Palestine Refugees and International Law
2025 Dates
This two-day short course will be held in-person on Friday 14 March and Saturday 15 March 2025.
Location
Swedish Research Institute in Istanbul, Şahkulu, İstiklal Cd. No:247, 34421 Beyoğlu/İstanbul
About the course
This two-day short course places the Palestinian refugee case study within the broader context of the international human rights regime. It examines, within a human rights framework, the policies and practices of Middle Eastern states as they impinge upon Palestinian refugees. Through a mix of lectures, working group exercises and interactive sessions, participants will engage actively and critically with the contemporary debates in international law, and analyse the specific context of Palestinian refugees in the Middle East (Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, the West Bank, Gaza and Israel).
The short course commences with the background of the Palestinian refugee crisis, with special attention to the socio-political historical context and legal status of Palestinian refugees in the region. This is followed by a careful examination of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights including its philosophical underpinnings and ensuing human rights instruments in international law. The key themes, which have taken centre stage in the debate on the Palestinian refugee crisis, are statelessness, right of return, repatriation, self-determination, restitution compensation and protection. These themes are critically examined along with current discussions about the respective roles of UNRWA, UNHCR and the UNCCP in the Palestinian refugee case.
This course is suitable for: experienced practitioners; graduate researchers; parliamentarians and staff; members of the legal profession; government officials; and personnel of inter-governmental and nongovernmental organisations.
Download the course flyer.
Instructors
Dawn Chatty, Emeritus Professor of Anthropology and Forced Migration; former Director, Refugee Studies Centre
Professor Dawn Chatty is a social anthropologist and has conducted extensive research among Palestinian and other forced migrants in the Middle East. Some of her recent works include Children of Palestine: Experiencing Forced Migration in the Middle East (ed. with Gillian Lewando-Hundt), Berghahn Press, 2005; Dispossession and Displacement in the Modern Middle East, Cambridge University Press, 2010; and Syria: The Making and Unmaking of a Refuge State, C Hurst & Co Publishers Ltd, 2018.
Susan M Akram, Clinical Professor, Boston University School of Law
Professor Susan M. Akram teaches immigration law, comparative refugee law, and international human rights law at Boston University. She is a graduate of Georgetown University Law Center, Washington DC (JD), the Institut International des Droits de l‘Homme, Strasbourg (Diploma in international human rights), and Oxford University (MSt in International Human Rights Law). She is a past Fulbright Senior Scholar in Palestine, teaching at Al-Quds University/Palestine School of Law in East Jerusalem.
Apply
Applications are open. Please apply using the online form here.
Fee: £450. The fee includes tuition, lunch and all course materials. Participants will need to meet their own travel, accommodation and other subsistence costs, and arrange any country entry requirements.
Maximum spaces: 24 spaces, with three fully funded places available for doctoral students and NGO staff.
Closing date for applications: 14 February 2025, 5pm
Closing date for receipt of fees: 28 February 2025
Instructions for payment of the course fee will be sent with your offer of a place. Your place will be confirmed once payment has been received. Offers are made on a first-come-first-served basis to suitably qualified and experienced applicants. The application form may be closed earlier than the stated date, should full capacity be reached.
* We occasionally experience technical difficulties with the online form. If you have experienced any problems submitting the form, please contact us on rsc-outreach@qeh.ox.ac.uk. If you have submitted the online form but not heard from us within 7 days, please contact us.
In the event of cancellation by the participant, the following terms apply:
- cancellations received between 1-2 weeks before the start date - 100% of the course fee is refundable.
- cancellations received 1 week before the start date - 50% of the course fee is refundable.
- cancellations received less than 4 days before the start date – normally 0% of the course fee is refundable.
Data will be stored in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and used for internal purposes only. Our privacy policy is available here.
NB: Following major changes to CPD requirements by the Solicitor’s Regulation Authority (SRA), this course will no longer be recognised as accredited CPD training. However, you may wish to take the course under the SRA’s new ‘continuing competence’ approach.
Contact
For all enquiries, please contact:
RSC Short Courses
Refugee Studies Centre
Oxford Department of International Development
3 Mansfield Road
Oxford
OX1 3TB
UK
Email: rsc-outreach@qeh.ox.ac.uk