Contemp Issues in Human Rights

3 Credits · Level: Undergraduate

The course aims to introduce non-law students studying in the social sciences or the humanities spheres what human rights are, what are their key sources, how they work (if at all) and what are some of the key contemporary issues. The course challenges many of the arguments states and other actors put forward in obfuscating or downright violating human rights. Context is just as important as the rules in which they are contained and some of the issues discussed here are contentious even among human rights scholars, activists and lawyers. Some of the issues that will be covered, include: the right to life; freedom of expression and religious beliefs; hate speech and its regulation; terrorism and human rights; international crimes and the laws of war; investment, international trade and their impact on human rights; non-state actors and multinational corporations; the enforcement of human rights through domestic and international courts; the UN and human rights, disability rights and rights of vulnerable persons, including the elderly, sexual and religious minorities and indigenous persons.