This module is divided into two parts. In the first part the module considers the main rules of international promotion, protection and enforcement of human rights.  It will address history, concept, institutions, procedures, norms and monitoring mechanisms of the international protection of human rights. It looks into substantive issues within the global human rights system, such as the Right to Life and Freedom from Torture, from a thematic perspective, such as Death Penalty considerations, Abortion considerations, etc.

The second part introduces students to the main rules of international criminal law. It will address history, concepts, institutions, procedures, norms and enforcement mechanisms of international criminal law, and examine the chief crimes of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC). Students will explore the main weaknesses of the Rome Statute and the ICC’s dependencies on and relationships with State-Parties, The UN Security Council and Non-State Parties.

This module will develop students’ skills regarding:  

·         research and independent study, especially internet research;

·         communication skills, especially oral presentation;

·         analytical skills, especially regarding the critical evaluation of law in its political context;

·         Encourage in-depth and independent learning.

Students address such questions as:

• What is international law? 
• What are human rights?
• What are the institutions for the protection of human rights? 
• How are human rights monitored?
• How are human rights implemented?  
• How are human rights enforced?
• To what extent does the individual hold rights under international law?
• Can individuals bring an action under an international treaty?
• Do regional systems of human rights protection offer more protection than the international system?
• To what extent has the European Court of Human Rights added to the development of international law?
• How effective are the UN treaty-based human rights’ bodies in contrast to that of the UN Commission of Human Rights?
• What are the strengths and weaknesses of the UN institutional structures and processes for the enforcement of human rights?

·         Is there a universal concept of human rights?

·         Is it feasible or indeed desirable to have universally recognised human rights?

• What is an international crime?
• What are the elements of international individual criminal responsibility?
• To what extent can international criminal law restore international peace?

By the end of the course students should:

·         demonstrate an understanding of the nature of public international law;

·         demonstrate a critical understanding of the historical, philosophical, political and social context the governs international law;

·         demonstrate a critical understanding of the historical, philosophical and social context the affects inter-state relationships and the impact of the globalising environment;

·         identify the extent to which international law operates to influence the action of states while appreciating that law is only one aspect of the conduct of international relations;

·         apply the norms of public international law to inter-state relationships;

·         apply acquired knowledge to non-complex problems;

·         undertake directed legal research to locate relevant materials;

·         evaluate the historical origins of human rights;

·         evaluate the sources of human rights, human rights law and the institutions;

·         analyse and apply the principles of equality and non-discrimination;

·         demonstrate an understanding of customary international law on human rights;

·         demonstrate an understanding on the work of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights;

·         analyse and apply the law and practice of the main international human rights treaties;

·         demonstrate an understanding of the regional systems for the protection of human rights;

·         demonstrate an understanding of how international human rights law is monitored, implemented and enforced;

·         critically evaluate the implementation and enforcement mechanisms of international human rights law;

·         demonstrate an understanding of the status of the individual in international law and human rights law;

·         critically evaluate the role of the individual in international human rights law;

·         be familiar with the historical  development of International Criminal Law (ICL);

·         have acquired a critical understanding of the context of ICL today;

·         have an insight into the international ad hoc tribunals and semi-international courts;

·         be able to critically assess he relationship between ICL and national criminal law;

·         know the major crimes according to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court;

·         be familiar with the main issues of the pre-trial and trial procedures of the International Criminal Court;

·         be able to analyse international criminal law problems and identify the relevant rules and issues;

Be able to demonstrate a critical awareness of the strengths and weaknesses of the International Criminal Court, including its relationships with the State Parties and the UN.

Part I:

1. Sources of International Human Rights Law 
2. The role and nature of human rights law  
3. The development of the law of human rights  
4. The protection of human rights under the United Nations  
5. The protection of human rights under regional systems  
6. Monitoring, implementing and enforcing human rights  
7. Normative Foundation of human rights: substantive rights; themes  
   1. Right to Life, Freedom from Torture  
   2. Fair Trial  
   3. Minority Rights  
   4. Right to Self Determination  
   5. Right to Development  
   6. Children’s Rights  
   7. Non-exhaustive list, flexible around changing situations  

Part II:

1. The Development of International Criminal Law  
2. The UN ad hoc tribunals  
3. Jurisdiction and Admissibility  
4. Investigation of international crimes  
5. Victims and Witnesses  
6. Trial and Appeal Procedures   
7. Sentencing and Plea Bargaining                                                         
8. International Crimes I               
9. International Crimes II  
10. Individual Criminal Responsibility  

The method of teaching is by lectures and seminars. The lectures will introduce the students to the subject areas and provide an overview to enable students to understand the basic principles and underlying concepts. The seminar will open out the subject and consider key issues and theories. Students will be provided with signposts to background and supplementary reading. During seminars students will be expected to have researched the topic area and to apply that research to discuss given legal problems. Students will be expected to present logical arguments founded on legal authorities. Their ability to challenge the propositions of others and to respond to challenges to their own will be monitored and developed. The format of the seminars will include consideration of underlying value systems and philosophies underpinning public international law as well as their practical outcome. The teaching and learning strategy is designed to stimulate private study using derivative and original sources, both paper based and electronic and to develop an understanding and critical awareness of the essential principles and underlying philosophies and ethical values.

