The Center for Migration and Refugee Studies (CMRS) at the School of Global Affairs and Public Policy (GAPP) of The American University in Cairo (AUC) is offering the following Short Course
The course will provide post-graduate students, international agency staff, NGO workers, lawyers and others working with refugees or interested in refugee issues with an introduction to the international legal framework, which governs the protection of refugees. Through lectures, case studies and small group discussions, course’s participants will be introduced to the basic features of international refugee law through the lens of the 1951 Refugee Convention. The course will examine the elements of the definition(s) of "refugee," who is excluded from the definition, the role of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the process by which refugee status is determined, the rights of refugees under international law, the ethical and professional obligations of those representing refugees, and other issues of refugee policy. A background in law is useful but not required.
About the Instructor: Parastou Hassouri is a Refugee and Migration Law Consultant, she has previously taught international refugee law at The American University of Cairo and has extensive experience in the field of international refugee law and refugee and immigrant rights and migration policy. Parastou is currently a legal consultant with Lamp Lifeboat Ladder, a pro bono resettlement project of Reed Smith LLP. She has previously served as a consultant with different UNHCR operations in the Refugee Status Determination, Resettlement and Protection Units in Morocco, Turkey, Jordan, and the Russian Federation. She has served as a research consultant for NGOs including the Global Detention Project, where her research focused on migration-related detention in the Gulf Cooperation Council countries. Prior to that, as a consultant for Human Rights First, she conducted extensive research on the resettlement of Iraqi refugees out of the Middle East to third countries. She has worked as a Legal Advisor and Sexual and Gender-Based Violence Focal Point at Africa and Middle East Refugee Assistance (AMERA) in Cairo. Her experience in the United States includes serving as an Attorney-Advisor at the Immigration Courts of New York City and Los Angeles and working as an immigration attorney in private practice in New York City. In addition, she designed and directed the Immigrant Rights Project at the American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey, where she focused on responding to ethnic profiling and other forms of anti-immigrant backlash in the United States in the aftermath of the attacks of September 11. She also occasionally writes on the topic of refugee and migration policy.
How to register
Eligibility for all courses
Requirements: The courses are offered for graduate and postgraduate students, researchers as well as practitioners working in migration related fields. A minimum knowledge of displacement and migration terminologies and context is a requirement for participation in any of the three courses.
Course is offered face to face and will take place at AUC’ Tahrir campus. The language of instruction is English with no translation facilities. As such, applicants must have a strong command of the English language. Each course will run for 5 days from 9.30 am until 4.30 pm (Cairo Local Time) with an hour break.
Interested applicants can apply for one course or for the three courses.
Number of Participants: minimum of 12 in each course.
Application Information:
· The application form can be accessed through the following link
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1nyEZIL-UDyTFZ8nUFz2z6gHWL0LkoP_zS4Xaxd_0tOY/edit
· Applicants may apply to and be accepted in all courses.
Please do not hesitate to contact cmrscourses@aucegypt.edu if you have any questions.
Applicants accepted for each course will be notified by email within a week after the deadline for submitting the application.