LAWS 2254 Refugee & Forced Migration Law

CREDIT HOURS: 3

This course critically engages with the legal framework involved in forced human migration. The causes for this displacement include fleeing from armed conflict, the effects of climate change, state-sanctioned persecution, conditions of entrenched poverty, and industrial interests such as large-scale mining operations. Students will develop an understanding of how existing international instruments and bodies respond to aspects of forced migration, their legal and practical limitations, and protection gaps, as well as the lawfulness of state strategies to contain or regulate mass flows, including responsibility-sharing agreements, detention centers, off-shore interception, and the thickening of borders. The course will include assessing Canadian practices, and their adherence or variation from emerging international norms and the regimes in other jurisdictions.

Limit: 16 students. 

Prerequisite(s): None.
Co-requisite(s): None.
Assessment Method: Major research paper and class participation.
Restrictions: JD & JD Combined Degree students.