Course Schedule
Week 1: Introduction to the course
- Introductions: Students and instructors.
- Instructor’s expectations, overview of the course, discussions, comments, and questions.
- Basic concepts: What are human rights? The universality principle.
Readings
- Universal Declaration of Human Rights
- The Charter of the United Nations (preamble and articles 1, 2(1), 2(4) and 2(7))
- What are human rights? (OHCHR – Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights)
- Amartya Sen, “The Power of a Declaration,” The New Republic, February 2009
Week 2: Origins, Impact and Relevance of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Readings
- What are human rights? Six historical controversies
- Imagining a World without the Universal Declaration of Human Rights | World Politics | Cambridge Core
- Sections I, II and IV The Status of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in National and International Law (uga.edu)
- ‘If Only for a Day’: The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Anniversary Commemoration and International Human Rights Law
- Boundlessly Idealistic, Universal Declaration Of Human Rights Is Still Resisted : NPR
Week 3: International Human Rights: Basic Concepts and Normative Framework
Readings
- Read Anthony .J Langlois, “Normative and Theoretical Foundations of Human Rights” in Michael Goodhart, Human Rights: Politics and Practice (Oxford University Press, 2016)
- Skim Rhona K. M. Smith, “Human Rights in International Law,” in Michael Goodhart, Human Rights: Politics and Practice (Oxford University Press, 2016)
- International Bill of Human Rights
- Skim Amartya Sen, “Elements of a Theory of Human Rights,” Philosophy and Public Affairs; Fall 2004; 32, 4;
Week 4: Rights and Principles in UN Human Rights Treaties and Soft Law Documents
Readings
Read UN Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, 1966:
- International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (read articles 1-27, skim the rest)
- https://www.ohchr.org/en/professionalinterest/pages/ccpr.aspx; monitored by the UN Human Rights Committee (CCPR) https://www.ohchr.org/en/hrbodies/ccpr/pages/ccprindex.aspx
- UN Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, 1966: https://www.ohchr.org/en/professionalinterest/pages/cescr.aspx; monitored by the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ESR),
- UN 2030 Agenda on Sustainable Development and 17 SDGs, 2015, monitored by the UN High Level Political Forum (HLPF) (General Assembly and ECOSOC jointly), https://sdgs.un.org/ and https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/hlpf
- UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights
Week 5: Human rights architecture of the UN system:
Watch video from UN OHCHR:
Readings
1. Human rights architecture of the UN system:
- Special Rapporteurs:
2. Regional Human Rights Systems and Courts and the Role of NGOs
- Frans Viljoen, “Africa’s Contribution to the Development of International Human Rights and Humanitarian Law,” African Human Rights Journal, (2001): 18-39.
- Nico Krisch, “The Open Architecture of European Human Rights Law,” Modern Law Review 71: 2, pp. 183 -216.
- Robert K. Goldman, “History and Action: The Inter-American Human Rights System and the Role of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights,” Human Rights Quarterly 31 (2009): 856-887
- Eyal Benvenisti, “Margin of Appreciation, Consensus, and Universal Standards,” NYU Journal of International Law and Politics, Vol. 31, Issue 4 (Summer 1999), pp. 843-854.
Week 6
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