The human rights curriculum is designed to promote understanding of and to establish professional competence in handling the basic concepts embodied by the international human rights movement and their reflection in international law and international institutions, as well as to understand their relation to rights in the United States, including constitutional rights and those provided in state and federal legislation and at common law. 

The basic course, Human Rights, is supplemented by various advanced colloquia and seminars in human rights and constitutionalism, including comparative law courses.  Many other courses throughout the Law School are substantially devoted to issues of human rights.  Students might also consider courses and seminars in other parts of the University, notably in the Department of Philosophy, Teachers College and the School of Interational and Public Affairs (SIPA).

L6330 FEDERAL INDIAN LAW (2 pts)
(see Racial, Economic and Social Justice)

L6276 HUMAN RIGHTS (3 pts)
O. de Schutter
International Human Rights have been spectacularly expanding since the early 1990s. A global common law of human rights has emerged, as a result of a transnational dialogue between jurisdictions. Innovative practices of governance have developed which, instead of focusing exclusively on the provision of remedies operating post hoc, aim at mainstreaming human rights and at preventing human rights violations ex ante. The proliferation of these mechanisms signal a move away from the judge and towards non-judicial institutions. And it illustrates that, beyond ensuring compliance with international human rights, there is a need to identify and develop best practices developed in other jurisdictions. At the same time, this field is facing new challenges, as a result of economic globalization and of the global effort of governments to counter the threat of terrorism. By focusing on these issues, from which a number of case-studies shall be borrowed, this course aims at introducing the participants to the principal norms, processes, and debates of the developing international law of human rights.

Using the themes above as its thread, the course is divided in four parts. The first part of the course will discuss the sources of the international law of human rights, and will examine issues such as the specificity of human rights treaties or the relationship between treaties, customary law, and jus cogens, in the field of human rights. The second part will examine the obligations of states to respect, to protect, and to fulfil human rights, with a special emphasis on the obligations of states in the field of economic, social and cultural rights. The third part of the course will discuss the obligations of non-state actors (international organisations and private actors, in particular transnational corporations). Finally, a fourth part of the course will focus on the mechanisms of protection, including the procedures before UN human rights treaty bodies and their reform, other remedies at both international and domestic level, and non-judicial mechanisms for the protection and promotion of human rights.

L6250 IMMIGRATION LAW (3 pts)
(see Administrative Law and Public Policy)

L6751 INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS LAW, POLITICS & RELEVANCE (3 pts)
A. Miller, P. Rosenblum
This is a new course intended to introduce students to international human rights through the law, the advocacy movement and the evolving critiques of rights. It will be co-taught by Peter Rosenblum and Professor Alice Miller of the School of Public Health.

In the past decade, human rights advocacy has extended into new realms, well beyond the 'traditional' bounds of violations by repressive governments. Human rights is now part of a proliferating number of "con-joined" movements: human rights and development, and business, and health, and more. The tactics and tools of human rights advocacy have also expanded: "naming and shaming" is still at the core of much activism, but public-private engagement to negotiate long term monitoring programs for private corporations, calls to rights-based programming and other tactics are now nearly routine.

In this class, we will learn the law, but we will also explore tools for assessing when, where and how law matters. We will devote considerable attention to the evolution of the human rights movement (or movements) as we take on case studies examining issues in anti-terrorism, women's rights, gender and sexuality, transitional justice, development, health and humanitarianism. For each subject area, we will explore the law, doctrine, historical context, methodological problems, underlying ideological forces and consequences.

Readings will be heavy in the area of United Nations human rights documentation, human rights NGOs, and critical scholarly literature. There will be a number of group and individual assignments throughout the semester oriented towards a creative understanding of the workings of human rights NGOs and the impact of rights claims on governmental and other policy.

Students will be required to attend a number of talks by human rights practitioners and, depending on class size, encouraged to attend discussion sections.

