Refugees, Asylum Seekers and the Law: Rights and Realities (LAWS7714)
Information valid for Semester 2, 2025
Course level
Postgraduate Coursework
Faculty
School
Law School
Units
2
Duration
One Semester
Attendance mode
In Person
Class hours
Seminar 3 Hours/ Week
Restricted
LLM; LLM(Adv); LLM(16), LLM(24); MICLaw; GCIR; MIR(16); MIR(24); MIR(32), MIL, MIR/MIL Quota: minimum of 12 enrolments
Course enquiries
Professor Peter Billings ()
Current course offerings
| Course offerings | Location | Mode | Course Profile |
| Semester 2, 2025 (28/07/2025 - 22/11/2025) | St Lucia | In Person | Profile unavailable |
| Semester 2, 2025 (28/07/2025 - 22/11/2025) | External | External | Profile unavailable |
Please Note: Course profiles marked as not available may still be in development.
Course description
This course critically examines international and regional laws (treaties and case-law), and domestic policies and laws (legislation and case-law) and politics, relating to forced migration. Study will focus on both historical and contemporary refugee law and practice in Australia in light of international refugee law, and international human rights law in particular. The transplantation of those international norms into domestic law via the Migration Act 1958 (Cth) (and key cases interpreting and applying those laws) will be carefully and critically analysed. Attention will also focus on the key challenges to refugee protection raised by contemporary Australian practices, especially in respect of asylum seekers arriving irregularly by sea; including mandatory detention, offshore (regional) processing and temporary protection. The course will encourage students to incorporate comparative and/or interdisciplinary perspectives into their legal analyses of international law and domestic law and practice.
