International Migration Law

International migration remains both an important challenge for the international community and one of the most hotly debated issues in domestic and international politics. Most recently, the Ukraine crisis has prompted a historic number of refugees in Europe and the activation of new legal responses, involving a higher degree of mobility for refugees across borders. Vice versa, the COVID-19 pandemic saw countries all over the world introduce travel restrictions and quarantine measures, with deep-seated implications for cross-border mobility. Political and legal reform processes also continue around migration and refugee issues. In 2018 and 2019, two new UN compacts were adopted – the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration and the Global Compact for Refugees.

This course aims to provide students with a greater understanding and an overview of this complex area of law and policy. The course defines international migration law in broad terms, as composed by a range of different international legal regimes, e.g. human rights law, labour law, security law, EU law and law of the sea. It further examines the interplay between different types of law at the international, regional and national level. Special sessions are allocated to provide a more in-depth understanding of and actively debate key questions and dilemmas related to international migration law, e.g. climate migration, refugee protection, boat migrants, free movement and human smuggling. The course strives to offer an integrated and coherent guidance for the analysis of the multiple but interrelated normative areas of international migration law. It further encourages students to reflect on the different functions and significance of human mobility in an era of globalization.

For the 2023 course, special attention will be paid to the impact of both the Ukraine conflict and the COVID-19 pandemic on global mobility and migration. Many of the measures implemented in response to both of these issues fundamentally challenge long-established principles of international migration and refugee law. Although measures may well be temporary, these events also hold the potential to more profoundly challenge and upend current mobility structures and migration law. Similarly, the risk of future refugee flows or global pandemics may well prompt states to make significant regulatory adjustments.

This course is part of iCourts Excellence Programme (iEP) – International Law and Courts in a Global World, please see 'Remarks' below.