This course aims to provide students with a critical understanding of international human rights law and practice.  Topics to be covered include:

• historical development of international human rights law
• international humanitarian law (the law of armed conflict) and its relationship with the international law of human rights
• human rights ‘enforcement' mechanisms: the UN Human Rights Council, the human rights treaty bodies and human rights regional mechanisms
• the rights of women and the rights of indigenous peoples
• threats to rights, particularly in the context of the war on terror
• application of international human rights law in Australia, including refugee issues, anti-terror legislation and the argument about an Australian Bill of Rights.

At the conclusion of this course students should be able to:

• Advocate effectively the observance and progressive development of the international law of human rights
• Critically analyse the norms of the international law of human rights
• Argue the case for particular human rights in debate, often with people in Australia and in the international system who are belligerently opposed to the entire subject.

The components of the assessment will be: either a class presentation worth 40% or a research paper worth 40%; a class participation mark worth 10%; and a take-home exam worth 50% to be undertaken at the end of the semester.   The relationship between the assessment and the learning outcomes for the course will be set out in the course outline.  Details of the course means of assessment will be provided on the course home page and WebCT by the first week of semester. 

There will be three contact hours per week, made up of one large group lecture and two smaller seminars.  The average workload for the course will be 10 hours per week.

International Law LAWS2250.
Completed or completing five LAWS courses at 1000 level.

It would be helpful but not essential for students to have completed Commonwealth Constitutional Law prior to commencing this course.

Henry J Steiner, Philip Alston and Ryan Goodman, International Human Rights in Context (3rd ed, 2007). 

Students should read Lynn Hunt's Inventing Human Rights: A history  (2007) and Mary Ann Glendon's A World Made New: Eleanor Roosevelt and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights  (2001). There are copies of both books in the Law Library. Students should also visit the website of Human Rights Watch (www.hrw.org) to familiarise themselves with current human rights issues.

The course outline will provide a recommended reading list, including useful web sites.

Students may find it helpful to take the course Human Rights Law in Australia (LAWS2220) as well at some point in their degree, as the two courses together provide a comprehensive introduction to the law on human rights. This course is also a useful adjunct to Indigenous Australians and the Law in presenting the international context of such issues as the indigenous right to self-determination.