The course covers the historical and philosophical underpinnings of the international protection of human rights, their sources of law, including universal and regional monitoring and enforcement mechanisms, and their scope of application and challenges (such as extraterritorial applicability), as well as the relationship with international humanitarian law. The final part of the course will be focused on case studies.
The students attending the course can submit a written report on a concrete case that the teacher will indicate at the begining of the class and present it in class. Alternatively, they can take the written exam on the basis of the notes of the lectures and the material made available on the Moodle electronic platform.
The students non attending the course have to prepare for the exam on the textook by Daniel Moeckli and others, International Human Rights Law, Oxford University Press, last edition, limited to the following chapters: 1, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 14, 15, 16, 19, 20, 22, 25 and 27.
ATTENTION: THE NON-ATTENDING STUDENTS WHO ARE UNABLE TO STUDY ON THE MOECKLI TEXTBOOK BECAUSE OF THE CLOSURE OF THE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY DUE TO THE HEALTH EMERGENCY, HAVE TO STUDY THE FOLLOWING PROGRAMME AVAILABLE ONLINE:
- I. Bantekas and L. Oette, International Human Rights Law and Practice, Cambridge University Press, 2016 (available ONLINE in the University library), pp. 4-47; 154-367; and 491-524
- E. Wicks, 'The Meaning of Life: Dignity and the Right to Life in International Human Rights Treaties', in Human Rights Law Review, 2012, pp. 199-219 (available ONLINE from the University library and also here http://hrlr.oxfordjournals.org/content/12/2/199.full.pdf+html)
- The judgment of the European Court of Human Rights in the case of Osman v. United Kingdom (28 October 1998), to the exclusion of paragraphs 72-99, 124-169 and of concurring/dissenting opinions), available at http://hudoc.echr.coe.int/eng?i=001-58257
WHEN YOU REGISTER FOR THE EXAM, PLEASE SPECIFY IN THE 'NOTES' WHAT PROGRAMME YOU HAVE STUDIED
Learning Objectives
The course offers the elements necessary to critically appraise the history and main theories of human rights, their sources of law, categories and scope of protectio. By the end of the course students will be able to identify and analyse the case law of different human rights international bodies and enforcement mechanisms, in particular with respect to the right to life.
Prerequisites
Students must have already taken at least 6 ECTS in International Law
Teaching Methods
The course is based on lectures and is supported by PPT slides, which will be uploaded on the Moodle platform, together with reading materials. In the final part of the course, students may prepare presentations of specific cases indicated by the lecturer, which are cloesly connected to the topics studied and discussed in the first part of the course.
Further information
The course will be held in the second semester (24 February - 24 April 2020)
Type of Assessment
The students who have attended the course and submitted a written report and presented it orally in class, will be evaluated on the basis of that report and presentation.
In alternative, attending students may sit for a written exam according to the modalities required from non attending students.
Non attending students have to pass a written exam, which consists in answering three out of four open questions in 1 hour and a half. No oral exam is possible for non-attending students.
ATTENTION:
Due to the current health emergency, as long as it is not possible to hold them in presence, exams will be taken orally. The dates remain the same but students will be convened through G-Meet at 9.00 AM and the precise time of the exam will be specified on that occasion, depending on the number of students actually showing up.
As per School indications, exams will take place through the G-Meet platform according to the following modalities:
- The student shows the University ID in order to be identified
- The student must consent to show the room of the exam where no books, notes or video or any other type of help shall be present
- In case of disconnection, a new question may be formulated
Course program
Week 1: The historical and philosophical foundations of human rights; the sources of international law and the relationship of human rights to general international law
Week 2: The human rights protection systems: the UN and the regional systems of protection, namely the European, African and American systems
Week 3: The right to life: meaning and scope of application
Week 4: The right to life: negative obligations (death penalty; beginning and end of life) and positive obligations (human dignity; prevention and repression of attacks at life)
Week 5: The right to life and womens' rights (femicide)
Week 6: The right to life in time of armed conflict
Week 7: Presentation of reports and laboratory for exam preparation