Human Rights Law LWEN 1306

Course description:

Since the ratification of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948, a global human rights industry has emerged. This course will take a critical approach both to human rights violations, and to the human rights discourses and campaigns that seek to remedy them.
It will look at case studies involving rights issues in globalized contexts, for instance refugees, human trafficking, international women's rights campaigns and global Indigenous movements. The course will explore the ways in which universal rights have been embraced, problematized and reconfigured as they travel the globe. It will also look at different ways of presenting rights issues - through reports, campaigns, and visual documentary - seeking the most effective ways of presenting rights issues to global publics. Considering these questions the course will explore our reactions to human rights imagery and victims' testimonies, and discuss the most productive ways to respond to the ways in which we are positioned as global citizens with a responsibility for responding to rights issues. The course will offer the opportunity to pursue individual interest in a particular rights issue, and is suitable for those who want to take their interest in social justice into advocacy, campaign or development work, for those who want to cover human rights issues in creative or media work, and for those who simply want to think about how to be ethical and engaged global citizens.
Course Learning Outcomes

Course Aims:

Course outcomes:

  • Participate in informed discussions on human rights issues in a variety of local and global contexts.
  • Show leadership in arguing for the importance of protecting human rights in their various dimensions.
  • Articulate both benefits and limitations of conceiving of social justice issues in terms of human rights
  • Conduct informed, independent research on particular human rights issues, paying attention to local context, and report findings to a professional standard
  • Evaluate specific human rights campaigns in terms of social justice, ethics, and empowerment.
  • Identify and/or develop innovative and effective ways of presenting rights issues to various publics and stakeholders.
  • Engage respectfully and enthusiastically in cross-cultural contexts and debates.
  • Construct a clear, coherent and independent argument which responds to a particular question and is supported by appropriate scholarly evidence, within identified timeframes.
  • Demonstrate interpersonal, leadership and teamwork skills in group activities.