DDRO 27A68 - Critical Perspectives on Human Mobility and International Law

Human mobility has become a central discourse within international law and governance. While the first regulative steps taken during the second half of the 20th century were hailed as a new progressive step in international regulation, the last 30 years have shown that the system remains flawed. But what if it was flawed from the very beginning? This is exactly what the students will try to explore in this course.

From instances of forced emergent mobilities, such as war and internal conflict mobility, to environmental destructions making populations to construct pre-emptive plans for moving from their homes to labour migration, the current system has persistently failed to protect those it was originally designed to do so; the most vulnerable.

This course aims to highlight the socio-legal dynamics and tensions existing at the core of the current international system of regulating human mobility. By engaging with the complexities of the existing system, its boundaries, and inherent regulatory anxieties, the students will be able to develop a critical perspective and understanding of the issue at hand.

The course will be separated into two main parts. In the first part, the students will have the chance to get familiarised with the main notions and regulatory frameworks regarding human mobility under current international law. Definitional issues, such as the identity of the migrant, the refugee, the stateless, and internally displaced individual will be explored in order for the students to have a clear understanding of who the system was created to protect, or not to depending on their identities. Additionally, the students will have the chance to get familiar with the main legal instruments regulating human mobility under international law, especially through the UN system. The importance of this first part is bi dimensional. On the one hand, it gives the opportunity for all students -law and non-law alike

to get familiarised with the basic tenets of the course’s discussions, thus establishing a level educational field and making the process more accessible to everyone. On the other hand, critiquing a system without being familiarised with its current structure constitutes a futile exercise; the fallacy of mis-placed critique and confirmation biases inherent to all human beings can result in misunderstandings of the current system.

In the second part, the course will try to engage in a critical reflection of the current human mobility system under international law. The discussion will focus on issues such as the interactions between international law’s colonial/imperial past and racialised migration, notions of vulnerability, the intersection of gender identity and sexual orientation with migratory movements and emerging challenges, such as climate change-induced mobility, health, and labour protections. During the second half of the course, the students will have the chance to use their foundational knowledge from the first half in order to critically engage with the existing system and its challenges and to determine why, despite the heavy regulation of the past few years, the system remains flawed. Additionally, they will have the chance to discuss possible policy and legal solutions for the future of human mobility governance, with emphasis placed on grassroot and human-centric initiatives

Learning objectives

The main objective of this course is for students to comprehend the complexity of the current international regulation of human mobility and develop a critical understanding of key policy and normative issues at hand.

At the end of the course, the objectives are for the students to:

• be able to identify the key notions and definitions pertaining to human mobility as existing in contemporary international law
• understand the current legal and policy framework governing human mobility under international law, including current developments
• develop a critical perception of the dynamics and tensions of the various protective regimes
• critically engage with the role of international law in coercively regulating mobile racialised bodies
• assess the role of gender identity, sexual orientation, and status in shaping migrant experiences
• critically engage with the interaction between climate change and human mobility under international law

To achieve these learning goals, the course lectures are structured around a participatory approach where students will have to read the proposed readings before class and actively engage in discussions.

The evaluation of the students for this course will be based on:

• Participation in class (10%): The students are expected to actively participate in the discussions taking place in class based on the readings provided in advance. - In-class presentation of case study (20%): Depending on the number of participants, the students will have to present either individually or in groups, one or two cases relevant to the class discussion.
• Mid-term exam (30%): The mid-term in-class exam will consist of a multiple-choice type of questionnaire and will take place through Moodle after session 6. - Final essay (40%): In the final essay, the students will be given three propositions from which they will have to choose one to answer. Their answer should not simply recite what has been said in the course or in the reading materials, but should try to critically engage with them in order to explicate the student’s understanding. The essay must be a maximum of 750 words.

Note on the use of AI: The use of AI tools must comply with the general academic rules and regulations of Sciences Po, especially in relation to plagiarism and originality of work (rules on academic integrity). In any event, any use must be explicitly indicated by the students.