COURSE MANUAL

HUMAN RIGHTS LAW & Theory

Course Instructors:
Assistant Professor Severyna Magill
smagill@jgu.edu.in
Assistant Professor Manav Kapur
mkapur@jgu.edu.in
Senior Research Associate Alliya Anjum
aanjum@jgu.edu.in
Office Hours: To be confirmed
Semester II 2015-2016

Information on International Human Rights Law & Theory (JGLS)

The information provided herein is by the Course Coordinator. The following
information contains the official record of the details of the course.

Part I
Course Title:
International Human Rights Law & Theory
Course Code:
L-CL-0001
Course Duration:
One Semester
Number of Credit Units:
4
Level:
BA-LLB
Medium of Instruction: English
Pre-requisites
Public International Law
Pre-cursors:
Nil
Equivalent courses:
Nil
Exclusive courses:
Nil

Part II
Course aims
The aim of this course is to provide students with an understanding of the
nature, scope and practical application and enforcement of modern
international human rights law and some of its theoretical foundations and
components.
The first part of the course examines the origins, development and history of
human rights. During this part of the course students will explore the nature
and events that lead to the birth of human rights as we know them today.
Challenges to the development of rights and the simultaneous development
of equality will be addressed.
The second part of the course examines the origins, development and key
principles that underpin modern international human rights law. During this
part of the course students will explore the nature and scope of obligations
and duties under international human rights law. We will also touch upon
some of the tensions, problems, and manifest contradictions involved in
translating the theory of human rights into practice.
The third part of the course examines the UN human rights protection
system and thematic areas of rights including religion, torture, reproductive
rights and the right to education. During this part of the course we study the
UN Charter and Treaty-based human rights bodies. Students will critically
evaluate the work of international human rights bodies. Students will also
learn about regional human rights mechanisms and the obligations of the
state to implement international obligations at the domestic level.
The final week of the course considers the future of human rights from both
a theoretical and practical implementation perspective. It will challenge the
founding aims of the UDHR, the plausibility of a truly universal system and
question where global power resides in order to consider the future role of
the UN.
Course Texts
There is no compulsory core text for this course but if students want a more
in depth resource for international human rights, or theory, please see some
recommendations below. All of the core course readings will be available for
download on drop box:

Shaw, M. N: International Law. 7th edition Cambridge University Press,

Cambridge (2014)

International Human Rights Law. Edited by Daniel Moeckli, Sangeeta

Shah, SandeshSivakumaran. Oxford University Press, Oxford, New York
(2013).
Oette, L. and Bantekalas, I. International Human Rights Law, Oxford
University Press (2013)
Hoffmann, S. L. Human Rights in the Twentieth Century: Human Rights
in History (2011)
Moyn, S. The Last Utopia: Human Rights in History (2010) First
Belknap Press of Harvard University Press USA.
Human Rights: Southern Voices Ed. Twining, W. CUP (2009)
Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, Sao
Paulo, Delhi.
Alston, Philip and Ryan Goodman. International Human Rights. Oxford:
Oxford University Press, 2012

Course intended learning outcomes:

By the end of the course students should be able to:
Demonstrate a good understanding of the theoretical foundations of human
rights and the beginnings of the concept of human rights and the human
rights system as we know it today.
Display a good understanding of the nature and scope of international
human rights law and the UN Charter and Treaty based human rights
machinery.
Demonstrate a good understanding of the practical application of
international human rights law to specific human rights problems.
Students will demonstrate in class and in the examination their ability to
analyse complex human rights problems and apply relevant provisions of
international human rights law to a hypothetical situation/case study and a
theoretical knowledge of the underpinnings of the international human rights
system, its operation and issues associated with its implementation.
Teaching and Learning Activities:
Reading, comparison and analysis of key international human rights law
treaties, jurisprudence and academic works.
Students will be assessed upon their ability to read and critically evaluate
the essential readings set out in this manual.
All students must attend the lectures and participate in the discussion
seminar. Students must come to class ready to discuss and critically
evaluate the readings.

Grading of Student Achievement:

Class participation (10% of total final marks);
Internal assignments (one 20% assignment and one 20% mid-term);
One written in-house exam (50% of total final marks).
There will be continuous assessment of learning. Students must come to all
of the lectures and seminars and fully participate in class to contribute
towards the 10% of the final exam grade for class attendance and
participation.
Letter
Grade

Grade
Value

Total Course
Marks )

Grade Definitions and Explanation

80% and
above

Outstandin
g

A+

7.5

75% 79%

Excellent

70% 74%

Very Good

A-

65-69%

Good

B+

60% 64%

Fair

Exceptional knowledge of the

subject matter, thorough
understanding of issues; ability
to synthesize ideas, rules and
principles and extraordinary
critical and analytical ability
Sound knowledge of the subject
matter, thorough understanding
of issues; ability to synthesize
ideas, rules and principles and
critical and analytical ability.
Sound knowledge of the subject
matter, excellent organizational
capacity, ability to synthesize
ideas, rules and principles,
critically analyse existing
materials and originality in
thinking and presentation
Good understanding of the
subject matter, ability to identify
issues and provide balanced
solutions to problems and good
critical and analytical skills
Average understanding of the
subject matter, limited ability to
identify issues and provide
solutions to problems and
reasonable critical and analytical
skillsAverage understanding of
the subject matter, limited
ability to identify issues and
provide solutions to problems
and reasonable critical and
analytical skills.

