Applied Human Rights – (M.A.)

Contents

Course Structure

The MA structure has three components: compulsory modules, and an inner and outer ring of options. In total, students need to complete five modules (two compulsory, in the first term; one compulsory, running over three terms; two options in the second term). A dissertation will fulfill the requirements for an MA. This structure has been chosen so as to maximize the choice available to students, but to guide the selection process in a constructive way eg: indicating where modules are practice-based and where they are not.

Continuous assessment of applied skills is a feature of the programme.

The MA will be offered on a full time and part time basis. Part time students will complete two compulsory modules ( ` human rights debates ´ and ` law, public policy and human rights ´ : term one) and one optional module (term two) in their first year. In year two, part time students will enrol for the ` defending human rights ´ compulsory module and their second optional module. They will also go on the field trip and complete their dissertation.

The three compulsory modules are: ‘defending human rights’; ‘social sciences and human rights practice ’; and ‘law, public policy and human rights’. The compulsory modules reflect the two sides to activism - the strategies employed and the debates, institutions and political structures activism seeks to influence - and will engage with all facets of the paradox outlined above.

Compulsory modules
Defending human rights
(40 credits; terms 1 and 2)
The main aim of this module is to have students develop the practical, problem solving, and reflective skills needed for human rights work. At the start of the year, students will be placed in small groups linked to their preferred externships with organizations in South Africa (for the MA), Malaysia (for the LLM), or UK (for either MA and LLM students who decide not to travel abroad). Those student groups will engage in tasks designed to develop specific skill sets, accumulating portfolios of work for assessment. Sessions will be led by Centre staff, experienced practitioners, and international human rights defenders based at the Centre.

By the end of the course, students should be able to:

* Understand the wide range of advocacy tools used by human rights defenders and organizations;
* Apply problem solving and practical skills to address complex human rights issues;
* Use reflective learning to improve their human rights work;
* Work constructively in small groups; and
* Generate useful outputs for the human rights organizations paired with their small groups.

Module Delivery

The module will be taught using an open format in which lecture delivery and workshop discussion will be combined in three hour teaching sessions. Lectures will be used to introduce core concepts while workshops will give students an opportunity to present their draft portfolio assignments for peer review.

Social Sciences and Human Rights Practice
(20 credits; term 1)
This module aims to analyse the many ways in which disciplines in the social sciences (and some humanities) have come to inform human rights practice. It is informed by the claim that social sciences are increasingly important in human rights practice and will address this central question: How can practical advances in human rights through law, policy and programming be advanced using insights and methods from the social sciences? The module is split into two sections. The first section on the ‘inter-disciplinarity of human rights’ provides background on human rights institutions and activism, and the insights diverse disciplines can provide for human rights practice. The second section explores ways in which the social sciences help us understand and tackle key practical dilemmas: 1) How much scope should there be for cultural diversity? 2) What is the best way to research human rights abuses, and research human rights activism? 3) How should we anticipate and alter responses to human rights work, specifically from perpetrators and the general public responses? 4) What theories of change underpin human rights work? 5) How can practitioners best measure and demonstrate that their work has an impact?

Law, public policy and human rights
(20 Credits, term 1)
The aim of this module is to identify strategies and tools for the application of human rights standards, as set forth in international law, in a variety of contexts. The module seeks to address the related questions, “how can law make a difference?” and “how can we change policy?” Answering these questions requires identifying the intersections between international and domestic jurisdictions, and between human rights, law, public policy and the provision of public services.

Optional modules
In the second term students will be able to take two options.

An inner ring of optional modules will share the characteristics of the MA (practice based; interdisciplinary). Five modules will explore areas where rights are being used in new and innovative ways (‘development and human rights’; `health and human rights’; 'truth, justice and reparations after violence'; 'asylum, migration and trafficking'; 'cultures of human rights'). Students must take at least one module from the inner ring, and may take both of their options from this selection if they wish to do so.

Development and human rights
(20 credits, term 2)
This module will provide insights into contemporary development debates, intersections between development and human rights, and the tools and strategies that help advance positive outcomes. The key question addressed by the module is whether human rights can help tackle poverty and inequality, and if so how? Introductory sessions will examine how and why development and human rights have converged in recent years; detail some of the resulting formulations (e.g. economic and social rights and the rights-based approaches to development); provide an introduction to different ways of arguing for economic and social rights and development; and explore a case study of convergence (participatory approaches). Key contemporary development challenges will then be explored through the prism of human rights (aid effectiveness and links between aid and security; dealing with natural disasters; failed states; corruption; land reform).

Health and human rights
(20 credits, term 2)
The ‘right to health’ is enshrined in binding international treaties and conventions: Article 12 of the International Covenant of Social, Economic and Cultural Rights (ISECR) states that:

“The States Parties to the present Covenant recognize the right of everyone to enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health”

Understanding the reciprocal relationship between health and human rights is increasingly important to policy-makers, health care professionals, public health practitioners and human rights defenders. It presents us with opportunities and challenges, and can be a powerful tool for tackling complex and difficult health issues.

