This module is not currently running in 2025 to 2026.
How do people become "illegal"? What does this language say about the ways in which states view people fleeing their homes to seek international protection? How does state sovereignty impact on migration law and practice? To what extent does international law provide protection to forced migrants who cross international frontiers, as well as to those who flee but are prevented from crossing borders? You will learn about the complex set of laws and policies that frame forced migration and migrants and the impact this has on their ability to claim their rights either at home or abroad. You will examine the development of international refugee law from its early days, and you will encounter the various responses states have adopted in more recent years to limit their obligations under this body of law. Each week you will engage in a critical evaluation of different aspects of international migration law. You will evaluate the rights of human beings who happen to be migrants; we shall ask, to which rights are smuggled migrants, trafficked migrants, asylum seekers, refugees, and those who are internally displaced, each entitled?
Lecture/seminars 16
Workshop 8
Written- Report -Policy memo- 1,500 words- 30%
Written- Essay -2,500 words-70%
Reassessment methods: Like for like
See the library reading list for this module (Canterbury)
On successful completion of this module, students will be able to:
1. Formulate a critique of the main sources of international migration law and of the systems for the international protection of various types of forced migrants.
2. Critically evaluate theoretical and interdisciplinary critiques of international migration law.
3. Critically appraise political and philosophical discourses relating to contemporary international migration.
4. Apply new insights and advanced knowledge of current problems and themes pertaining international migration law.
5. Formulate complex legal argument concerning state practice using international and comparative legal materials
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