FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS Syllabus Aims and objectives of the course: The protection of fundamental rights is represented by international conventions, instruments, documents, case law, etc used to protect human rights at international, regional and national levels. It has become the minimum standard of protection in most countries. This course on fundamental rights will examine such rights through their protection by international human rights law and its procedures. It will include a detailed consideration of global, regional, and national mechanisms for the protection of fundamental rights. It looks at the substantive and procedural aspects as well as selected topics. The course is designed to provide an overview to international human rights laws, mechanisms, and practices. The course focuses on the central elements of human rights, including the creation of modern individual rights in the international legal system, the nature of these rights and of governments' obligations, and the systems in place at the United Nations and elsewhere to protect people from human rights violations. The aims of the course are to enable students to have a sound knowledge and understanding of the major areas of international human rights law, to enable students to appreciate the substantive protections of human rights at domestic, regional and international level, and to provide students with the ability to analyse and apply the law to factual situations, thus enabling them to apply the law of human rights to practical problems. It
further aims to enable students to acquire and enhance skills for effective application of the law of human rights. The course will provide students with the ability to critically assess the way human rights law applies and the operation of these rules. Teaching method: This course will require from students to do readings before the class. Each class will be focused on a specific topic. Students will be expected to have read all the materials fully as the class will involve student participation and discussion. There are no required textbooks. There are required readings that are on the website of the Faculty. Please check and follow the course in general and before each class for changes or additions. Discussion is an important element of the course, which is conducted as a quasiseminar rather than a lecture course. Assigned materials should be read prior to each class, and participation in class is essential and will be part of the final grade. A short daily what is in human rights news will be held. Students are expected to keep up with what is happening and contribute to this exercise. Please prepare at least one human rights news story for each class. Grades for the course will be made up of the following: 75 % for the research paper, and 25 % class participation or 100% for the exam. 2
The FINAL and complete long research paper of about 25 pages is due at the last class in both hard and soft copies. Essays are to be handed in both electronically and in hard copies at the last class. The essay must be of good written and research quality. It must be well researched using published material i.e. books and journals. Do not rely on internet materials that are not from published sources. References, including page numbers, must be systematic and complete. A complete, systematic and accurate bibliography must be attached. 3
Reading Assignments Class 1 Introduction to the course The state of human rights in the world today Class 2 What is international human rights law? An overview Class 3 Human rights and international law Class 4 What are human rights? Class 5 Why protect human rights? Are rights universal? Class 6 The history of international human rights Class 7 The international human rights system Class 8 The role of the United Nations in the protection of human rights 4
Class 9 UN mechanisms for the protection of human rights Class 10 Why are there regional human rights protection systems? Class 11 Socio-economic rights Class 12 Civil and political rights Class 13 The role of states in protecting human rights Class 14 What to do about states that violate human rights? 5
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Human Rights. (Cambridge University Press, 2014). 13. Viljoen F. International human rights law in Africa. (Oxford University Press, 2012). 14. International human rights law. (Oxford University Press, 2014). 15. Buergenthal T. A Brief History of International Human Rights Law. at <http://legal.un.org/avl/ls/buergenthal_hr_video_1.html> 16. Tasioulas J. Human Rights, Legitimacy, and International Law. The American Journal of Jurisprudence 58, 1 25 (2013). 17. Waldron J. How Law Protects Dignity. SSRN Electronic Journal (2011). doi:10.2139/ssrn.1973341 18. International human rights law. (Oxford University Press, 2014). 19. Garrod M. The Protective Principle of Jurisdiction over War Crimes and the Hollow Concept of Universality. International Criminal Law Review 12, 763 826 (2012). 20. PINELLI C. The Kelsen/Schmitt Controversy and the Evolving Relations between Constitutional and International Law. Ratio Juris 23, 493 504 (2010). 21. International human rights law. (Oxford University Press, 2014). 22. Philip Alston and Gerard Quinn. The Nature and Scope of States Parties Obligations under the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. Human Rights Quarterly 9, 156 229 (1987). 23. Shelton D. L. Form, Function, and the Powers of International Courts. at <http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1793275> 24. Helfer L. R. The Effectiveness of International Adjudicators. at <http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2194189> 25. International human rights law. (Oxford University Press, 2014). 7
26. Moravcsik A. The Origins of Human Rights Regimes: Democratic Delegation in Postwar Europe. International Organization 54, 217 252 (2000). 27. International human rights law. (Oxford University Press, 2014). 28. Murungu C. B. Towards a Criminal Chamber in the African Court of Justice and Human Rights. Journal of International Criminal Justice 9, 1067 1088 (2011). 29. Heyns, Christof. African Regional Human Rights System: The African Charter. Penn State Law Review 108, (2003). 30. International human rights law. (Oxford University Press, 2014). 31. Lynda E. Frost. The Evolution of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights: Reflections of Present and Former Judges. Human Rights Quarterly 14, 171 205 (1992). 32. Brewer S. E. & Cavallaro J. L. Reevaluating Regional Human Rights Litigation in the Twenty-First Century: The Case of the Inter-American Court. at <http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1404608> 33. International human rights law. (Oxford University Press, 2014). 34. Plomer A. A Foetal Right to Life? The Case of Vo v France. Human Rights Law Review 5, 311 338 (2005). 35. Wicks E. The Meaning of Life : Dignity and the Right to Life in International Human Rights Treaties. Human Rights Law Review 12, 199 219 (2012). 36. Harrington, Alexandra R. Life as We Know It: The Expansion of the Right to Life under the Jurisprudence of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights. Loyola of Los Angeles International and Comparative Law Review 35, (2012). 37. International human rights law. (Oxford University Press, 2014). 38. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, Committee Study of the Central Intelligence Agency s Detention and Interrogation Program. at 8
<http://www.intelligence.senate.gov/study2014.html> 39. Twiss S. B. Torture, Justification, and Human Rights: Toward an Absolute Proscription. Human Rights Quarterly 29, 346 367 (2007). 40. International human rights law. (Oxford University Press, 2014). 41. Charlesworth H. What are Women s International Human Rights? at <http://www.manual.etc-graz.at/typo3/fileadmin/user_upload/etc- Hauptseite/Menschenrechte_lernen/POOL/What_Womens_1994.pdf> 42. Wright, Shelly. Economic Rights and Social Justice: A Feminist Analysis of Some International Human Rights Conventions. Australian Year Book of International Law 12, (1988). 43.International human rights law. (Oxford University Press, 2014). 44.Assessing Damage, Urging Action: Report of the Eminent Jurists Panel on Terrorism, Counter-Terrorism and Human Rights. (2009). at <http://www.un.org/en/sc/ctc/specialmeetings/2011/docs/icj/icj-2009-ejpreport.pdf> 45. Greene A. The Quest for a Satisfactory Definition of Terrorism: v. The Modern Law Review 77, 780 793 (2014). 46. International human rights law. (Oxford University Press, 2014). 47. Waldron J. How Law Protects Dignity. SSRN Electronic Journal (2011). Moyn S. The First Historian of Human Rights. The American Historical Review 116, 58 79 (2011). 9