International Human Rights Law Seminar

Catalog description

Examines the historical, political and philosophical roots of international human rights law, its development over the course of the last century and its contemporary role in international affairs. Specific topics may include the relevance of international human rights law for a practicing U.S. lawyer; the effect of the United States' recent signature and ratification of U.N. human rights conventions; the U.S.'s interaction with international human rights bodies, such as the U.N. Human Rights Committee; customary international human rights law; the rights of women; economic and social rights; religion and human rights; the prohibition of torture and its relationship to efforts to combat terrorism; contemporary measures to enforce international human rights law through the criminal process; the activities of regional human rights systems and their organs, such as the European Court of Human Rights; and the debate on whether there is a global "responsibility to protect" victims of genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity, including through the use of military intervention.