Refugee Protection and Asylum Law Training Course

Duration 5 days 10 modules · 33 contact hours
Level Intermediate Certificate on completion
Who attends Protection Officers, Asylum Caseworkers and others
Fee from USD 1,100 KSh 95,000 for Kenyan organisations
Where 52 cities + online See dates by city
Next start 16 Nov 2026 Course code SD-HR-052

Before you join: Participants should have prior professional exposure to humanitarian response, migration management, legal services, social work, protection programming or public administration.

Dates & prices

Two start dates a month in every city, and live online on weekdays or weekends. Fees are per participant; classroom fees include tuition, materials, lunch and refreshments, and the certificate.

Suggest a date or city

Showing the next six months. Later dates, other cities and private deliveries for your team are available on request.

Course overview

Refugee protection work often requires staff to make time-sensitive decisions where legal status, safety, access to services and state responsibilities intersect. Incorrect screening, weak referral arrangements, poor documentation or failure to identify refoulement risks can expose asylum seekers and refugees to serious harm and create legal, operational and reputational consequences for agencies, governments and implementing partners. Practitioners need a working command of the legal rules alongside methods for applying them to individual cases and humanitarian operations.

This course examines the international and regional refugee protection regime, including the 1951 Refugee Convention, 1967 Protocol, non-refoulement, exclusion, refugee status determination and durable solutions. Participants learn to analyse asylum claims against legal criteria; assess credibility and country-of-origin information; identify safeguards for children, survivors of violence, persons with disabilities and LGBTIQ+ people; and manage protection risks within mixed-movement and emergency settings. The course also addresses detention, border procedures, temporary protection, data protection, case management and coordination with authorities, UN agencies and service providers.

Teaching combines focused legal briefings with case analysis, group work, simulated protection decisions and structured discussion of operational dilemmas. Participants apply legal tests to realistic fact patterns involving border arrivals, detention, family separation, security allegations and return risks. They leave with a practical refugee protection case-analysis pack containing decision trees, assessment templates, referral tools and an individual application plan for their own role.

The programme is suited to humanitarian, migration, legal and protection personnel who already work with displaced populations or support asylum systems. It is particularly relevant to staff responsible for protection programming, case management, legal counselling, border procedures, government liaison and durable-solutions planning.

What you will be able to do

  • Apply the 1951 Refugee Convention definition to individual asylum fact patterns
  • Assess non-refoulement risks using refugee law and international human rights law
  • Conduct structured refugee status determination analysis using legal elements and evidence
  • Evaluate credibility, corroboration and country-of-origin information for asylum claims
  • Identify exclusion, cessation, cancellation and revocation issues in protection decisions
  • Design protection case-management and referral pathways for people at heightened risk
  • Develop safeguards for border procedures, detention, interviews and information sharing
  • Produce reasoned protection advice and an operational application plan

Benefits of attending

For you

  • Make defensible protection decisions using recognised refugee-law criteria
  • Recognise refoulement risks before transfer, return, detention or border refusal
  • Prepare clearer asylum case notes, legal analyses and referral records
  • Handle sensitive interviews with stronger safeguards for trauma and confidentiality
  • Contribute confidently to protection coordination with authorities and humanitarian partners

For your organisation

  • Reduce exposure to unlawful return, detention and exclusion-related protection failures
  • Improve consistency of asylum screening, case assessment and referral decisions
  • Strengthen safeguarding for children, survivors and other people at heightened risk
  • Create clearer escalation routes for urgent protection incidents and access barriers
  • Support accountable programming aligned with refugee law and humanitarian protection standards

Course modules

10 modules over 5 days

Participants can identify the legal sources, definitions and institutional responsibilities governing refugee protection.

  • 1951 Refugee Convention definition: persecution, nexus, protection and exclusion
  • 1967 Protocol and temporal limits removed from treaty protection
  • Distinguishing refugees, asylum seekers, migrants, stateless persons and IDPs
  • Regional instruments: 1969 OAU Convention and Cartagena Declaration criteria
  • Sources hierarchy: treaties, customary law, jurisprudence and domestic legislation
  • UNHCR mandate, supervisory role and host-state responsibilities

Participants can apply core protection principles to decisions affecting asylum seekers and refugees.

