Human Rights in A Global Context

This intensive course provides a multi-disciplinary introduction to human rights, critically examining the politics of human rights, their contentious nature and uneven global implementation. Throughout, the focus is on practical issues and the contested politics of human rights in action through a range of topical case studies. The course critically examines the history and development of concepts of human rights and the philosophies underpinning them, as well as current frameworks of international human rights law and the relationship among current debates in human rights, political power and social injustice. Topics include human rights and international relations; humanitarian intervention and the responsibility to protect; postcolonial and feminist critiques of human rights; the inter-section of human rights with gender, sexuality, ethnicity and class; the relationship between human and civil rights; women's, children's and indigenous peoples' rights; and the practical implementation and enforcement of human rights.