Weekly outline

  • Introduction


    Dear students,

    Welcome to International and European Migration Law (with focus on Migration and Environment). I look forward to working with you throughout the semester. This time there are two of you, my colleague Karolina Žákovská and me.

    What will the class look like?
    🌍 we'll be discussing cases and complexities of refugee and migration law,
    🌍 we'll analyze primary sources and apply them,
    🌎 we'll read and research,
    🌎 we'll test knowledge,
    🌍 we'll try to work as a team, sharing the joy of what we understand and the worry of what we don't.

    For those who are interested, guests are invited on some Wednesdays from 9am. We will talk with them about migration issues.

    I look forward to working together!
    Věra Honusková

  • 16. 2. Shaping the course: Future refugees (Věra Honusková)

    Who are the refugees? Are refugees those who leave armed conflict? What if they do not leave their country?
    ... And how concerned should we be in the law about environmental migrants?
    These are also questions we will address in this course.

  • 2. 3. Situation on Ukraine (Věra Honusková, Karolina Žákovská)

    I am going to upload documents that were not in force when we discussed the issue. But we consider them important for you to know about (not for the purposes of the course, but generally).

  • 9. 3. International refugee law, principle of non-refoulement

    ...Coming as someone who is (more or less) welcome. International refugee law.

    Target of the lesson:
    To look at the current regulation, its background and content.

    To prepare:
    1. Read the Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees.
    3.Read the UNHCR Global Trends.

    Questions for reflection:
    1. in general:
    - Is there a right to migrate (in the sense of "right to migrate")? Alternatively, why?
    - Is there a right to protection as a refugee? Alternatively, why?
    - (1) What is the right to a refugee?
    - Is migration in general (and refugeeism in particular) a benefit or a burden for the receiving state? Alternatively, why?
    - Do we distinguish in law between migration and refugeehood? On what basis?
    2. What should the definition of a refugee look like?  Should it remain as it is now or include other persons in need?
    - Can states consider outsourcing refugee-related issues?
    - How to address the issue of solidarity between states (who should receive and how much, "burden sharing" x "burden shifting")?
    - Right to enter the state x right to leave the state?
    - What if a refugee enters the state illegally?
    - Is protection through refugee status available to anyone who has grounds for it?
    - Is a person fleeing war a refugee?
    - For how long does the state grant protection to refugees?

    What we will work with:
    The Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees

  • 16. 3. Regional Refugee Law (Věra Honusková)

    Regional refugee law - EU framework. Protection statuses in EU law. Options for responding to environmental migration under regional schemes.
    Reflection on examples: leaving the country due to climate change (Teitiota case). Internal displacement due to environmental change (development projects, etc.).

    Seminar objective: To learn about European refugee law, protection statuses and their possible use for environmental migration. Reflection on the importance of regional arrangements.

    What to read:  
    1. Go through the Dublin Regulation. I am not asking you to read it, just to get an idea of what it is about.
    2. Please read Articles 1-21 of the Qualification Directive.
    3. Please read Articles 35, 36 and 38 of the Procedural Directive.
    4. Please read the case of Ioanne Teitiota.

  • 23. 3. Human rights context of climate change - adaptation as a way to prevent migration (Karolina Žákovská)

    The goal of the lecture:
    Students will understand the importance of climate change mitigation and adaptation measures to prevent forced environmental migration. They will be able to subsume disaster prevention and response measures under adaptation in a broad sense. They will know the relevant provisions and mechanisms of international climate law and understand their limits. They will be able to apply human rights law to the fields of adaptation and disaster prevention and response and will be aware of the limits of this approach. They will understand that migration, whether unplanned or organised by the State, might be – in certain cases – the best or even the only adaptation option.

    Please, watch the video "Adapting to a changing climate".

  • 30. 3. Environmental migration as a consequence of insufficient or impossible adaptation (Karolina Žákovská, Věra Honusková)


    1. Please, watch this video.
    2. Please, read the Kampala Convention and the Guiding Principles for Internal Displacement.
    Are these documents applicable to environmental changes caused by slow onset and/or rapid onset events? Do they provide for obligations of states to prevent migration caused by these events?

