UM: Refugee Law and Statelessness - Practical Aspects

The study-unit will comprise a series of lectures exploring the legal, policy and practical aspects of two populations: refugees and stateless persons. By linking the two populations, the study-unit will examine the legal regimes governing situations where state fail - intentionally or otherwise - to protect persons. Together with analysing the legal aspects, emerging from international, European and national law, the study-unit will contextualise these populations within their social environments so as to present the social and personal dynamics happening at the micro-cosmic level. In particular, the study-unit will adopt a rights-based understanding of the positioning of the refugee and the stateless person within communities.

Refugees and Refugee Law
Stateless Persons
Human Rights
Rights-based approach
International law

1. Knowledge & Understanding:
By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to:
- understand the definitions of refugee and statelessness;
- understand the nature of state obligations in relation to these populations;
- identify the sources of law and institutional protection/intervention regarding refugees and stateless persons;
- understand the trigger elements (in law, policy and practice) that create refugee situations and stateless persons;
- identify sources of solutions;
- understand the notion of state protection, and the implications of its absence.
 
2. Skills:
By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to:
- engage in discussions on the positioning of refugees and stateless persons within contemporary communities and societies;
- analyse specific contexts and appreciate their potential for creating refugee or statelessness scenarios;
- explore legal, policy and other avenues for increased protection of refugees and stateless persons.

Assignment (100%)

Refugees Primary:
- James C. Hathaway, The rights of refugees under international law, Cambridge University Press, 2005.
- Forced Migration Current Awareness, https://fm-cab.blogspot.com.mt/, online blog.
- ECRE, Policy Note: Chartering a way to protection - The EU Charter of Fundamental Rights - An indispensable instrument in the file of Asylum, 2017. Available at https://www.ecre.org/ecre-policy-note-chartering-a-way-to-protection-the-eu-charter-of-fundamental-rights-an-indispensable-instrument-in-the-field-of-asylum/
 
Refugees Secondary:
- ECRE, The Way Forward: Europe's role in the global refugee protection system, 2005.
Available at http://www.refworld.org/docid/4356034c4.html
- IRIN, Time to reform the way we protect refugees?, 2016. Available at http://www.irinnews.org/analysis/2016/05/09/time-reform-way-we-protect-refugees
- Koichi Koizumi and Gerhard Hoffstaedter, Urban Refugees: Challenges in protection, services and policy, Routledge, 2015.
 
Statelessness Primary:
- European Network on Statelessness, ENS Good Practice Guide on Statelessness Determination and the Protection Status of Stateless Persons, 2013. Available at http://www.statelessness.eu/resources/ens-good-practice-guide-statelessness-determination-and-protection-status-stateless
- Laura Van Waas and Melanie Khanna (eds), Solving Statelessness, Wolf Legal Publishers, 2016.
 
Statelessness Secondary:
- European Network on Statelessness, Still Stateless, Still Suffering - Why Europe Must Act Not to Protect Stateless Persons, 2014. Available at http://www.ecre.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/www.statelessness.eu_sites_www.statelessness.eu_files_ENS_Still_Stateless_Still_Suffering_online%20version_2.pdf