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News archive Launch of LLM International Migration and Refugee Law and Policy

Launch of LLM International Migration and Refugee Law and Policy

(L to R): Professor Siobhán Mullally, Director of the Irish Centre for Human Rights; Professor John McHale, Dean of the College of Business, Public Policy and Law; Dr Ciara Smyth, LLM Programme Director; Gráinne O’Hara, Director of International Protection, UN High Commissioner for Refugees and Hilkka Becker, International Protection Appeals Tribunal (Ireland).

Mar 22 2019 Posted: 21:06 GMT

The Irish Centre for Human Rights launched the LLM in International Migration and Refugee Law and Policy on Thursday, 28 February, 2019.

Ms Gráinne O'Hara, Head of the Department of International Protection at the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, gave the keynote address reflecting on her experience of working with refugees in Mexico, the former Yugoslavia, Burundi, Sudan (Darfur), the US, Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq. Ms O’Hara also spoke to the need for highly qualified postgraduates in the area of migration and forced displacement, both at the policy level and in the field:

“At a time when human mobility, and forced displacement in particular, is to the forefront of so many highly charged political discussions, the value of academic discipline on the distinct but related issues of migration and refugee flight comes into its own. The LLM in International Migration and Refugee Law and Policy on offer from the Irish Centre for Human Rights at NUI is a case in point. A clear understanding of the relevant legal frameworks, coupled with evidence-based analysis on field realities, is critical to good policy making.”

The LL.M in International Migration and Refugee Law will commence in September, 2019 and is the only course of its kind on offer in an Irish university. The Irish Centre for Human Rights, as one of the world’s premier university-based institutions for the study and promotion of human rights, is uniquely placed to deliver this course.

The programme enables the development of expertise in international, regional and domestic law, policy and practice in the areas of migration, human trafficking and refugee law. There is the opportunity to combine the study of international migration with specialised courses in international humanitarian law and peace operations, gender and law, child rights, and international criminal law.

The core-teaching programme is supplemented with an exciting programme of guest seminars, workshops and conferences engaging with leading experts and practitioners in the field of refugee protection, human trafficking, international migration, human rights law and public policy.