CYIL vol. 9 (2018)

VĚRA HONUSKOVÁ

CYIL 9 ȍ2018Ȏ

1. To get the basis… (classroom-based learning) We provide students with a theoretical background in several basic courses. We believe that wider knowledge of the issue is important. Therefore, not only standard (and obligatory) courses on Asylum and Refugee Law or Migration Law are offered, but students can choose courses such as Migration and Social Law or Protection of National Minorities. The obligatory courses are designed to provide deep knowledge of the respective issue. An example may illustrate the point: the Refugee Law course is divided into two parts – the first one being more focused on global issues through teaching International and European Refugee Law, the second one concentrating more on Czech refugee law. In both parts the case of a refugee is taken as the starting point; students use mind maps to find relevant problems and then obtain the necessary information during lectures, discussions, and from reading materials. This year’s fictional case of a Syrian man who came into Germany in 2016 helped students to understand the complexity of the refugee’s legal background. They had to consider many issues - primarily the position of Turkey as an EU partner in the refugee crisis, which at the same time applies the Refugee Convention with its territorial limitation, the safe third-country concept in the EU Procedural Directive, the interpretation of art. 1 of the Refugee Convention regarding cases of people fleeing war, and possible consideration of Syrians as refugees for political reasons or questions of family reunification. 3 As expected, students quickly found out that there are no short and easy answers to complex questions. The course is finished with a test and an essay. The course on Migration Law focuses mainly on Czech legislation and a substantial portion of the national case law is introduced during lectures. The background of European law is strongly stressed, as many national residency permits have their roots in European secondary legislation and the EU primary law shapes the framework as such. In the future, a history course might be included as many questions which can be heard today were already discussed in the past. Reading debates in today’s parliament we can find almost the same words in speeches of some politicians as those reported in books about refugees coming to Czechoslovakia in the 1930s. We can find inspiration in handling the mass influx of refugees when we look into the governmental resolutions regarding temporary shelter in the 1990s, a programme which seems to have a win-win potential. 2. …to better understand… (“learning by doing” in legal clinics, internships, and externships) Students are given opportunities to gain real-world experience in migration and refugee law by joining offices of different stakeholders in the Czech Republic during their internships or externships. They can spend several days per week during the semester at the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in the Czech Republic (UNHCR), at the Czech Ministry of the Interior, or one of the law offices specializing in migration and refugee issues. These activities are school-organized and we are now developing a written training 3 See in particular the UN Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees from 1951 and its Protocol from 1967, and the Directive 2011/95/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 December 2011 on standards for the qualification of third-country nationals or stateless persons as beneficiaries of international protection, for a uniform status for refugees or for persons eligible for subsidiary protection, and for the content of the protection granted (recast).

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