L6356 MENTAL HEALTH LAW (3 pts)
(see Health Care and the Law)

L6464 MULTICULTURALISM, SOCIETY AND THE LAW (3 pts)
A. Rubenstein
This course discusses one of the major issues of our time - the essence of modern society as a multi-ethnic, multi-religious, multi-cultural entity. The concepts of multiculturalism and collective rights have been developed in the West after World War II , partly as an anti-colonialist and anti white-supremacy tendency. These concepts of equal cultural groupings and the right of persons to express their identity as members of a group are currently encountering a rising opposition. This opposition stems mainly from the "Islamist crisis", namely the clash between liberal norms of freedom of expression, equal rights to women and homosexuals and the precepts of political and radicalized Islamism. But beyond this clash, there lies a wider issue of a possible contradiction between group and individual rights, between the right to identity and the right to equality. These problems are directly related to issues of integration, immigration and minority rights in the host countries. Some of these issues relate to current events, such as those dealing with wearing the Moslem veil in schools and courts, female circumcision, polygamy, Amish education, bilingual schools and immigration policies. All these issues will be discussed in view of a growing conflict between the multi cultural emphasis on the group and the traditional value of individual rights.

W9020 COLLOQUIUM: CONSTITUTIONALISM IN COMPARATIVE PERSPECTIVE (2 pts)
(see Constitutional Law)

L8071 SEMINAR: CONTEMPORARY ISSUES IN LAW AND POLITICS (2 pts)
(see Constitutional Law)

L9377 SEMINAR: EQUALITY AND DISPARITY (2 pts)
(see Racial, Economic and Social Justice)

L8041 SEMINAR: EUROPEAN CONVENTION OF HUMAN RIGHTS (2 pts)
A. S. Sweet
This seminar, an introduction to the ECHR, is open to all students (there are no pre-requisites). The first part will provide an overview of the system, focusing on the foundational texts, organizational machinery, and processes of rights protection under the Convention. Part II is devoted to the evolution of the substantive law in at least four areas: Torture; Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (Article 3); Freedom of Expression (Article 10); Respect for Private and Family Life (Article 8); and the Right to a Fair and Public Hearing in the Determination of Civil Rights and Criminal Charges (Article 6). We will pay particular attention to the emergence of proportionality analysis as a technique of rights adjudication. In part III, we will examine the impact of the ECHR and of the Court's case law on national legal orders.

In addition to selected judicial decisions, we will read parts of: (1) Janis, Kay, and Bradley, European Human Rights Law: Text and Materials (Oxford University Press, 2000); (2) Greer, The European Convention on Human Rights: Achievements, Problems and Prospects (Cambridge University Press, 2006); and (3) Keller and Stone Sweet, The Reception of the European Convention of Human Rights in the Member States: A Comparative and Dynamic Approach (Oxford: Oxford University Press).

L8042 SEMINAR: GLOBALIZATION AND HUMAN RIGHTS (3 pts)
O. de Schutter
Access to international markets and the arrival of foreign investment are both crucial to developing countries, who depend on them for their growth and for the creation of employment, as well as for the acquisition of new technologies. At the same time, a number of fears are expressed, concerning the sequence of globalization, the management of the changes it brings about, the rise of inequalities it may lead to, and the lack of accountability of the actors who benefit the most from it : the large multinational corporations. This seminar addresses the question whether the current wave of globalization constitutes a threat to human rights, and if so, how this challenge should be answered. Its hypothesis is that economic globalization as such is neither positive nor negative to human rights : whichever impact globalization has on the realization of human rights depends on the forms it takes and the kind of governance it is guided by.

The seminar addresses two interrelated issues. First, it will examine the impact of trade liberalization on human rights, with a particular focus on the right to health, labour rights and environmental rights. Both the relationship of the WTO agreements and of regional agreements (such as the NAFTA) to those rights will be examined. We will ask, in particular, whether trade liberalization may lead States to seek to enhance the competitiveness of the undertakings established on their territory at the expense of social or environmental regulations ; which strategies have been put in place to counter this risk ; and whether they work. We will be led to ask, therefore, whether 'fair' trade and the harmonization or coordination of labour rights and environmental standards should be seen as a prerequisite to free trade. In addition, we will examine more narrow, but nonetheless much debated issues, such as the impact on the right to health of the protection of the intellectual property rights of pharmaceutical companies.

Second, we will revisit the debate concerning the means of improving the accountability of transnational corporations (TNCs), defined as corporations which have business operations in more than one country either directly or through subsidiaries or affiliates. Three themes emerge from this debate. First, the seminar will examine which obligations States have to control TNCs under thir jurisdiction. Although the responsibility of the host State will be examined first, we will also ask whether the home State of the TNC may be held to account for the impact of the activities of the TNC outside the national territory. In examining the potential responsibility of the home State, we will discuss the support given to foreign investors by export credit agencies and by the conclusion of investment treaties which protect their rights and ensure that will benefit 'fair and equitable treatment' in the host country. Second, we will scrutinize the mechanisms for the self-regulation of TNCs : this includes codes of conduct, the conclusion of international framework agreements with global unions, and voluntary compliance with international codes such as the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises and the ILO Tripartite Declaration of Principles Concerning Multinational Enterprises and Social Policies, or the Global Compact. Third, we will reflect on the current attempts to impose obligations on TNCs directly under international law, as exemplified by the proposal of the UN Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights of the Norms on the responsibilities of transnational corporations and other business enterprises with regard to human rights, which it adopted on 13 August 2003. Since the seminar will be conducted when the current Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General on the issue of human rights and transnational corporations and other business enterprises will submit his final report to the UN Human Rights Council (March 2008), a particular attention will be given to the conclusions of that mandate and the potential follow-up it could lead to.

L9252 SEMINAR: HUMAN RIGHTS, LAW AND DEVELOPMENT WORKSHOP (2 pts)
E. Rekosh
For the past decade, legal institutions have played an increasing role on the development agenda of international organizations (e.g., World Bank, UNDP), governmental development agencies (e.g, USAID, DFID, EC) and private philanthropy (e.g., Ford Foundation, Open Society Institute). Discredited in the 1970s when it took the form of the "law and development movement," international assistance in the area of reforming laws and legal institutions has been flourishing anew, especially in the context of promoting "the rule of law," "democratization" and human rights. This workshop will examine, in particular, how development policies emphasizing civil society engagement in governance contribute to these broader goals through influencing the evolution of legal systems, legal institutions and legal culture.

The class will meet twice a week during selected weeks, alternating with team meetings focusing on project work. Teams will be formed around participating Public Interest Law Fellows (PILI Fellows). In the 2007-2008 academic year, Fellows are expected from Brazil, China, Hungary, Israel, Nepal and Poland, and they will be working on topics such as race discrimination, humanitarian law, forced migration, clinical approaches to legal education and transitional justice, among other issues.

L9823 SEMINAR: HUMAN RIGHTS AND THE QUESTION OF CULTURE (3 pts)
K. Thomas, T. Keenan
What makes culture a question for international human rights discourse? This interdisciplinary seminar explores the diverse uses of culture as a concept in contemporary human rights theory and practice. Members of the seminar will be given an opportunity to examine the universalizing methods and aspirations of traditional -- and some not-so-traditional -- human rights programs and to measure these against another style of argument and analysis whose genealogy is thought or asserted to be more specifically cultural.

The seminar will introduce and discuss concepts from a variety of disciplines which might be used to understand and interrogate the categories that underwrite the opposition between human rights and culture. We will then examine the specific strategies of rhetoric and representation that construct and sustain the relationship between human rights and culture as a real or imagined problem, in academic debate and in the world of international law and power politics. Weekly seminar meetings will focus on close reading and discussion of a broad range of materials: transcripts of legal proceedings, international treaties, conventions and declarations, commission reports, and court judgments; scholarly work in law, history, literary and cultural studies, as well as political science and theory; journalism; literature, film and video.

L9832 SEMINAR: HUMAN RIGHTS REPARATIONS UNDER DOMESTIC & INTERNATIONAL LAW (2 pts)
J. Bush
The seminar explores the legal process of responding to historical crimes and other injustices by providing monetary compensation. No international law background is required. Primary attention will be given to the history and development of the Alien Tort Claims Act from 1789 to the present. Specific topics include (1) the international law background of the 18th century, (2) the evolution of the ATS in appellate decisions prior to 2004, beginning with its revival in the surprising Filartiga case (2d Circuit,1980), (3) the proper reading and interpretation of Supreme Court's decision in Alvarez-Marchain v. Sosa, (4) the predictable application of the Sosa decision in current cases ranging from the use of Agent Orange in Vietnam to the legal implications of the Iraq war, (5) the relevance of tort theory to the ATS, (6) systematic reparations, in particular, after World War I, after the Holocaust, and after the Japanese internment in the United States.

To put the ATCA suits in context, the seminar will also examine some of the other ways in which reparations and restitution have been awarded in recent decades in the US and other countries as part of the settlement of major wars, as well as for human rights violations. Many of the modern cases originate with Germany, and so the course will examine the legacies of both the Versailles Treaty (1919) and the reparations and compensation arrangements that followed World War II. Reparations have been sought in dozens of settings since then. The violators range widely from post-Nazi Germany and Austria, Castro?s Cuba, the Soviet Union and South Africa, to former colonial powers for looting from their colonies, post-colonial regimes for nationalizing the property of Europeans, divided and reuinited Germany, and dictators around the world. Another country that has paid for its offenses is the United States, most importantly for the wartime internment of Japanese-Americans. As for the forms of looted property or wrongdoing or loss which have been litigated, they include improperly seized real estate, artwork, and Swiss bank accounts, interrupted education and careers, forcible detention, torture and slave labor, unconsented medical experimentation, forced prostitution and sterilization, and illegal occupation (by Iraq, of Kuwait). The seminar will examine both the theory and applications of this new, broad area of litigation and statutory programs, and its intersection with the uniquely American ATCA and related lawsuits.

L9060 SEMINAR: IMMIGRATION LAW AND POLICY (2 pts)
(see Administrative Law and Public Policy)

W8829 SEMINAR: INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS ADVOCACY (2 pts)
M. Holland, M. Posner
This seminar deals with the contemporary concern with human rights, with emphasis on international and national institutions and non-governmental organizations. The seminar examines the development of international human rights standards, and of their international and national implementation. It examines these standards in diverse political social contexts. Can political and civil liberties be expected in an authoritarian state? Can "positive" economic and social rights be assured in a market economy or by a poor developing country? The problems of addressing human rights in a world of independent "sovereign" states are explored; including the role of human rights in East-West and North-South relations in light of recent changes in the international political environment.

The seminar discusses the treatment of refugees, with a particular focus on the United States. Attention also is devoted to the activities of international organizations, the United Nations (UN) and its specialized agencies, as well as regional human rights systems in Europe, Latin America, Africa and elsewhere. Finally, the seminar examines human rights in national foreign policy, particularly in the law and policy of the United States, including some case studies. Emphasis is given to the role of non-governmental organizations in influencing the debate on these issues in international form, such as the UN, and in the formulation of bilateral foreign policy. The seminar evaluates NGO strategies in the context of specific country case studies. A paper is required; in the case of law students, the paper satisfies the Law School's writing requirement. Brief oral presentations on assigned topics also may be required.

L8191 SEMINAR: JUDICIAL ENFORCEMENT: SOCIO-ECONOMIC RIGHTS (2 pts)
(see International, Foreign, and Comparative Law)

L9164 SEMINAR: LABOR RIGHTS IN A GLOBAL ECONOMY (2 pts)
(see Labor and Employment Law)

L9410 SEMINAR: LAW AND POLICY OF HOMELESSNESS (2 pts)
(see Racial, Economic and Social Justice)

L8401 SEMINAR: LEGAL PROFESSION AND DELIVERY OF LEGAL SERVICES  (2 pts)
(see Professional Responsibility and the Legal Profession)

L9563 SEMINAR: MENTAL HEALTH LAW (2 pts)
(see Health Care and the Law)