  • 6. 4. Family reunification and integration (Věra Honusková)

    Karolina´s lecture is optional for LL.M., Erasmus and Environmental migration course students.

    Věra´s lecture (optional)

    Objective:
    to understand the concept of family reunification and integration. Understand the relevance of these concepts to migration law.

    Questions:
    1. Is there a right to family reunification?
    2. Which international decision-making bodies in EU Member States can consider the issue of family reunification?
    3. Are you integrated into the society of your country?


  • 13. 4. International liability in the field of climate change, human rights and migration (Karolina Žákovská, Věra Honusková)

    The term “odpovědnost” (responsibility or liability in English) is used quite frequently in various treaty and non-treaty international instruments, but with very different meanings. On closer inspection, it is necessary to distinguish three basic meanings of this word: 

    1. responsibility for internationally wrongful conduct (i.e. a breach of a valid international obligation attributable to a State), 

    1. liability for harmful consequences (typically environmental damage) arising from activities not prohibited by international law, and 

    1. responsibility in the sense of positive (active, prospective) responsibility, or more precisely, the primary obligation of the state to do something, to ensure something, or to refrain from doing something. 

    (from ŠTURMA, Pavel. Mezinárodní odpovědnost za škodlivé následky činností nezakázaných mezinárodním právem. In: ČEPELKA, Čestmír, JÍLEK, Dalibor a Pavel ŠTURMA. Mezinárodní odpovědnost. Spisy Právnické fakulty Masarykovy univerzity v Brně, Řada teoretická, svazek 261. Masarykova univerzity, Brno, 2003, p. 116). 

     

    Climate change raises the question of state responsibility/liability in many ways. 

     

    Think about whether state responsibility/liability (choose the appropriate term) can be considered for the following aspects of climate change (and the potential damage associated with them): 

    1. Climate change caused by historical greenhouse gas emissions and the damage caused by it. 

    1. Failure to respect UNFCCC obligations. 

    1. Failure to respect the obligation of Annex I Parties to the UNFCCC to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by a specified amount under the Kyoto Protocol. 

    1. Potential disregard of the obligation of States under the Paris Agreement to set an ambitious nationally determined contribution to the common objective of holding the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels. 

    1. State-induced lack of adaptation, including disaster preparedness. 

    1. Migration associated with slow or rapid environmental changes caused by climate change. 

     

    To whom could the state be responsible/liable and for what? 

    Who could claim responsibility/liability of the state and possible compensation? 

    What are the obstacles to the application of State responsibility/liability in these cases? 

    Could anyone other than the state be held responsible/liable in the context of climate change? 


  • 20. 4. De lege ferenda possibilities in the field of migration (Věra Honusková)


    Seminar objective: To discuss the de lege ferenda possibilities in the field of migration.

    Please think about possible ways in which the law could approach tackling the waves of migration caused by climate change. Here is an inspiration from academic colleagues in Limoges:  https://cidce.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/Draft-Convention-on-the-International-Status-on-environmentally-displaced-persons-third-version.pdf .

  • 27. 4. Paris Agreement to the UNFCCC (Karolina Žákovská)

    Topics that will be discussed during the lecture:

    1. Legal character of the Paris Agreement and its relationship to the UNFCCC.
    2. Objectives of the Paris Agreement.
    3. The way in which the Paris Agreement applies the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities.
    4. The bottom-up approach of the Paris Agreement comparing to the top-down approach of the Kyoto Protocol.
    5. Mitigation Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs).
    6. Global stocktake.
    7. The hopes and risks of the Paris Agreement.

  • 4. 5. Human rights context of climate change

  • 4. 5. Exam

    We have created ten questions - or rather problems - which we will make available to you two weeks before the exam. Before the exam, you will draw 1 topic to talk about in the exam. The exam will be conducted in a group, we will sit at a round table where you will present your topic, and then we will all discuss it and the other questions.