55% 59%

Acceptable

B-

50% 54%

Marginal

Below 50%

Fail

Adequate knowledge of the

subject matter to go to the next
level of study and reasonable
critical and analytical skills.
Limited knowledge of the
subject matter and irrelevant
use of materials and, poor
critical and analytical skills.
Poor comprehension of the
subject matter; poor critical and
analytical skills and marginal
use of the relevant materials.
Will require repeating the
course.

Class Participation:
10% of the final grade is reserved for participation and active engagement
throughout the course, demonstration that participants have read and are
engaging with the recommended readings and completing tasks set as
homework/in class presentations.
Plagiarism:
Any idea, sentence or paragraph taken from another source must be credited
to that source. If you paraphrase or directly quote from a text, web source,
presentation or essay, the source must be explicitly mentioned. You SHOULD
NOT plagiarize content, be it from scholarly sources (i.e. books and journal
articles) or from the Internet. The university has strict rules with
consequences for students involved in plagiarism. This is an issue of
academic integrity on which no compromise will be made, especially as
students have already been trained in the perils of lifting sentences or
paragraphs from others and claiming authorship of them.
As law students, you are entering a profession that is responsible for
upholding the rule of law. Please do not harm the integrity of the profession
or your reputation by being dishonest in your academic work.
If you are unaware of rules of proper referencing and citation, please request
your course instructor to update you about the same.
Contents
Information on International Human Rights Law & Theory (JGLS). .2
Course aims............................................................................... 3
Part A: Historical Perspectives...................................................7
Week 1: Introduction to Human Rights Theory, the Concept of Rights, &
Historicising Rights..........................................................................................7

Week 2: Emancipatory Struggles and Rights..................................................8

Week 3: Human Rights and Colonialism.........................................................9
Part B: Basic Principles of International Human Rights Law.......10
Week 4: Treaties, Treaty Bodies, & Complaints Hearing Mechanisms - An
Analysis of CERD............................................................................................10
Week 5: Sources, Declarations and Reservations.........................................12
Week 6: Equality and Non-Discrimination & Domestic Implementation of
IHRL...............................................................................................................13
Week 7: Limitations, Derogations and Exceptions (inc. Constitutional
provisions) & State Responsibility Regarding Full Implementation................15
Week 8: Regionalisation of Human Rights: Regional Treaties and Regional
Difference......................................................................................................16
Week 9: The UN Charter-based Human Rights Protection System: The UN
Human Rights Council Universal Periodic Review: A Case Study of India......17
Part C: Thematic Approaches...................................................19
Week 10: Human Rights and Identity Religion...........................................19
Week 11: Human Rights and Torture............................................................21
Week 12: Reproductive Rights as Human Rights..........................................23
Week 13: Social and Economic Rights - The Right to Shelter & Education. . .25
Part D: Critiques:.....................................................................27
Week 14: The Future of Rights.......................................................................27
Week 15: Review...........................................................................................28

Part A: Historical Perspectives

Week 1: Introduction to Human Rights Theory, the Concept of Rights, &
Historicising Rights.
This week will introduce the course aims, course structure and assessment
methods. We will then begin discussing the concept of rights and questions
around citizens rights vs. human rights, Arendts right to have rights, and
rights and reasons.
Essential Readings:
Course manual
Moyn, S. The Last Utopia: Human Rights in History (2010) Prologue
and Chapter 1 (pp.1-43) especially section covering 1770-1945
The Hammurabi code available here:
http://avalon.law.yale.edu/ancient/hamframe.asp

A Short Account of the Death of Jean Calas. As in On Toleration,

Voltaire.

Cases/presentations:

The Magna Carta (1215) available here:

http://www.bl.uk/treasures/magnacarta/translation/mc_trans.html
English Bill of Rights (1689) available here:
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/aep/WillandMarSess2/1/2/data.pdf
US Declaration of Independence (1776) available
here:http://www.constitution.org/us_doi.pdf
French Declaration on the Rights of Man 1789 available here:
http://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/rightsof.asp
Dred Scott v Sandford, 60 US 353 (1857)