  • Non-refoulement tests under treaty law, customary law and human rights
  • Assessing direct, indirect and chain refoulement risks
  • Non-discrimination, family unity, best interests and procedural fairness
  • Rights during asylum: documentation, movement, work, education and health
  • Derogations, limitations and proportionality under international human rights law
  • State responsibility, due diligence and remedies for protection failures

Participants can identify legal safeguards at borders, in reception settings and during detention.

  • Screening at borders while preserving access to asylum procedures
  • Pushbacks, interdiction and extraterritorial jurisdiction: legal risk analysis
  • Admission safeguards for survivors, children and persons with disabilities
  • Detention necessity, proportionality, periodic review and alternatives to detention
  • Age assessment safeguards and presumption of childhood
  • Legal aid, interpretation and information duties at first contact

Participants can structure refugee status assessments using legal tests, evidence and reasoned findings.

  • UNHCR RSD Procedures: registration, interview, evidence and decision stages
  • Applying well-founded fear through forward-looking risk assessment
  • Establishing Convention nexus: race, religion, nationality, social group, opinion
  • Credibility assessment using indicators, corroboration and trauma-informed interviewing
  • Country-of-origin information: sourcing, reliability, currency and citation
  • Reasoned decisions, notification standards and appeal rights

Participants can distinguish exclusion and cessation issues while maintaining due-process safeguards.

  • Applying Article 1F exclusions: thresholds, evidence and individual responsibility
  • Assessing serious non-political crimes before admission to protection
  • Political opinion, military service and conscientious objection claims
  • Security allegations, due process and confidential evidence safeguards
  • Cessation triggers: changed circumstances, re-availment and durable protection
  • Cancellation, revocation and withdrawal distinguished from exclusion and cessation

Participants can identify and respond to protection risks affecting groups requiring tailored safeguards.

  • Best-interests determination procedures for unaccompanied and separated children
  • Survivor-centred referrals for gender-based violence and sexual exploitation
  • Disability inclusion: reasonable accommodation, accessibility and communication support
  • LGBTIQ+ claims assessed without stereotyping, disclosure pressure or harmful questioning
  • Trauma-informed interviewing techniques, consent boundaries and re-traumatisation prevention
  • Confidentiality protocols for interpreters, case files and referral partners

Participants can manage protection cases through structured assessment, referral, documentation and closure.

  • Protection case management cycle: identification, assessment, planning, referral, closure
  • Consent-based information sharing using data minimisation and purpose limitation
  • Inter-agency referral pathways, feedback loops and escalation thresholds
  • Risk matrices for threats, vulnerabilities, capacities and protective factors
  • Incident documentation that separates facts, allegations, analysis and action
  • Safeguarding duties, complaints mechanisms and protection from sexual exploitation

Participants can integrate refugee protection requirements into emergency response and coordination arrangements.

  • Temporary protection, prima facie recognition and group-based refugee approaches
  • Protection analysis during mixed movements, displacement and humanitarian emergencies
  • Site planning principles: safety, access, participation and accountability
  • Protection mainstreaming within shelter, WASH, food security and health responses
  • Cluster coordination roles, protection leadership and referral governance
  • Humanitarian access negotiations and civil-military coordination protection safeguards

Participants can assess durable-solutions options against safety, rights and informed-choice requirements.

  • Voluntary repatriation standards: safety, dignity, informed choice and monitoring
  • Local integration pathways: legal status, documentation, rights and inclusion
  • Resettlement referrals: vulnerability criteria, case integrity and confidentiality
  • Complementary pathways, family reunification and private sponsorship considerations
  • Assessing return conditions against non-refoulement and human rights obligations
  • Transition planning from emergency assistance to sustainable protection outcomes

Participants can produce practical protection advice and prioritise improvements to workplace procedures.

  • Fact-pattern analysis linking individual evidence to applicable legal tests
  • Drafting protection advice with authorities, risks, options and referrals
  • Decision trees for border screening, detention and urgent refoulement risks
  • Escalation protocols for imminent harm, denial of access and abuse
  • Monitoring indicators for procedural fairness, access and case outcomes
  • Personal application plan with workplace actions, owners and review dates

Exercises and examples are adapted to each cohort's sectors and roles.