    Topics/problems:

    1.       Analyse whether the people fleeing Ukraine are from the legal point of view refugees and why. How do you assess the definition of refugee? How does it relate to the definition of internally displaced persons?
    2.       In your opinion, is migration a benefit or a burden for the receiving state? Why? How do you assess the European response to the war in Ukraine in this context?
    3.       What do you think the definition of a refugee should look like? Should it remain in its current form or include other persons in need?
    4.       How do you assess temporary protection? Is it an adequate response to a situation where more and more people are leaving Ukraine after the Russian invasion? Why yes, why no?
    5.       Please describe the principle of non-refoulement and analyse its regulation in international or European law. What do you see as its usefulness and for whom?
    6.       How should we respond to the possible arrival of more people for environmental reasons?
    7.       Could you evaluate European refugee (asylum) law? What do you see as positives and what do you see as negatives?
    8.       Could adaptation and/or mitigation be the solution for environmental migration? Why? For which groups of people?
    9.       From your point of view, evaluate the European regulation of migration with an emphasis on family reunification and integration. The topic can be set in the context of refugee regulation.
    10.     In what way do you think the issue of responsibility and liability can be seen as relevant to the field of migration? Please, elaborate.

    You will draw your topic at 10am.
    I suggest that if some of you wanted to take the exam earlier (some of you mentioned it), I will stay in 402.1 after the topics are drawn (i.e., after 10 o'clock) and we may continue at 10:30, for example. The exam will also be at 2pm.
    It will all take place in 402.1.

    • 11. 5. Exam

      We have created ten questions - or rather problems. Before the exam, you will draw 1 topic to talk about in the exam. The exam will be conducted in a group, we will sit at a round table where you will present your topic, and then we will all discuss this and the other questions.

      Topics/problems:

      1.       Analyse whether the people fleeing Ukraine are from the legal point of view refugees and why. How do you assess the definition of refugee? How does it relate to the definition of internally displaced persons?
      2.       In your opinion, is migration a benefit or a burden for the receiving state? Why? How do you assess the European response to the war in Ukraine in this context?
      3.       What do you think the definition of a refugee should look like? Should it remain in its current form or include other persons in need?
      4.       How do you assess temporary protection? Is it an adequate response to a situation where more and more people are leaving Ukraine after the Russian invasion? Why yes, why no?
      5.       Please describe the principle of non-refoulement and analyse its regulation in international or European law. What do you see as its usefulness and for whom?
      6.       How should we respond to the possible arrival of more people for environmental reasons?
      7.       Could you evaluate European refugee (asylum) law? What do you see as positives and what do you see as negatives?
      8.       Could adaptation and/or mitigation be the solution for environmental migration? Why? For which groups of people?
      9.       From your point of view, evaluate the European regulation of migration with an emphasis on family reunification and integration. The topic can be set in the context of refugee regulation.
      10.     In what way do you think the issue of responsibility and liability can be seen as relevant to the field of migration? Please, elaborate.

      You will draw your topic at 10:00. I suggest that we start the exam earlier (some of you mentioned it) - after the topics are drawn (i.e. after 10 o'clock). Everything will take place in 402.1.

      I want you to understand the topic, not know it inside and out. Don't worry!


      • 18. 5. Exam - International Climate Law in the Human Rights Context

        The exam consists of a presentation of a selected topic followed by a group discussion. 

        You will choose from the following topics for the exam:

        1. International law as a tool for climate protection - advantages and disadvantages

        2. The role of science in climate protection

        3. Basic legal principles applicable in climate protection (except the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities)

        4. The principle of common but differentiated responsibilities in climate protection

        5. The Kyoto Protocol and its contribution to climate protection

        6. The bottom-up approach of the Paris Agreement - advantages and disadvantages

        7. Climate change and migration - legal perspective

        8. The human rights context of climate change - climate change mitigation perspective

        9. The human rights context of climate change - climate change adaptation perspective

        10.  Climate litigation based on human rights arguments - current situation and perspectives

        You will draw your topic at 10:00, the exam itself will start at 11:00. Each of you should present a structured presentation of the topic of about 8 minutes, after which we will lead a discussion. The entire exam will take approximately one and a half hours and will be held in room 405.

        • ICLHR - handbook File
          Draft handbook - for use by ICLHR students in the summer term 2021/2022 only, please do not distribute. Thank you.