The aim of this course is to introduce students to the application of a human-rights framework in the field of public health and gain insight into the structures and processes by which human rights can influence public health objectives. Throughout the course students will examine a range of public health issues using a rights-based approach, and analyse to what extent a rights-based approach is complementary, detrimental or relevant to policy and practice.

Following a general introduction, each seminar will focus on a different topic in family and community health in developing and developed countries (including the UK), and incorporate case-based learning and group discussion to acquire insights and develop an understanding of the processes by which human rights can influence and improve health. Over-arching themes will run throughout the course:

* Addressing poverty and inequalities in health
* The interface between a population approach in public health and a focus on the individual
* The importance of both physical and mental health

Asylum, migration and trafficking
(20 Credits, term 2)
The universalism of much of human rights law and policy is belied by the frequent use of terms such as “citizen” and the inattention to situations in which non-citizens find themselves. As a result, the vulnerabilities of migrants to state and non-state actors often remain unaddressed. This module will examine the phenomenon of human movement, including both forced and voluntary migration, and the legal frameworks that govern the rights of various categories of migrants. The module will focus on the specific policies which states put in place to advance (and to hinder) the enjoyment by migrants of their rights.

The module will explore the general category of “migrant” and its various sub-categories (as defined by location of movement and by degree of volition), including the internally displaced, labour migrants, refugees and victims of human trafficking. The module will examine the legal tools available to human rights defenders seeking to assist these groups. It will also examine the extent to which human rights law and policy have managed to challenge two of the remaining bastions of state sovereignty: the related powers of a state to control entrance and egress and its power to control its membership. Although the obligations of states to migrants will be the primary focus of the course, the policies and practices of international organizations and supranational bodies with respect to migration will also be discussed.

The module will begin by examining the conceptions of citizenship (and their impact upon rights discourse) and the phenomenon of migration (including both its causes and effects). The module will examine the ability of migrants to enjoy even putatively universal rights, such as the right to equal protection of the law. The module will then explore distinctions made in law and policy between forced and voluntary migration and between intra- and inter- national displacement. The use of smuggling to move internationally will also be discussed, along with the related phenomenon of human trafficking. Refugee protection, both in countries like the UK and in the Global South, will be reviewed, including the criteria for qualification and the processes of determination of status. The ability of human rights defenders at risk to gain asylum will be examined. With respect to more voluntary forms of migration, the rights of migrant workers and long-term residents will also be discussed.

Truth, justice & reparations after violence
(20 Credits, term 2)
This optional module offers an in-depth examination of the law, policy, and practice of post-authoritarian and post-conflict justice mechanisms. It gives students a contextualized understanding of how gross human rights violations can be punished and remedied at the international, national, and local levels.

Module Content

After mass violence and repression, states, societies, and communities have created “transitional justice” mechanisms to deal with the legacy of gross human rights abuses. The best known mechanisms are international criminal tribunals and national truth commissions. Transitional justice is simultaneously backward- and forward-looking: addressing past abuses with the aim of preventing future ones. As such, it often involves difficult choices between punishment and forgiveness, accountability and reconciliation, remembrance and forgetting. In recent years, transitional justice has become a globalized paradigm as international donors, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and human rights defenders export, import, and adapt a growing assortment of transitional justice “tools” to diverse settings.

This module begins by locating victims’ rights to truth, justice, and reparations in treaty law and “soft law.” It then critically examines the workings and impact of various transitional justice mechanisms – amnesties, tribunals, truth commissions, and reparations – in specific international, national and local contexts. Throughout the module, we will pay close attention to the question of what do victims and survivors actually want.

Cultures of human rights
(20 credits, term 2)
In recent years the intersections between culture and human rights have become more numerous and complex. For example, many members of the public first become aware of human rights concerns through literature, film or theatre. In addition, human rights organisations routinely use diverse media, including video and radio, in their research, advocacy and outreach. Intersections between the two fields are increasingly the subject of interdisciplinary academic study.

This module explores the implications of these developments under the rubric of “cultures of human rights practice” by:

* Analysing discourses of human rights practice drawing on cultural theories of representation (narrative, genre and testimony).
* Examining the role of culture in human rights work – what cultural forms are used, why, and to what effect?
* Exploring the ways in which human rights practitioners, artists, writers, musicians and filmmakers collaborate in the pursuit of humanitarian goals.

Students may also take one option from a wide-ranging outer ring of existing modules offered at the University which have some relationship to human rights. These may not be overtly rights-based and in some cases emphasise theory rather than practice. An indicative list of modules is provided below:

* Social and political issues in development


* Women, citizenship and conflict


* Contemporary philosophy of law


* Contemporary issues in toleration


* Teaching and Learning Citizenship and Global Education