Further Readings:
Doniger, W. The Hindus: An Alternative History (2010) chapters 19.
Donnelly, J. Humans and Society in Hindu South Asia In Universal
Human Rights in Theory and Practice. Ithaca: Cornell University Press,
2013. 147-156
Beitz, C. The Idea of Human Rights (2009)
Henkin, L. Human Rights: Ideology and Aspiration, Reality and
Prospect, in Power, S. & Allison, G. (eds.), Realizing Human Rights:
Moving from Inspiration to Impact, pp.4-38
Amartya Sen, Elements of a Theory of Human Rights (2004) 32 Philos
ophy and Public Afairs 315
Moeckli, D. et al. (eds.) International Human Rights Law, (2010)
Chapter 1 (pp.17-27) pp.49-100
Rights as entered on the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
(revised 2-7-2011) available at: http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/rights/
Ishay, M. Human Rights Reader: Major Political Essays, Speeches, and
Documents from Ancient Times to the Present (2007) Chpt. 1: Liberty,
Tolerance and Codes of Justice
Discussion Questions:
1. What are rights?
2. When and where did the concept of rights emerge?
3. What were these rights (moral vs. legal)?
4. Were these rights applicable to everyone equally? Who did they
protect and from who?
5. Why was an exclusion made? What is an example of this and how?

Week 2: Emancipatory Struggles and Rights

This week will examine the American civil rights movement and the UK
suffrage movement to gain a deeper understanding of how previously
marginalised groups sought equality.
Essential Readings:

Dalit Rights are Human Rights: Caste Discrimination, International

Activism and the Construction of a New Human Rights Issue. Bob, C.
Human Rights Quarterly, Vol. 29, No.1 (Feb.2007) pp.167-193
The Doctor and the Saint: Ambedkar, Gandhi and the Battle Against
Caste. Arundhati Roy, Caravan Magazine, 1st March 2014 available
here:http://www.caravanmagazine.in/reportage/doctor-and-saint
Ambedkar The Annihilation of Caste select pages

Cases/presentations:
Plessy v Ferguson 163 US 537 (1896)
Brown v Board of Education 347 US 483 (1954)
US Dept. of Justice - Investigation of the Ferguson Police Dept. 4th
March 2015, sections D1, D3, D5. Available
at:http://www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/opa/pressreleases/attachments/2015/03/04/ferguson_police_department_report.
pdf
Further Readings:
The Self, Modern Civilization, and International Law: Learning from
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhis Hind Swaraj or Indian Home Rule B.S.
Chimni, EJIL (2012), Vol. 23 No. 4, 11591173
Branch, T. King Years: Historic Moments in the Civil Rights Movement.
(2013) chapter1, 2, 17 & epilogue
Miller, P. T. Postwar struggle for civil rights African American in San
Francisco, 1945-1975 (2010)
King, K. A. African American Politics (2010)
Pankhurst, E. S. The Suffragette; The History of the Women's Militant
Suffrage Movement, 1905-1910 (1911) selected chapters
Philips, M. The Ascent of Woman: A History of the Suffragette
Movement (2004)
Gandhi, M. Hind Swaraj
Nehru, J. Discovery of India
Greg Marinovich, Joao Silva. The Bang Bang Club: Snapshots from a
Hidden War. New York: Basic Books, 2000
Media coverage of the Michael Brown and Eric Gardner killings and the
Charlestown shooting (2015) in USA.
Optional Media:
12 Years a Slave (2013) Dir. McQueen, S.
Freedom Riders (2010) Dir. Nelson, S.
Bang Bang Club (movie) (2010)
Suffragettes the story of the women who waged the war for social and
economic equality. New Jersey Kultur (2008)
Amistad (1997) Dir. Spielburg, S.
Eyes on the Prize (1986) Exec Producer Hampton, H.

Discussion Questions:
1.
Considering the attached readings consider what emancipation
means?
2.
Have the Dalits in India achieved emancipation?
3.
How is Gandhis vision of swaraj different to a narrower interpretation
of independence from colonialism?

Week 3: Human Rights and Colonialism

This week will analyse how the Wests articulations of rights and notions of
equality were unequally intended and subsequently not equally accessible
globally. The inherent contradictions, discrimination and justifications
thereof will be dismantled and examined from a 21st century human rights
perspective.
Essential Readings:
Klose, F. Source of Embarrassment: Human Rights, State of
Emergency, and the Wars of Decolonization. In Hoffman, S. L. Human
Rights in the Twentieth Century: Human Rights in History, pp. 237-257
Mutua, M. Savages, Victims and Saviours: The Metaphor of Human
Rights Harv. Int'l L. J. 201 (2001)
Further Readings:
Chimni, B.S. International Law and World Order: A Critique of
Contemporary Approaches (1993) selected chapters
Anghie, A. Finding the Peripheries: Sovereignty and Colonialism in
Nineteenth Century International Law 40 Harv. Intl L.J. 1 (1999)
NeleMatz, Civilization and the Mandate System under the League of
Nations as Origin of Trusteeship, A. von Bogdandy and R. Wolfrum,
(eds.), Max Planck Yearbook of United Nations Law, Volume 9, 2005, p.
47-95
Rodley, N. S. Integrity of the Person in Moeckli, D. et al. (eds.)
International Human Rights Law (2013)
Moeckli, D. Equality and Non-Discrimination pp.189-208 in Moeckli, D.
et al. (eds.) International Human Rights Law (2010)
With Friends Like These: Human Rights, