Graduate Program (& Advanced Certificate) Status
Learn about the core international human rights standards and the actors responsible for developing, implementing and monitoring them, as well as some critical contemporary human rights issues.
Through an examination of the main human rights laws, and the main mechanisms for monitoring and compliance with human rights, this course will develop students’ knowledge and understanding of the applicable international human rights standards and mechanisms and build students’ skills in critical analysis of complex human rights issues. It will also develop students’ ability to apply international human rights standards, and their skills of problem-solving, writing, advocacy, public speaking, communication and presentation, through active in-class exercises. The course will have a problem-solving orientation, so that in examining the human rights issues raised by current real-life situations, students will focus on the suitability of existing mechanisms, programmes and policies and consider potential avenues for solutions aimed at improving these situations.
Whether implicitly or explicitly, human rights are a central component in almost every aspect of national and international policy. Students will gain knowledge of core international human rights laws and principles, and develop an understanding of the national and international mechanisms through which human rights are implemented, protected and monitored.
The course will develop students’ ability to apply international human rights standards, as well as their skills of problem-solving, writing, advocacy, public speaking, communication and presentation, through active in-class exercises. The course will have a problem-solving orientation, so that in examining the human rights issues raised through current real-life situations, students will focus on the suitability of existing mechanisms, programmes and policies and consider potential avenues for solutions aimed at improving these situations.
Understanding the principles and framework upon which the international human rights system is built will provide students with a base from which they can understand how to mainstream human rights into their future work analysing, developing and implementing policies that are human rights compliant.
In addition to learning about human rights law and mechanisms, this course also emphasises developing skills for practice drawing on the instructor’s experience as a practitioner. It will be participatory and all students are invited to actively engage. The course encourages critical thinking and problem solving through readings, active class discussions and in-class exercises.
Assessment will be by on the basis of active participation (10%), teamwork (10%), in-class presentation (10%) and two written submissions (20% & 50%). Early in the course, students will write a short individual human rights advocacy paper on a human rights issue of interest to them and make a short presentation in class on the topic. Students will then prepare a final paper at the end of the course that builds on this earlier short paper and the feedback received on it from the instructor and fellow students. There will also be a two-class team exercise, where students will work together to propose a solution for a human rights ‘crisis’, applying the principles learned from the course to a mock scenario. In the first of these two classes, students will be presented with the ‘crisis’ and they will work in teams to propose how it could be approached.
This course is designed to be suitable for students who have not previously taken a human rights course, but it will also be of interest for those who would like to refresh their understanding of the main standards and mechanisms of international human rights law and build on that knowledge. While some legal aspects of international human rights will be covered, it is designed for SPP students and a legal background is not required.