What you take back to work

  1. Refugee status determination analysis template
  2. Non-refoulement risk assessment checklist
  3. Protection case-management pathway model
  4. Border screening and detention safeguards checklist
  5. Protection referral and escalation matrix
  6. Workplace refugee protection application plan

Who should attend

  • Protection Officers — need to assess risks, make referrals and document protection decisions
  • Asylum Caseworkers — need consistent methods for analysing refugee status claims
  • Humanitarian Programme Managers — need to build legal protection safeguards into response activities
  • Government Migration Officials — need to administer asylum, reception and border procedures lawfully
  • Legal Aid Providers — need to advise asylum seekers on claims, appeals and procedural rights
  • UN and NGO Field Coordinators — need to coordinate protection services during displacement emergencies

Skills and tools covered

Refugee status determinationNon-refoulement analysisProtection case managementAsylum procedure safeguardsDurable solutions planningProtection risk assessment

Tools and standards

1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, 1967 Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees, UNHCR Handbook and Guidelines on Procedures and Criteria for Determining Refugee Status, UNHCR Refugee Status Determination Procedural Standards

How the course runs

Training methodology

The course uses short instructor briefings to establish legal rules, followed by guided analysis of asylum and protection case files. Participants work in groups on credibility assessment, border-screening decisions, detention safeguards, referral mapping and durable-solutions options. Simulations examine interviews, inter-agency coordination and urgent non-refoulement concerns. Facilitated discussion compares legal obligations with field constraints faced by governments, UN agencies and NGOs. Each participant completes an application plan linking course methods to current responsibilities, procedures and priority risks.

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should have prior professional exposure to humanitarian response, migration management, legal services, social work, protection programming or public administration. They should be familiar with the basic terms refugee, asylum seeker, internally displaced person and humanitarian protection. Experience managing cases, delivering services to displaced people or working with public authorities is helpful. The course does not require a law degree, prior refugee status determination experience or detailed knowledge of international treaty interpretation. Participants should be prepared to read short case materials and discuss sensitive protection scenarios professionally.

A typical training day

08:30 – 10:30First session
10:30 – 10:45Refreshment break
10:45 – 12:30Second session
12:30 – 13:30Lunch and networking
13:30 – 15:00Third session
15:00 – 15:15Refreshment break
15:15 – 16:30Workshop and daily review

Live online deliveries follow the same structure in East Africa Time, with shorter screen blocks and longer breaks.

What the fee includes

  • Instruction by a practitioner facilitator
  • Full course workbook and materials
  • Exercise files, templates and case studies
  • Refreshments and lunch on classroom deliveries
  • Certificate of completion
  • Post-course application plan

Frequently asked questions

You should understand basic humanitarian or migration terminology and have some exposure to protection, asylum, social services, legal work or public administration. A law degree and previous asylum casework experience are not required.

Bring examples of non-confidential procedures, recurring protection challenges or referral arrangements from your workplace if permitted by your organisation. Course materials are provided, and participants should not bring identifiable case files or sensitive personal data.

It is designed for protection officers, asylum caseworkers, government migration personnel, legal aid providers, programme managers and field coordinators. It is most useful for professionals who influence decisions affecting refugees and asylum seekers.

General protection courses commonly cover wider risks affecting crisis-affected populations, including child protection and gender-based violence. This course concentrates on refugee law, asylum procedures, non-refoulement, status determination and durable solutions while connecting these to humanitarian operations.

Participants can use the legal analysis template, risk checklist, referral matrix and decision trees when reviewing cases or procedures. The final application plan identifies practical actions for improving screening, documentation, escalation or coordination arrangements.

Each training day runs from 08:30 to 16:30 and provides approximately 6.5 contact hours, excluding breaks. The five days move from legal foundations through asylum procedures and protection operations to durable solutions and workplace application.

Questions about this course?

Ask about dates, fees, group bookings or running it for your team. Our training team replies by email.

Ask on WhatsApp info@skillsetdevelopment.com

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