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Topic Research Guides: Refugee Law

Research Resources and Guides For Law Topics

Books

Books on refugee law are shelved at 342.83.

Subject terms to search include:

Asylum, Right of

Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees 1951 

Emigration and immigration law

Human rights

Internally displaced persons – Legal status, laws, etc.

Migrant labor – Legal status, laws, etc.

Political refugees – Legal status, laws, etc.

Refugees

Refugees – International cooperation

Refugees – Legal status, laws, etc.

Stateless persons – Legal status, laws, etc.

Vrachnas, Bagaric, Dimopoulos and Pathinayake, Migration and Refugee Law 

Crock, Mary, Saul, Ben and Dastyari, Azadeh, Future Seekers II: Refugees and Irregular Migration in Australia (Leichhardt, NSW, Federation Press, 2006)

Mary Crock and Laurie Berg, Immigration, Refugees and Forced Migration Law, Policy and Practice in Australia (Leichardt, N.S.W. Federation Press, 2011)

Guy Goodwin-Gill, The Refugee in International Law

Roz Germov and Francesco Motta, Refugee law in Australia (South Melbourne : Oxford University Press, 2003)

Commentary

Australian Immigration Law in Lexis Advance  - contains policy information and forms.

Administrative Appeals Tribunal (Migration and Refugee Division) – contains an analysis of legal issues relevant to the determination of refugee status in Australia and includes principles from key decisions.

Refworld – contains a collection of reports and information relating to refugees (country situations, policies, cases, legal framework etc.) compiled from UNHCR offices, governments, academic institutions, judicial bodies and international, regional and non-governmental organisations.

UNHCR Compilation of Case Law on Refugee Protection in International Law (2008) –overview of 70+ judgments/decisions from numerous jurisdictions relating to refugee law‑related issues, includes short summaries of poignant issues arising from the cases. The compilation was published in 2008 so the information contained in the compilation may not be the most contemporaneously relevant. However, given that it is a broad overview of the key issues in refugee law, a large portion of the cases remains relevant to the interpretation and application of the Refugee Convention.

Mary Anne Kenny, 'Explainer: How Australia Decides who is a genuine refugee' (23 February 2017) The Conversation.

 

Journals

Useful journals for refugee law include:

Australian Year Book of International Law

Federal Law Review

Harvard International Law Journal

International Journal of Refugee Law

International Journal on Minority and Group Rights

Journal of Immigrant & Refugee Studies

Journal of Migration and Refugee issues

Journal of Refugee Studies

Refugee Survey Quarterly

Refugees Magazine – published by the Media Relations and Public Information Service of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and contains information and stories relating to various situations occurring globally and issues/situations faced by refugees.

 

Useful databases for finding journals include:

HeinOnline

Kluwer Law International

Lexis Advance

Max Planck Encyclopedia of Public International Law

OUP resources on refugee law

Oxford Journals

Taylor & Francis Online Journals – contains some of the journals listed above

vLexJustis

Westlaw Australia

Westlaw Classic

WorldLII

Case Law

Cases on refugee law can be located on various databases including:

AustLII – specifically the Refugee Review Tribunal of Australia and the Migration Review Tribunal of Australia databases.

European Court of Human Rights – contains cases from the ECHR.

Lexis Advance

Westlaw Australia

Westlaw Classic

WorldLII

Administrative Appeals Tribunal (Migration and Refugee Division) – responsible for conducting reviews of visa and visa-related decisions made by the Australian Department of Immigration and Border Protection.

Commonwealth Law Reports

High Court of Australia Judgments

Websites

Australia - Department of Immigration and Border Protection – contains information about Australia’s Refugee and Humanitarian Programme.

Australian Human Rights Commission – national human rights institution established by legislation that oversees the application of federal legislation in the area of human rights, anti-discrimination, social justice and privacy. 

International Organization for Migration - UN Migration

Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) – the UN agency leading and coordinating international protection of refugees and resolving refugee issues globally.

Refugee Law and Policy - Library of Congress

Refworld – contains a collection of reports and information relating to refugees (country situations, policies, cases, legal framework etc.) compiled from UNHCR offices, governments, academic institutions, judicial bodies and international, regional and non-governmental organisations. Great for obtaining old and current information about what is happening globally.  

Statistics

Immigration Detention Statistics - Australia. Department of Home Affairs

Immigration Detention and Community Statistics Summary - Australia. Department of Home Affairs. August 2020

Immigration Detention Statistics - Australian Human Rights Commission

Migrant Data Matrices - Australian Bureau of Statistics - 2020

Migration, Australia - Australian Bureau of Statistics