LAWS601 - Irregular Migration

Year

Credit points

Campus offering

Prerequisites

Nil

Teaching organisation

Thomas More Law School

Unit rationale, description and aim

Irregular migration is a global issue that impacts national migration policies, border control strategies and jeopardises human rights.

This unit is designed to introduce students to the various aspects of irregular migration, such as motivations, national migration policies, vulnerability of migrants, and international

human rights' standards for their protection.

Throughout the semester, students will learn to identify the issues related to irregular migration, the protection owed to irregular migrants, the responsibility of States to protect them – including those who are only transiting their territory -- and the different governmental approaches to the issue in Australia, the Americas, Eastern Europe and Africa.

Learning outcomes

To successfully complete this unit you will be able to demonstrate you have achieved the learning outcomes (LO) detailed in the below table.

Each outcome is informed by a number of graduate capabilities (GC) to ensure your work in this, and every unit, is part of a larger goal of graduating from ACU with the attributes of insight, empathy, imagination and impact.

Explore the graduate capabilities.

Content

Topics will include:

• History of irregular migratory phenomena.
• International legal standards for the protection of irregular migrants.
• Economic irregular migration.
• Irregular transit migration
• International conflict and irregular migration pathways.
• Responsibility of States to protect the human rights of irregular migrants.
• Australian public policies for irregular migration.
• Australian management of irregular migration.
• Vulnerability and victimisation of irregular migrants.
• UN mechanisms for the enforcement of international human rights standards.
• Global response to irregular migration. 

Learning and teaching strategy and rationale

Students will be led from a historical basis to a contemporary critical approach.

The strategy is to provide students with an initial encounter with the historical circumstances and different motivations for irregular migration, followed by the historical-political approach to deal with this issue. The understanding of the historical context will help students to identify the different types of irregular migration and to appreciate the correlation between social, political and legal aspects of the issue (LO1, LO2).

The second part of the semester will focus on the responsibilities given to States to protect irregular migrants, regardless of their migratory status (LO2). In this part, national and international migration policies will be critically analysed to evaluate their compliance with international standards (LO3).

Finally, students of this unit will engage in an independent research project to analyse critical issues related to the protection of irregular migrants. (LO4)

Assessment strategy and rationale

The assessments are closely linked to the learning and teaching strategy.

The first assessment seeks to help students verify their understanding of the main concepts, principles and doctrines that impact the rights of irregular migrants. (LO1, LO2).

Once the foundational knowledge has been assessed, students will engage in a critical review of national and international migration policies and their compliance -or lack of- with international human rights standards (LO3, LO4).

The final assessment aims to evaluate the capability of students to identify relevant issues related to irregular migration, the policies and human rights laws that impact the phenomenon, and the vulnerability of these migrants by offering an analysis of a specific issue and alternatives for its improvement (LO2, LO3, LO4).

Overview of assessments

Assessment Task 1

Online multiple-choice quiz

Week 5

Duration: 25 minutes in a 2-hr window

15 multiple-choice questions will be provided to assess the students’ understanding of the main concepts, principles and doctrines that impact irregular migration. 

Assessment Task 2

Group Written Submission on the analysis of Australian migration policies

Week 8 (1200 - 1,500 words per person).

Due date Friday 11:59pm

In groups of two or three, sudents will analyse specific migration policies in Australia that impact the human rights of irregular migrants. They must find relevant literature and legal precents and a choose another country (for comparative purposes), to write a critical evaluation of these policies and how they protect and/or impact the rights of irregular migrants.

Assessment Task 3

Individual Research Essay: ‘The vulnerability of irregular migrants: How can they be better protected?’.

Week 13 (2,000-2,500 words no leeway).

Due date Friday 11:59pm

Students must develop a research essay on a human right issue related to the vulnerability of irregular migrants in the national or international context. They must choose a specific issue, research its background, identify the flaw in the law/policy for their protection and offer an alternative for the improvement of the respect of the rights of irregular migrants.

Students are expected to provide a specific research question and develop an argument to answer it. Their essay must include a clear claim, reasoning, evidence, counter-argument and a conclusion.

This Unit requires you to use the American Psychological Association (APA) 7th edition referencing system. Please see: Library Guide: APA 7 - Referencing - Library guides at Australian Catholic University (acu.edu.au)

Representative texts and references

Relevant text and references will be provided to students on a weekly basis, including the following books/articles:

• Ambrosini, M., & Hajer, M. H. J. (2023). Irregular Migration : IMISCOE Short Reader. (1st ed.). Springer International Publishing AG.
• Barnes, J., Naser, M. M., & Aston, J. (2023). A vulnerability approach to irregular migration and modern slavery in Australia. Australian Journal of Human Rights, 29(1), 121–140. https://doi.org/10.1080/1323238X.2023.2229619
• Carr, A. (2016). The Engagement Pendulum: Australia’s Alternating Approach to Irregular Migration. Journal of Australian Studies, 40(3), 319–336. https://doi.org/10.1080/14443058.2016.1190942
• Guild, E. (2018). Unsafe, Disorderly, and Irregular Migration? Examining the Assumptions Underlying the United Nations’ New York Declaration. Peace Research, 50(1), 53–75.
• Isleyen, B. (2018). Turkey’s governance of irregular migration at European Union borders: Emerging geographies of care and control. Environment and Planning. D, Society & Space, 36(5), 849–866. https://doi.org/10.1177/0263775818762132
• Jacobsen, C. M., Karlsen, M.-A., & Khosravi, S. (2020). Waiting and the temporalities of irregular migration (C. M. Jacobsen, M.-A. Karlsen, & S. Khosravi, Eds.). Routledge.
• Larking, E. (2017). Controlling irregular migration in the Asia-Pacific: Is Australia acting against its own interests? Asia & the Pacific Policy Studies, 4(1), 85–103. https://doi.org/10.1002/app5.166
• McAuliffe, M., McAuliffe, M., & Koser, K. (2017). A long way to go : irregular migration patterns, processes, drivers and decision-making (M. McAuliffe & K. Koser, Eds.). ANU Press.
• McNevin, A. (2017). Learning to live with irregular migration: towards a more ambitious debate on the politics of “the problem.” Citizenship Studies, 21(3), 255–274. https://doi.org/10.1080/13621025.2017.1281223
• Watkins, J. (2017). Australia’s irregular migration information campaigns: border externalization, spatial imaginaries, and extraterritorial subjugation. Territory, Politics, Governance, 5(3), 282–303. https://doi.org/10.1080/21622671.2017.1284692
• Watkins, J. (2020). Irregular migration, borders, and the moral geographies of migration management. Environment and Planning. C, Politics and Space, 38(6), 1108–1127. https://doi.org/10.1177/2399654420915607