Palestine Refugees and International Law Online Short Course 2021

Palestine Refugees and International Law Online Short Course 2021

This two-day short course places the Palestinian refugee case study within the broader context of the international human rights regime. It examines, within a human rights framework, the policies and practices of Middle Eastern states as they impinge upon Palestinian refugees. Through a mix of online lectures, online working group exercises and interactive sessions, participants engage actively and critically with the contemporary debates in international law and analyse the specific context of Palestinian refugees in the Middle East (Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, the West Bank, Gaza and Israel).

The short course commences with the background of the Palestinian refugee crisis, with special attention to the socio-political historical context and legal status of Palestinian refugees in the region. This is followed by a careful examination of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights including its philosophical underpinnings and ensuing human rights instruments in international law. The key themes, which have taken centre stage in the debate on the Palestinian refugee crisis, are statelessness, right of return, repatriation, self-determination, restitution compensation and protection. These themes are critically examined along with current discussions about the respective roles of UNRWA, UNHCR and the UNCCP in the Palestinian refugee case.

This course is suitable for: experienced practitioners; graduate researchers; parliamentarians and staff; members of the legal profession; government officials; and personnel of inter-governmental and nongovernmental organisations.

Instructors
Professor Dawn Chatty is Emeritus Professor in Anthropology and Forced Migration and Former Director of the Refugee Studies Centre, University of Oxford, 2011-2014. She is a social anthropologist and has conducted extensive research among Palestinian and other forced migrants in the Middle East. Some of her recent works include Children of Palestine: Experiencing Forced Migration in the Middle East (ed. with Gillian Lewando-Hundt; Berghahn Press, 2005), and Dispossession and Displacement in the Modern Middle East (Cambridge University
Press, 2010).

Professor Susan M. Akram is Clinical Professor at Boston University School of Law, teaching immigration law, comparative refugee law, and international human rights law. She is a graduate of Georgetown University Law Center, Washington DC (JD), and the Institut International des Droits de l‘Homme, Strasbourg (Diploma in international human rights). She is a past Fulbright Senior Scholar in Palestine, teaching at Al-Quds University/Palestine School of Law in East Jerusalem.

Location: Online

How to apply: Apply online via the application form: https://www.rsc.ox.ac.uk/study/short-courses/palestine-refugees 

Fee: £450/ $600

Maximum 12 spaces

For all enquiries please contact Annelies Lawson: rsc-outreach@qeh.ox.ac.uk

Refugee Studies Centre
Oxford Department of International Development
University of Oxford, 3 Mansfield Road, Oxford OX1 3TB, UK
www.rsc.ox.ac.uk/shortcourses