International Human Rights

Catalog description

After introducing human rights law in the context of a case study on the death penalty, this course examines international human rights law from both a practical and theoretical perspective. The course is designed to provide students with an informed and critical perspective on international instruments, intergovernmental organizations, and domestic legal arrangements articulating and implementing human rights. Topics will include the historic origins of modern human rights law; the content of and connections between civil, political, social, and economic rights; relationships between human rights law, international criminal law, and the law of armed conflict; transnational strategies associated with implementation and enforcement of human rights law; the importance of soft law; and international responses to mass atrocities.