L9183 SEMINAR: NUREMBERG TRIALS AND WAR CRIMES LAW (2 pts)
J. Bush
The seminar will cover the law of war from the American Civil War to Bosnia and Rwanda, including traditional war crimes and humanitarian law and such modern developments as crimes of aggression and genocide and civil damages for violations of human rights in war or peace. We will cover the doctrine of "just war" in its medieval and modern guises, and trials from Andersonville and the Lakota Sioux to Eichmann, Calley, and the current international trials in the Hague and Arusha. We also will examine the treaties on which these trials are based, including the Hague and Geneva conventions, and the continuing attempts to reform the law of war by treaty in such areas as guerrillas, land mines, aerial bombing, environmental warfare, and gender crimes. The Nuremberg Trials (1945-49) marked the transition from the traditional to the modern law of war, and so the course will focus on Nuremberg, as well as other post-World War II trials in Europe and the Far East. The Nuremberg unit will focus not only on the legal responsibility of soldiers and their commanders, but also on the various sectors of the modern, industrialized nation at war: diplomats and other government officials, doctors, lawyers and judges, industrial leaders, and political and party officials. We conclude by focusing on the international court set up to punish war criminals and similar human rights violators in the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda, on the use of political and legal (both civil and criminal) tools in domestic courts against these offenders, on revitalized doctrines of restitution and reparations, and on alternative mechanisms for war crimes justice (truth commissions and political apologies).

L8078 SEMINAR: PRISONER ABUSE AND THE GLOBAL WAR ON TERROR  (2 pts)
S. Horton
This course, consisting of 14 two-hour sessions, will address the current crisis in international humanitarian law provoked by the decision of the Bush Administration to recede from traditional patterns of interpretation and enforcement of the Geneva Convention Against Torture and other international accords and implementing domestic legislation, in order to secure greater latitude in the treatment of detainees taken in the Global War on Terror. Particular attention will be paid to issues of legal policy and the process by which policy decisions were taken during the pendency of conflict by the Administration. Particular attention will also be paid to the subject matter as a crisis of professional ethics for attorneys engaged in the process of formulating government policy. After reviewing the historical predicates for the Geneva Conventions and the restatement of the conventions which occurred in 1949, the Seminar will review the evolution of U.S. civil and military doctrine respecting application of the Conventions to detainees, with particular attention being paid to practices respecting interrogation and intelligence gathering. We will then discuss the basis for the Bush Administration's repudiation of this doctrine and the modifications wrought in the period commencing with November 2002 and ending with the investigations into the prison scandal in Abu Ghraib. Finally, we will discuss the Detainee Treatment Act of 2005 and the Military Commission Act of 2006 as responses to the crisis. A number of guest presentations have been planned, including journalists, legal ethicists, JAG officers and human rights activists (past guest presenters have included Mark Danner, Seymour Hersh, Michael Hirsh, ADM John Hutson, Martin Lederman, Brigette Oederlin and Felice Gaer).

L9220 SEMINAR: RACE AND POVERTY LAW (2 pts)
(see Racial, Economic and Social Justice)

L9834 SEMINAR: REFUGEE LAW AND POLICY (2 pts)
C. Blum
This seminar is an examination of legal and policy issues concerning refugees. The seminar begins with a study of the international refugee law regime -- its origins, its institutions and its main treaty manifestations. The course also will consider contemporary developments internationally and regionally in the protection of refugees. We also will locate refugees within the broader framework of human rights protections. The seminar will excavate U.S. refugee policy as it has evolved over the last six decades. We will conduct an in-depth examination of refugee law jurisprudence, using domestic and comparative law sources. We will pay particular attention to the current cutting edge issues in U.S. policy, including the protection of refugee women and children, the impact of the war on terrorism and pending court cases and regulations.

L8152 SEMINAR: REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH AND HUMAN RIGHTS (2 pts)
N. Northup
This seminar will examine the application of a human rights framework to issues of reproductive health and decision-making. The course will begin with the paradigm established at the landmark United Nations International Conference on Population and Development in Cairo, Egypt in 1994. The Conference outcome document—the Cairo Programme of Action—was adopted by 179 governments and marked the first time that the international community explicitly recognized that reproductive health is a basic human right. The course will explore the legal foundation for recognizing reproductive rights in binding international and regional human rights treaties, the mechanisms available for holding governments accountable for rights violations, and recent efforts by human rights lawyers to obtain authoritative interpretations in individual cases. The course will also draw on national-level cases for comparison between various constitutional approaches and the human rights framework. Topics will include essential obstetrics care, contraception, coercive sterilization, family limits, abortion, assisted reproductive technologies, and sexuality education, as well as issues concerning access to information, rights relating to conscience and religion, and the special status of minors.

