This exploratory seminar seeks to engage students with the many dimensions through which human rights, a disputed and yet predominant discourse often related to notions of “democracy”, “rule of law” or “social justice”, intersects with society. It has two specific aims. The first is to examine the concept of human rights, by exploring its philosophical foundations and its history, and by discussing the various debates which surround both the concept of human rights and its application in practice. The second is to explore a set of key contemporary human rights issues and discussions, and the way they play out in certain laws and societies. These include the relationship between human rights and sustainable development; human rights and the environment; human rights and transitional justice; the relationship between human and women's rights; human rights and democracy and human rights in the “post-truth” era. In doing so, this course encourages critical reflection regarding both the limitations and the possibilities of human rights as the dominant language in which justice agendas are discussed and mobilized.
Guillaume RISPAL,Anamaria MUNOZ,Jeremy PERELMAN
Séminaire
English
No prerequired courses
Spring 2023-2024
1. Group Exercise
Each session will include a group exercise. This exercise usually will consist of small group discussions of questions, most of them on the readings assigned for class. Each small group's final response to these questions will have to be uploaded on the class Moodle by the end of the class day (i.e. Tuesdays, 19h Paris time). Groups will be assigned during the first week of class, and each group will be assigned a grade by the end of the semester, which will account for 30% of the final grade. This grade will be based on (1) consistent uploading of your exercises and (2) on the content of your answers to the questions in 3 exercises selected randomly during the semester.
2. Mid-term and final exam: On week 7, there will be a 30-minutes mid-term exam, including 10 multiple-choice questions. Mid-term exams will account for 35% of the final grade.
There will also be a final exam, which will cover all the themes, readings and class discussions. The date for the exam will be assigned by the administration and will represent 35% of the grade.
3. Oral participation
Consistent and pertinent oral participation in class discussions during the semester may be awarded a bonus at the end of the term.
Grading summary
o Mid-term exam: 35% of the grade
o Final exam: 35% of the grade
o In class exercises: 30% of the grade
Jack Donelly, Universal Human Rights in Theory and Practice, Cornell University Press, 2003, Chps. 1-3.
Mutua, Makau W., Savages, Victims, and Saviors: The Metaphor of Human Rights (2001). Harvard International Law Journal, Vol. 42, No. 1, pp. 201-245, 2001.
Lucie White and Jeremy Perelman, Essay: Can Human Rights Practice Be a Critical Project - A View from the Ground, 44 Loy. L.A. L. Rev. 157 (2010). Available at: http://digitalcommons.lmu.edu/llr/vol44.
César Rodriguez-Garavito, A human right to a healthy environment? Moral, legal and empirical considerations in The Human Right to a Healthy Environment, John H. Knox & Ramin Pejan, eds. Cambridge University Press.
Helena Alviar Garcia, The Legal Architecture of Populism: Exploring Antagonists in Venezuela and Colombia in Gerald Neuman (ed.) Human Rights in the Times of Populism (2020).
Karen Engle, Feminist Governance and International Law: From Liberal to Carceral Feminism, The University of Texas School of Law, Public Law and Legal Theory Research Paper Series Number 690, pgs. 1-25.