundation (research supporting immigrant and refugee settlement and integration)
Metropolis – An International Forum for Research and Policy and Migration, Diversity and Changing Cities (Canadian and International)
*Peopling North America: Population Movements and Migration (historical project)
Ontario Council of Agencies Serving Immigrants (OCASI)
STATUS (Campaign to Regularize Non-Status Immigrants in Canada)
INTERNATIONAL / COMPARATIVE
Governmental
International Migration and Multicultural Policies (UNESCO)
International Organization for Migration
*Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Migrants (UNHCHR)
United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCHR), Documents on Nationality, Statelessness, Asylum and Refugees
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
Non-Governmental
Center for Comparative Immigration Studies (University of San Diego)
Center for Gender and Refugee Studies (US but also comparative)
Center for Migration and Development
Centre for Refugee Studies (YorkUniversity)
Comparative Refugee Case Law
*Forced Migration Online
Forced Migration Review
*Global Campaign for the Ratification on the Convention on the Rights of Migrants
Global IDP (Internally Displaced Persons) Project
*Global Commission on International Migration
Guide to International Refugee Law Resources on the Web
*Institute for the Study of International Migration
*Institute for the Study of Labour
International Association for the Study of Forced Migration
International Centre for Migration and Health
*Human Rights First (formerly Lawyers Committee for Human Rights; US & International)
*Migrants Rights International
The Protection Project (Anti-Trafficking)
*Refugee Law Reader (online cases and materials on int’l refugee law)
Refugee Studies Centre (Oxford)
University of Minnesota International Human Rights Library (asylum and refugee)
Women’s Commission for Refugee Women and Children
REGIONAL/NATIONAL
Asia
The Asian Research Center for Migration
Australia
Australian Refugee Review Tribunal
Refugee Council of Australia
Europe
Centre for European Migration and Ethnic Studies
Center for Internationaland European Law on Immigration and Asylum
*Center for Migration Law, University of Nijmegan (Netherlands)
Electronic Immigration Network (UK/Europe)
*Eurasylum (Analysis and evaluation of developments affecting policy and legal decisions in the fields of immigration and border control processes, asylum determination procedures, IDPs and migrant integration schemes in EU and internationally)
European Council on Refugees and Exiles
European Research Centre on Migration and Ethnic Relations (ERCOMER; also has virtual library)
*Odysseus Network (Academic Network for legal studies on immigration and asylum in Europe)
Refugeenet (Refugee Integration in Europe)
France
Les Sans-Papiers (undocumented migrants in France)
Germany
ProAsyl
New Zealand
New Zealand Refugee Law
Sweden
Swedish Network for Refugee and Asylum Support Groups
UK
Asylum Rights
US
Center for Immigration Studies –CIS provides a terrific clipping service, where they cull media reports on migration from the US and foreign press. You can sign up for this if you wish. The primary function of the Center is to lobby against immigration to the US.
Center for Migration Studies
*Florida Immigrant Advocacy Center
*Migration Policy Institute (includes material on international and US-Canada border issues)
Refugee Law Center
US Committee for Refugees
VIVE la casa (shelter for Canada-bound asylum seekers in BuffaloNY)
Last revised by Audrey Macklin, 3 September 2005
Disclaimer