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 (namely, the Law of Armed Conflict). 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 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.
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 (25 February - 28 May 2021)
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.
Alternatively, attending students may sit for an oral exam according to the modalities required for non attending students.
Non attending students have to pass an oral exam, which consists in answering three open questions.
Course program
Topic 1: The historical and philosophical foundations of human rights; the sources of international law and the relationship of human rights to general international law
Topic 2: The human rights protection systems: the UN and the regional systems of protection, namely the European, African and American systems
Topic 3: The right to life: meaning and scope of application
Topic 4: The right to life: negative obligations (death penalty; beginning and end of life)
Topic 5: The right to life: positive obligations (human dignity; prevention and repression of attacks at life)
Topic 6: The right to life and womens' rights (femicide)
Topic 7: The right to life in time of armed conflict
Topic 8: The right to life in time of health emergency
Topic 9: Presentation of reports and laboratory for exam preparation