Postgraduate Course: Refugees, Human Rights and Development (PGSP11280)
Course Outline
| School | School of Social and Political Science |
College | College of Humanities and Social Science |
| Course type | Standard |
Availability | Available to all students |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) |
Credits | 20 |
| Home subject area | Postgrad (School of Social and Political Studies) |
Other subject area | None |
| Course website |
None |
Taught in Gaelic? | No |
| Course description | Forced Displacement, and the complex emergencies they create are a major global problem. Today it is estimated that there are 32.9 million persons displaced in more than 110 countries. This course examines social, economic and political needs amongst the worlds displaced, and the response of governments, international organisations and non-governmental organisations to those requirements. The course begins with the rights of displaced persons under international refugee and humanitarian law, and the obligations of actors to these rights and needs. The course continues by examining the main livelihood issues to be addressed and assessed when a mass population is displaced, particularly into a host country which does not have the capacity to assist them. Case studies will be drawn from a number of areas including Rwanda, Uganda, Congo, Sudan, Liberia, Cote d'Ivoire, Mozambique and Angola. |
Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
| Additional Costs | None |
Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | None |
| Displayed in Visiting Students Prospectus? | No |
Course Delivery Information
| Not being delivered |
Summary of Intended Learning Outcomes
This course aims to provide the necessary background for someone wishing to work within the NGO and humanitarian sector in developing countries. By the end of the course students should be able to demonstrate, by means of course work:
- Recognition of international laws and conventions governing the rights of refugees
- Knowledge and understanding of the key social, economic and political issues of forced displacement, and the international, national and local responses to conflict and humanitarian crises.
- Critical engagement with the key theoretical perspectives on forced migration.
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Assessment Information
| Students will be assessed via a 4,000 word essay at the end of the course. |
Special Arrangements
| None |
Additional Information
| Academic description |
This course would appeal to a number of master's programmes within SPSS, including African Studies; Africa and International Development; International and European Politics; Comparative Public Policy. In other schools, the course would appeal to students studying the MA in Diaspora and Migration History (HLA), MSc Environment and Development (Geo-Sciences) and LLM International Law.
The Programme Directors of Diaspora and Migration History (Dr. Enda Delaney) and Environment and Development (Dr. Betsy Olson) have confirmed inclusion of this course (subject to SPSS approval) as an option in their programmes. Professor Bill Gilmore (director of the LLM International Law) is consulting with colleagues in Law before giving confirmation.
The case studies within Refugees, Human Rights and Development can also be expanded to include case studies from South Asia (Sri Lanka, Bhutan, Pakistan, India and Nepal) and the Middle East (Iraq, Occupied Palestinian Territories, Jordan, Syria and Yemen). This would provide an additional course option for the proposed MSc programmes in South Asia and International Development and Security and the Middle East.
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| Syllabus |
The lecture and seminar topics are as follows:
1. The Development of the Refugee Regime, Changing Nature of War, Main Actors, Themes and Debates
2. Context of Humanitarian Action: Causes of Conflict and Forced Displacement
3. International Refugee and International Human Rights Law
4. Theoretical Perspectives on Durable Solutions: Integration, Repatriation and Third Country Resettlement
5. Different Actors Approaches to Conflict and Displacement: UNHCR, Host States and NGOs
6. Protection and Human Security
7. The Paradox of Humanitarian Intervention: Can Humanitarian Assistance be non-political?
8. Complex Emergencies and the co-ordination of Basic Services: Gender, Health and Psycho Social Issues
9. The Economics of 'Refugeeness' and Refugee Livelihoods
10. Moving from Disaster to Development: Reconstruction and Reconciliation |
| Transferable skills |
Not entered |
| Reading list |
Nadia Al-Ali and Khalid Koser (eds.) New Approaches to Migration: Transnational Communities and Transformations of Home (2002)
Tim Allen (ed.) In Search of Cool Ground: War, Flight and Homecoming in Northeast Africa (1996)
"Comparison of Nutrient Composition of Refugee Rations and Pet Food" The Lancet (1992) vol.340, 8 August
Richard Black. "Ethical Codes in Humanitarian Emergencies: From Practice to Research" Disasters (2003) vol.27, no.2, pp.95-108
Jo Boyden and Joanna de Berry (eds.) Children and Youth on the Front Line (2005)
Elisabeth Colson. "Forced Migration and the Anthropological Response" Journal of Refugee Studies (2003) vol.16, no.1, pp.1-18
Doreen Indra (ed.). Engendering Forced Migration (1998)
Fiona Terry, Condemned to Repeat? (2002)
Guy Goodwin-Gill. The Refugee in International Law (1998)
Stef Jansen and Staffen Lofving (eds) Struggling for Home: Violence, Hope and the Movement of People (2009)
Liisa Malkki. Purity and Exile: Violence, Memory and National Cosmology amongst Hutu Refugees in Tanzania (1995)
Robert Muggah (ed.) No Refuge. The Crisis of Refugee Militarization in Africa (2006)
David Newbury. "Returning Refugees: Four Historical Patterns of 'Coming Home' to Rwanda" Comparative Studies of Society and History, vol. 20, pp.252-285
Johan Pottier. "Roadblock Ethnography: Negotiating Humanitarian Access in Ituri, Eastern DR Congo, 1999-2004" Africa (2006) vol.76, no.2 pp.151-179
UNHCR. Handbook for Emergencies (3rd edition)
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| Study Abroad |
Not entered |
| Study Pattern |
Not entered |
| Keywords | Not entered |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Ms Sabine Hoehn
Tel:
Email: S.Hoehn@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Miss Lindsay Hunter
Tel: (0131 6)51 1659
Email: L.Hunter@ed.ac.uk |
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