University of Galway

Course Module Information

Course Modules

12 months long | Credits: 5

This module examines the evolution of the EU Common European Asylum System (CEAS) from the 1990s to the present, exploring why and how the EU has sought to harmonise the law in this area. The CEAS has developed in phases: Phase One established minimum standards instruments while Phase Two recast those instruments in order to move to a higher level of harmonisation in the form of common standards. However, the legal harmonisation has been patchy and great divergences still exist in the asylum laws, policies and practices of Member States. This undermines the raison d’etre of the Dublin Regulation – the instrument that allocates responsibility to one and only one Member States for the processing of any given asylum claim – which is, that it does not matter in which state an asylum claim is processed because the rules and procedures are the same in all Member States. The Dublin Regulation also puts an enormous burden on some Member States and has arguably contributed to the current ‘crisis’ in the Mediterranean, which, in turn has called the viability of the CEAS into question. In response, the EU legislator is currently seeking to renegotiate all the major instruments that make up the CEAS. This course critically analyses these developments and looks at the contribution, both positive and negative, that the CEAS – including the case-law of the Court of Justice of the EU – has made to international refugee protection.
(Language of instruction: English)

Learning Outcomes
  1. • Articulate the scope of the key instruments of the CEAS • Demonstrate an awareness of how these instruments have been interpreted by the Court of Justice of the EU • Discuss and critically analyse the proposed changes to these instruments • Have an informed view of the EU’s response to the so-called ‘refugee crisis’ • Place in the CEAS in broader context by showing how it has influenced international refugee protection
Assessments
  • Continuous Assessment (100%)
Teachers
Reading List
  1. "The Human Rights of Migrants in European Law" by Cathryn Costello
    ISBN: 9780199644742.
    Publisher: Oxford University Press
  2. "Reforming the Common European Asylum System" by Vincent Chetail, Philippe De Bruycher and Francesco Maiani
The above information outlines module LW5113: "The Common European Asylum System" and is valid from 2019 onwards.
Note: Module offerings and details may be subject to change.