Save Migration Law at Humboldt University of Berlin!

The Professorship for Law and Migration at Humboldt University of Berlin (HU) was funded with the support of the Berlin Senate on a fixed-term basis until 30 September 2028. The aim was to establish a lasting, structural focus on law and migration in research and teaching at HU. As things currently stand, there is no long-term prospect for institutionally anchoring migration law at HU. The future of the Refugee Law Clinic Berlin (RLC Berlin) also depends on migration law being retained at our university.

The RLC Berlin offers free legal advice on asylum and residence law at 8 locations in Berlin. In addition, there is a team in Brandenburg (Eisenhüttenstadt), as well as an online service and two mobile services. Since the professorship for Law and Migration was established, the RLC Berlin has become more firmly anchored in the Faculty of Law, and the link between university teaching, legal practice, and voluntary engagement has been strengthened. Particularly in light of extensive cuts to migration law advisory services, low-threshold, free counselling structures are becoming increasingly important. The RLC Berlin can and should not replace professional, state-funded advisory services. However, it makes an important contribution to access to justice and is at the same time a distinctive part of practical legal training at HU. Therefore, a structure that combines academic education with social responsibility is at risk of being lost.

Migration law is one of the most socially and legally relevant fields of law of our time. Questions of flight, migration, and social participation touch on central areas of constitutional, administrative, European, and international law. The growing visibility of racist and anti-migrant positions makes clear that questions of migration and human rights are among the central challenges for democracy, the rule of law, and society. Without the Professorship for Law and Migration, migration law would once again disappear entirely from the teaching offerings at HU, even though it has been a firm part of the curriculum since October 2023, including the Faculty of Law’s specialization program.