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DCC 2303

Legal Aspects of Human Rights

3 units

Fall 2025

Topics

  • Concept and history of human rights
  • International human rights law
  • Supervisory bodies and mechanisms
  • Human rights in Canada
  • Criticism of human rights

Readings

  • Donnelly, Jack. Universal Human Rights Theory and Practice (2003), p.71.
  • Fagan, Andrew. The Philosophical Foundations of Human Rights. In Thomas Cushman (ed.), Handbook of Human Rights (Routledge, 2012), p.9.
  • Dembour, Marie-Bénédicte. What Are Human Rights? Four Schools of Thought. Human Rights Quarterly 32(1) (2010): 1–20.
  • Stanley Foundation. Actualizing the Responsibility to Protect (2008). https://www.stanleyfoundation.org/publications/report/UNND808.pdf
  • ICRC. International humanitarian law and International human rights law: Similarities and differences – Factsheet (2003). https://www.icrc.org/en/document/international-humanitarian-law-and-international-human-rights-law-similarities-and
  • Conlon, Justin. Sovereignty vs. Human Rights or Sovereignty and Human Rights? Race & Class 46(1) (2004): 75–100.
  • Donnelly, Jack. The Relative Universality of Human Rights. Human Rights Quarterly 29(2) (2007): 281–306.
  • Collins, Dana; Sylvanna Falcon; Sharmila Lodhia; Molly Talcott. New Directions and Feminism in Human Rights. International Feminist Journal of Politics 12(3–4) (2010): 298–318.
  • Ssenyonjo, Manisuli. Reflections on state obligations with respect to economic, social and cultural rights in international human rights law. The International Journal of Human Rights 15(6) (2011): 969–1012.
  • Megret, Frederic; Florian Hoffmann. The UN as a Human Rights Violator? Some Reflections on the United Nations Changing Human Rights Responsibilities. Human Rights Quarterly 25(2) (2003): 314–342.
  • Heyns, C.H.; Frans Viljoen. The Impact of the United Nations Human Rights Treaties on the Domestic Level. Human Rights Quarterly 23(3) (2001): 483–535.
  • Ssenyonjo, Manisuli. The Applicability of International Human Rights Law to Non-State Actors: What Relevance to Economic, Social and Cultural Rights? The International Journal of Human Rights 12(5) (2008): 725–760.
  • Mertus, Julie. The Rejection of Human Rights Framings: The Case of LGBT Advocacy in the US. Human Rights Quarterly 29(4) (2007): 1036–1064.
Sources