EU Asylum Law and Fundamental Rights

Refugees have the right to international protection. But when is a person a refugee and what are the rights and obligations refugees have? This course covers the core issues of European law that define the scope of international protection from a multi-level, comparative and integrated perspective. The course focuses on the refugee definition and protection as defined in the 1951 Refugee Convention and the 1967 New York Protocol. These instruments also bind the European Union (EU) which since 1999 has developed the Common European Asylum System (CEAS) and are integrated by many international and European human rights instruments, such as the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). The course aims to provide students with a critical understanding of the content, functioning, and shortcomings of the CEAS, taking into consideration the challenging interactions between international law, EU law, and domestic law.
The course consists of weekly lectures and seminar groups as well as a student-based legislative laboratory to critically reflect on the legislative framework of the CEAS and suggest concrete amendments. To this end, the weekly lectures will focus on the core theoretical concepts of International and European Asylum Law such as the definition of a refugee, the concept of non-refoulement, the concept of subsidiary protection. In the weekly seminars, these theoretical concepts will be contextualized by discussing specific case law analysis and concrete cases that will help the student understand – in view of the legislative laboratory - what kind of amendments could be necessary.
Place of the course within the curriculum:

• Compulsory course in the specialisation European Migration Law of the master European Law

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After this course:

• the student will gain a comprehensive understanding of the international and European legal framework applying to refugees and other forced migrants;
• the student will be able to reflect on key challenges in the EU and international protection regime for refugees and other forced migrants;
• the student will be able to interpret relevant legal documents and case law and apply them to a case;
• the student will be able to form independent critical opinions and set correct reasoning based on the study of multiple scholarly works, such as textbooks, scientific articles or essays and commentaries;
• the student will be able to propose changes or amendments to the relevant legislation and solutions to legal cases.

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You will be enrolled for this course by administration of the programme of this course.

You must meet the following requirements

• Enrolled for a degree programme of faculty Faculty of Law, Economics and Governance
• Completed Bachelor