The first edition of the Specialists’ Course on International Refugee Law was implemented from March until June 2022. After an impressive interest in the Course (156 candidates from 34 countries submitted their applications to attend the Course), 40 participants from 10 different countries (Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Slovenia, Italy, Albania, Romania, Hungary) regularly attended and completed the Course.
The first generation of participants consisted of master and doctoral students in legal, political and social sciences, with diverse professional backgrounds (teaching assistants, young researchers, advisors at constitutional courts, judicial officers at prosecutorial councils, judicial and legal interns, UNHCR and IOM interns and protection assistants, representatives of the ombudsman offices and ministries of justice, foreign affairs and health and social welfare, civil servants, as well as members of non-governmental organizations). UNHCR office in Serbia provided scholarships to all attendees.
24 online sessions were facilitated by researchers from the San Remo Institute for Humanitarian Law, UNHCR officials, professors of the University of Belgrade Faculty of Law and leading world experts in this field. Among others, lecturers were held by UNHCR officers Liliana Sorentino, Sam Mosallai, Jacopo Giorgi, Max Verdult and John Young, Head of Protection Learning Unit. Also, legal experts cast light to different aspects of refugee law, such as Nicholas R. Micinski, Libra Assistant Professor of Political Science and International Affairs, University of Maine, Lisa Heschl, Research and teaching fellow at the European Training and Research Centre on Human Rights and Democracy at the University of Graz (UNI-ETC), Natalia Banulescu-Bogdan, Associate Director of International Program at Migration Policy Institute, and Kim Mancini, Office of the Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Internally Displaced Persons. The San Remo team was led by Claudio Delfabro, Director of International Institute of Humanitarian Law and Kristijan MIhajlovski, Academic Unit Coordinator for the Department of International Refugee Law and Migration Law at the Institute. The team of the University of Belgrade Faculty of Law was composed of leading experts in asylum and migration law: prof. Ivana Krstic, prof. Marko Davinic and prof. Bojana Cuckovic. All facilitators used interactive teaching methods, with a focus on case studies and various online teaching tools.
How successful the course was is best expressed by the evaluations of former participants who rated their level of satisfaction with the course as high, and on a scale of 1 to 10, the Course received an overall average rating of 9.79. According to the feedback received from the first generation of participants, what they appreciated the most was the comprehensive and in-depth approach, the variety of topics, teaching materials, facilitators’ professionalism and dedication, the adequate balance between theory and practice, as well as the interdisciplinary and interactive approach to dealing with International Refugee Law.