International Protection of Human Rights (LLM Only) (Online) (LAW-725A-E001)
Elizabeth Abi-Mershed
Meets: 05:00 PM - 07:00 PM (M)
Enrolled: 13 / Limit: 22
Notices
There are no notices at this time.
Description
Through the class we will review the standards and processes that international human rights law provides to address serious human rights violations. The focus will be on issues of current, fundamental relevance relating to human rights, discrimination, repression and violence against individuals and groups at risk because of who they are and/or what they do. We will consider examples from the United Nations, Inter-American, European and African systems, and the principal processes through which they monitor state compliance with human rights obligations. We will start by looking at how international human rights monitoring bodies view their role and the relationship of international protection to domestic systems. We will analyze the situation of judges, considering their role in enforcing human rights protections at the national level and the protections that apply to them as human rights defenders when involved in safeguarding rights. We will review international and regional responses to the challenges that the broader community of individual human rights defenders faces. The course gives consideration to slavery, violence and discrimination against women, discrimination and violence against LGBTI persons, and approaches to health and human rights. As we look at the substantive issues mentioned, we will also give close attention to some primary mechanisms for supervision, focusing, in particular, on individual cases, precautionary measures, reparations and processes of implementation. While there are many elements that are common across the systems, there are also important differences and regional specificities. Looking at the systems that serve to protect human rights - universal, regional and national - we will consider distinctions and the question of complementarity, that is, the extent to which they mutually support and reinforce each other.
Textbooks and Other Materials
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First Class Readings
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Syllabus
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