L9138 SEMINAR: STATE CONSTITUTIONAL LAW (2 pts)
(see Constitutional Law)

L9165 SEMINAR: TRANSITIONAL JUSTICE (2 pts)
G. Simpson
This seminar will examine the legal and policy issues confronting successor governments that attempt to deal with human rights abuse committed during the tenure of undemocratic and repressive regimes. It will review various sources of international law regarding state obligations in dealing with the past and consider a number of case studies to determine how and why emerging democracies have succeeded or failed in fulfilling these duties. The course will expose students to complex transitional justice debates in domestic and international law, such as the status of international law, the permissibility of amnesties, and the rights of victims. It will pay special attention to the work of recent Truth Commissions and their growing impact on both law and policy. The course will also focus on the role of the International Criminal Tribunals for Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia as well as the likely contribution of the International Criminal Court to this field. The course will aim to combine a rigorous analysis of relevant international and domestic law with a factual scrutiny of a number of case studies including: South Africa, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Chile, Rwanda, and Indonesia. Students will be required to write a paper. It should analyze an ongoing conflict or situation in which there has recently been a transition from conflict and/or human rights abuse to a more stable and/or democratic government. Based on a survey of applicable international (and if possible domestic) law, students must propose a set of legal and institutional initiatives designed to deal with both victims and perpetrators of human rights abuse. The proposals should take cognizance of the realities of the country, other transitional justice initiatives, and ongoing developments in this field. Students may also propose their own research topics, for which they must obtain prior approval.

L8816 SEMINAR: TRANSNATIONAL BUSINESS AND HUMAN RIGHTS (2 pts)
A. Ewing
Today, alongside governments, companies often are viewed both as non-state sources of human rights abuse and as international actors with the capacity and resources to promote human rights. Over the last ten years, human rights advocates have shined a spotlight on human rights conditions in a wide range of transnational industries including oil and mining; the manufacturing of apparel, carpets, footwear, sporting goods, and toys; the agricultural production coffee, tea, cocoa and bananas for global markets; and the pharmaceutical and other high technology sectors. The abuses at issue include complicity with governments that violate human rights, child and forced labor, limits on freedom of association, and dangerous and unhealthy conditions for workers and communities. During the same period, business and human rights has emerged as a distinct field within the broader corporate responsibility movement. In response to growing pressure to address human rights issues, transnational companies have undertaken human rights initiatives that seek to manage human rights risks, and in some cases, promote human rights as a source of competitive advantage in the marketplace. Human rights are now a concern of business, management and their advisors.

Drawing on industry case studies, legal proceedings and a growing academic literature, this seminar analyzes the challenges and opportunities that arise for advocates and business managers at the intersection of business operations and efforts to promote international human rights.

This seminar is designed to help students understand the human rights standards that affect business and the remedies available to human rights advocates seeking to influence corporate policies and practices. It also encourages participants to consider how human rights can guide corporate decision-making by exploring current best practices among corporate human rights initiatives.

L6658 EXTERNSHIP: FAIR HOUSING (4 pts)
(see Individual Student Community and Court Projects)

L6604 EXTERNSHIP: IMMIGRATION LAW (4 pts)
(see Individual Student Community and Court Projects)

L9205 HUMAN RIGHTS CLINIC (7 pts)
(see Clinics)

L6655 HUMAN RIGHTS LAW REVIEW (0-1 pts)
(see Journals)

L6655 HUMAN RIGHTS LAW REVIEW EDITORIAL BOARD (1 pt)
(see Journals)

The following is not offered in 2007-2008 but is part of the regular course offerings at the Law School. 

L8039 SEMINAR: INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS IN THE U.S. (2 pts)
This seminar explores the relationship between international human rights law and U.S. domestic law, in an attempt to determine the extent to which international law norms can and should operate meaningfully in the domestic legal context. The seminar examines contemporary topics regarding both the use of U.S. domestic laws to promote respect for international human rights (through mechanisms such as U.S. sanctions laws, the Torture Victim Protection Act and the Alien Tort Statute), and U.S. compliance with international human rights in contexts such as the Guantanamo detentions, torture and extraordinary renditions, the rights of immigrant workers, the execution of juveniles and consular notification in U.S. death penalty practices.