Refugee law paper: “Pushbacks of Refugees in Greece: Assessing Compliance with the Principle of Non-Refoulement”

  You have to structure your paper clearly (think of an academic article): your audience consists of
international refugee lawyers (so you do not have to explain the basics). (Before you submit, make
sure there are no typos in your paper; if necessary, use a spell-check). Add the word count on the cover
page, and number the pages. By way of illustration:
Title
This is the shortest summary of your paper and should trigger the interest and curiosity of the
reader.
1. Introduction: problem statement
Explain what the issue (perceived problem) is about, give context, and formulate a clear and
precise legal research question (you may add sub-questions).
If the focus is on a particular area, or state: explain why this choice is made, and give
arguments for specific delimitations made.
Explain the structure of your paper: it should be clear to the reader how this structure enables
reaching an answer (conclusion) to your research question(s). And explain what methodology
you use (i.e. the process by which the research is carried out: it encompasses everything from
the techniques used to research through to the process of writing and constructing an
argument: make choices explicit).
II., III., etc. Substantive part of the paper
The body of the paper should consist of a logical sequence of steps (paragraphs) that
ultimately allow you to answer the research question(s) in the conclusion.
IV. Conclusion
In the conclusion you formulate the answer to the research question(s) on the basis of the
arguments and findings developed in the main body of the paper. In the conclusion you should
not give new information.
Example (a contribution to a Liber Amicorum by MZ):
About chance and impulses in the formation of international refugee law
1. Introduction
2. The Dubs amendment
2.1. Introduction
2.2. ‘The Jungle’
2.3. A Kinder transport from Prague
2.4. ‘That’s Life’
3. Membership of a particular social group
3.1. Introduction
3.2. Fear of a too broadly defined notion of ‘group’
4. Conclusion
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Methodology
In order to conduct adequate research in order to answer your research question, it is important
that you conduct your research in a manner that fits the right research methodology. In view of
the learning objectives of the course – and time constraints – some methods will not be
relevant such as quantitative legal research, multidisciplinary research, historical research,
comparative research, and meta-legal research. In view of the need to focus on the law, the
most likely method is the doctrinal one, on which cf. Lego desk, “What is doctrinal and nondoctrinal research?”, https://legodesk.com/legopedia/what-is-doctrinal-and-non-doctrinallegal-research/
Footnotes
All claims, facts, quotations should be accompanied by footnotes that give the source that has
been used. For referencing you could use Oscola:
https://www.law.ox.ac.uk/sites/files/oxlaw/oscola_4th_edn_hart_2012.pdf or any other style,
just be consistent.
List of references
All literature and other sources used in the paper must be correctly referred to, for instance in
the Oscola referencing style. As to footnotes: no particular notation style is favoured, but
whichever one is chosen: be consistent, and make sure that I will be able to find the source, so
be complete. If references are made to internet sites: give the full title and all details of the
relevant source, the URL and the date on which you visited/accessed this particular site (that
means you cannot just provide an URL in a footnote). If reference is made to pages in an
edited volume, do not refer to the editor as the author, but identify the author.
In addition: the sources in the bibliography should be ordered alphabetically. If you include
multiple sources from the same author, include them in chronological order and you could use
2020a and 2020b if the same author has published two articles in the same year and you need
to distinguish these. While your footnote references, depending on your chosen referencing
style, can be more concise, the bibliography references are must include all relevant
information.
Sources
As to the number of sources you should consult: that very much depends on the subject, but at
any rate try to find the most up to date and relevant sources (last editions of books, updated
Guidelines, etc). For scholarly articles, a good source is the International Journal of Refugee
Law, another one the Refugee Survey Quarterly. For recent caselaw, basic documents,
statistics, and so on, UNHCR has an excellent web site: www.unhcr.org
There are very good commentaries on the 1951 Convention/1967 Protocol: the most recent
one is A. Zimmermann (ed.), The 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and its
1967 Protocol: A Commentary, OUP, 2011 (it includes a review of the travaux préparatoires
of every provision in the Convention). An older commentary is that of Paul Weis, entitled The
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Refugee Convention, 1951, and it is available on the web site of UNHCR. Another one,
written by the grandfather of international refugee law, is the one by Atle Grahl-Madsen:
Commentary of the Refugee Convention 1951 (which does not include Article 1), also
available on the web site of UNHCR. Another one, lastly, is the one written by Nehemiah
Robinson, Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees: Its History, Significance and
Contents, 1952 (World Jewish Congress), also available online:
https://www.refworld.org/docid/4785f03d2.html
See also the UNHCR working papers series, available on UNHCR’s web site. UNHCR’s
Refworld is a treasure trove.
Also worth looking at is the collection of seminal articles included in: J.C. Hathaway (ed.),
Human Rights and Refugee Law, 3 volumes, Edward Elgar Publ., 2014.
For country information: see the country reports of UNHCR, of the US State Department, and
reports of Human Right Watch, Amnesty International. And: see the annual resolutions of the
UN Human Rights Council.