§                     Steiner and Alston, International Human Rights Law in Context: Law, Politics and Morals, 2008

§                     Wallace, International Human Rights. Text and Materials, 2001.

§                     William W. Burke-White, The International Criminal Court and the Future of Legal Accountability, (2003) 10 ILSA Journal of International and Comparative Law 195 (WESTLAW) 

Reference only:

 Akehurst, A Modern Introduction to International Law, 1984

Alston and Crawford, The future of the UN human rights treaty monitoring, 2000

Broomhall, B., International justice and the international criminal court: between sovereignty and the rule of law, 2004

Brownlie, Basic Documents in International Law, 1995 
Cassese, International Law in a divided world, 1994

Cassese, A., Gaeta , P., and Jones, J. The Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court: a commentary, 2002

Conforti, Benedetto and Francesco, Enforcing International Human Rights in Domestic Courts, 1997.

Dixon & McCorqudale, Cases and Materials on International Law, 1995

Dörmann, K., Elements of War Crimes under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, 2003 e-link

Ghandi, International Human Rights Documents, 1995

Higgins, Problems and Process, International Law and How We Use It, 1996

Hillier, Sourcebook on PIL, 1998

Hirsh, Law against Genocide: Cosmopolitan Trials, 2003 

Janis, Kay and Bradley. European Human Rights Law, 2000.

John R.W.D. Jones, J., Powles S., (eds) International criminal practice : the International Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, the International Criminal Court, the Special Court for Sierra Leone, the East Timor Special Panel for Serious Crimes, war crimes prosecutions in Kosovo, 2003

Jørgensen, N., The Responsibility of States for International Crimes, 2000

Kittichaisaree, K., International Criminal Law, 2001

McLean , PIL textbook, 1994

Mettraux, G., International crimes and the ad hoc tribunals, 2004

Ratner, S. and Abrams, J., Accountability for Human Rights Atrocities in International Law, 2001

Roberts, A. and Guelff, R., Documents on the Laws of War, 2000, 3^rd Ed.

Romano, C. Nollkaemper, A., and Kleffner, J. (eds), Internationalized criminal courts : , East Timor, Kosovo, and , 2004

Safferling, C., Towards an International Criminal Procedure,  2000

Schabas, W., Genocide in International Law: The Crime of Crimes, 2000 e-link

Schabas, W., International Criminal Court, 2004, 2^nd Ed.

Shaw, International Law, 1997

Shearer, Stark’s Introduction to International Law, 1993

Shelton , Remedies in International Human Rights Law, 2000

Simbeye, Y., Immunity and international criminal law, 2004

Starmer and Keir. European Human Rights Law, 1999

Sunga, L., The Emerging System of International Criminal Law, 1997

Vigorito, R., “The Evolution and establishment of the international criminal court (ICC) – A selected Bibliography of Secondary Sources” 30 International Journal of Legal Information 92

Woodwiss, Making human rights work globally, 2003 

Zappalà, S., Human rights in international criminal proceedings, 2003

Periodicals:

 BYIL – British Yearbook of International Law (1931-1999)

AJIL – American Journal of International Law (1966-1981)

ICQL – International Comparative Law Quarterly (1979-...)

HILJ – Harvard International Law Journal (1973 - 1981)

JICJ – Journal of International Criminal Justice (2003 - …)

Websites:

8 www.un.org – Official website of the United Nations

8 www.icj-cij.org – Official website of the International Court of Justice

8 www.biicl.org.uk/biicl/iclq.htm

8 www.dhcour.coe.fr/default.htm – ECHR

8 www.icrc.ch – International Red Cross

8 www.asil.org

8 www.ili.org

8 www.oneworld.org/amnesty or www.amnesty.org.uk

8 www.lchr.org - Lawyers’ committee for human rights

8 www.law.cornell.edu

8 www.law.indiana.edu

8 www.ridi.org/adi

8 www.law.ecel.uwa.edu.au/intlaw

8 www.derechoschile.com

8 http://www.crimesofwar.org/

8 http://www.law.cam.ac.uk/rcil/

8 http://www.iwpr.net/home_index_new.html

8 http://www.thelockerbietrial.com/

8 http://www.facts.com/icof

8 http://icc-cpi.int (International Criminal Court)

8 http://www.un.org/icty (International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia)

8 http://ictr.org (International Criminal Tribunal for )

8 http://sc-sl.org ( Special Court for )

8 http://www.nesl.edu/research/warcrim.cfm (New England School of Law)

8 http://www.nls.ntu.ac.uk/crl/ictp (International Criminal Trial Project, Nottingham Trent Univ.)

8 http://www.icrc.org/eng/ihl (International Committee of the Red Cross)

8 http://sim.law.uu.nl/SIM/CaseLaw/tribunals.nsf/(Decision)?OpenView (Netherlands Institute of International Law, Faculty of Law, ICTR case law)

8 http://www.africa-union.org (African Union) 

8 http://www1.umn.edu/humanrts ( University of Minnesota )

8 http://www.ejil.org (European Journal of International Law)

8 http://www.asil.org (The American Society of International Law)

8 http://www.unhchr.org (Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights)

8  http://www.ictj.org (The International Center for Transnational Justice)

February 2009