OADH 4025 - The Role of NGOs in Human Rights Protection

Antoine BERNARD is A lawyer and independent expert on human rights, international justice and NGOs, Antoine Bernard is Director of Advocacy & Assistance at Reporters Without Borders (RSF). Also a Board member, Syrian Center for Media and Freedom of Expression (SCM) and Secretary General, La Maison des femmes (Women's Home, Saint Denis, France). Former Steering Committee member, World Movement for Democracy and Jury member, French Republic Simone Veil Award for gender equality. Previously CEO, International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and member of the French National Consultative Commission on Human Rights (CNCDH).

Topics and case studies (to be selected with students) relating to: shrinking space for civil society; human rights defenders' protections and conflict situations, closed states, international justice, information and democracy, business and human rights, strategic litigation, strategic advocacy.
This course looks at Human Rights Protection from a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) lens. How are NGOs active in the field of human rights protection? What are they seeking to achieve? What are their limitations? How are their assigned goals achieved in complex international and domestic contexts where human rights are instrumentalized and on trial? How do and how can NGOs challenge states, individuals and businesses to achieve outcomes in a complex and changing world?
Dilemmas in this space arise out of the multiple protagonists, the new global space of information and communication, the rise of populism, conflicting issues such as public order, public health and security vs human rights, justice vs peace, business and trade vs human rights, moral and traditional values vs human rights.
Building on legal foundations, this course will encourage students to develop a pragmatic scepticism about actors in this space (States, Individuals, Businesses including social networks) while developing their understanding about how NGOs can also challenge and influence these actors. It will also consider risks to NGO workers and human rights defenders. Special focus will be brought on NGO practical experience through the lens/practice of FIDH, RSF and other international and domestic NGOs. This course is dedicated to Razan Zaïtouneh, a leading Syrian human rights activist, a lawyer and a journalist, abducted in Douma on 9 December 2013 together with three colleagues. The “Douma Four” have since been missing.


The structure of the course will be:

Classes 1 and 2: Introduction (Mapping out Actors in Human Rights Protection)
Housekeeping and election of class delegate. Setting the scene: human rights contexts, global and regional protection systems, standards, power mapping, actors. NGOs landscape: legal concepts, political realities. Techniques, tools and challenges: from documentation to advocacy, strategic litigation, public mobilisation and media work, information and communication technology, standard setting (focus on international human rights law, international humanitarian law, international criminal law), training and capacity building.

Classes 3 and 4: The Role of NGOs in Challenging States' Responsibility
NGOs' contribution to and use of normative frames and standard-setting. Strength and weaknesses of contemporary legal mechanisms and standards. How NGOs advocate for rights protection. Litigating about State's measures or practices.

Classes 5 and 6: The Role of NGOs in Challenging Individuals' Criminal Responsibility for International Crimes
The Rome Statute and ICC related instruments, active complementarity, domestic standards: Advocating for independent and effective justice for international crimes. Litigating international crimes and accompanying victims' quests for justice.

Classes 7 and 8: The Role of NGOs in Challenging Businesses' Responsibility in the Field of Human Rights
Multinational corporations' accountability, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), justiciability of economic, social and cultural rights: the development of legal standards and challenges ahead. Enforcement: filling the impunity gap, strategic litigation. Engagement with corporations: conditions, modalities.


LEARNING OUTCOMES:

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

1. Demonstrate their understanding of NGO Law and its applications to Human Rights Protection NGOs
2. Demonstrate their understanding of the strategic use of International Human Rights and criminal procedural Law by Human Rights Protection NGOs
3. Recognize how NGOs interact with other Actors (States, Individuals, Businesses) in Human Rights Protection
4. Analyze Dilemmas for NGOs in Human Rights Protection

PROFESSIONAL SKILLS:


1. Oral and written communication
2. Understanding stakeholders, multiculturalism
3. Advocacy
4. Research and analysis
5. Creative and critical thinking, problem solving
6. Entrepreneurial spirit

Antoine BERNARD

Séminaire

English

- Reading and Preparation for Class: 5 hours per class / 40 hours a semester - Research and Preparation for Group Work: 10 hours once / 10 hours a semester - Research and Writing for Individual Assessments: approximately 10 hours a week / 76 hours a semester

none

Autumn 2022-2023

- maximum two “bullet points notes”: twice a short and focussed note on topics dealt with during classes. These are individual take home papers to be delivered after two weeks. All are worth 25% of final grade.
- one “interview driver”: preparing the questions to be asked to guests practitioners that will be invited to share their experience with the class. Group assignment which may include meeting with the guest prior to the class depending on her/his availability. Driving the interview with instructor. 25% of final grade.
- one individual final essay (10 pages max plus bibliography) on a self-suggested topic related to the course (50% of final grade). Due on 1st December 2021

Classes will be structured around a key theme. Case studies and the course content will be adapted in the beginning of the course. Guest practitioners will be scheduled and confirmed during the semester. Each class will have been introduced by the instructor at a previous session and pre-reads specified. Each 3h class will include :
- an instructor/students driven interview with a guest practitioner followed by interactive discussions with guest involving all students (1,5h)
- a post-interview feedback from the instructor on the key theme and introduction to the following theme (1,5h)
General feedback to students will be provided for all along the semester as well as individual as needed. Individual feedbacks will be systematic at the end of the semester.