Year
2024Credit points
10Campus offering
No unit offerings are currently available for this unitPrerequisites
Nil
Unit rationale, description and aim
This unit contributes to the development of:
Sophisticated knowledge of International Refugee Law and Practice and the ability to apply them to Australia’s law and policy (JDTLO1).
- Critical analysis, cognitive and creative skills (JDTLO3).
- Advanced legal research skills (JDTLO4).
- Effective communication skills (JDTLO5).
This unit is designed to help students gain an in-depth understanding of refugee laws and their application with a focus on Australia legal framework and policy responses. It is intended to develop a deeper, and sophisticated understanding of various issues relating to the conceptualisation of refugee, asylum seeking/process and refugee status determination and protection, and resettlement and integrations measures. These issues will be analysed in the light of the doctrine of international solidarity, burden-sharing and durable solutions to refugee issues. This will assist students in reflecting critically on the doctrinal law that are introduced in other law units. These critical and cognitive skills will support the graduates’ future practice in legal and migration areas, human rights, advocacy and policy making areas.
Learning outcomes
To successfully complete this unit you will be able to demonstrate you have achieved the learning outcomes (LO) detailed in the below table.
Each outcome is informed by a number of graduate capabilities (GC) to ensure your work in this, and every unit, is part of a larger goal of graduating from ACU with the attributes of insight, empathy, imagination and impact.
Explore the graduate capabilities.
| Learning Outcome Number | Learning Outcome Description |
|---|---|
| LO1 | Describe and critically evaluate legal rules and human right theories that are relevant to refugee issues and processes |
| LO2 | Demonstrate an understanding of the role and outcomes of refugee status determination |
| LO3 | Apply international law and best practices to factual situations involving refugee in judicial and quasi-judicial trials as well as administrative settings |
Content
Topics will include:
1) Conceptualising refugee and refugee laws: international laws standards
2) The history of refugee and asylum seekers
3) The principle and practice of international solidarity and burden-sharing and durable solutions
4) The roles and responsibilities of protecting refugees and asylum seekers
5) International refugee organisations
6) National laws and policies – with a focus on Australia
7) Refugee status determination: law and practice
8) Refugee grounds under international law
9) Forms of refugee protection: onshore/offshore processing
10) Exclusion and cessation of refugee status
11) Alternatives to refugee protection
12) Refugee, globalisation, terrorism, and securitisation
13) Refugee, resettlement, integration, and management
Learning and teaching strategy and rationale
Mode: Lectures, tutorials, electronic consultation, research tasks and presentations or online lectures and activities.
Duration: 4 hours per week over 12 weeks or equivalent. Students are expected to spend approximately 150 hours in total for this unit.
This unit allows students to develop and demonstrate knowledge, skills and understanding in a specialist area of law that are vital to their professional work after graduation. Students will further develop advanced skills in legal research and critical analysis.
ACU’s strategy is to encourage students to creatively engage with unit content and to apply sophisticated legal knowledge, skills, and understandings to address legal problems. This unit is designed to be delivered in weekly attendance or online mode. We have taken a multimodal learning approach to provide accessibility and flexibility to our students and a student-focused approach that increases depth of learning and engagement through actively utilising canvas.
Assessment strategy and rationale
The assessment strategy is designed to assess knowledge and understanding of useful legal framework and standards and apply them to refugee issues. It will also aim to assessing students’ ability to: carry out effective research; synthesise information and arguments; critically and creatively analyse and apply relevant international and domestic legal standards to contemporary refugee issues.
The assessment tasks for this unit are designed to demonstrate achievement of all of the learning outcomes listed. Please note the weighting of the assessment has been approved in accordance with s 5.2 of the ACU Assessment Policy.
Overview of assessments
| Brief Description of Kind and Purpose of Assessment Tasks | Weighting | Learning Outcomes |
|---|---|---|
Assessment 1: Case study The assessment is designed to develop students’ ability to critically analyse the application of relevant refugee law and standard to a real case scenario. They will examine and critique a contemporary decision involving a refugee application/status determination. It is intended to develop the students’ research skills, and their ability to locate and identify relevant scholarly materials based on the given topics. Students will be assessed based on the identification the relevant legal issues and concise evaluations the decision. This requires students to reflect, summarise, critique the case. | 30% | LO1, LO2, LO3 |
Assessment 2: Presentation Students will be required to present their findings of Assessment 1 | 20% | LO1, LO2, LO3 |
Assessment 3: Research Essay Students will be assessed on the quality, depth and sophistication of their research, their understanding of applicable international and domestic law and standard involving a refugee/asylum seekers' issue. Their ability to creatively provide critical explanations (using refugee law and human rights doctrines) is also part of the set assessment criteria. | 50% | LO1, LO2, LO3 |
Representative texts and references
1) A guide to international refugee protection and building state asylum systems (Handbook for Parliamentarians 2017
2) Costello, Cathryn, et al, The Oxford handbook of international refugee law (Oxford University Press, 2021)
3) Gauci, Jean-Pierre et al, Exploring the boundaries of refugee law: current protection challenges (Brill Nijhoff, 2015)
4) Vrachnas, John, Migration and refugee law: principles and practice in Australia (Cambridge University Press, 2011)
5) Foster, M & Lambert, H, International refugee law and the protection of stateless persons (Oxford University Press, 2019)
6) Goldenziel, Jill I, Australia-migrants-refugees-international refugee law-immigration-offshore detention-human rights-executive power (2016)110 The American journal of international law 547
7) Julie Bishop, International refugee law: Australia's approach to combatting people smuggling (2016) 34, Australian yearbook of international law 430
8) Convention relating to the Status of Refugees – 1951
9) Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees – 1967
10) Migration Act 1958 (Cth)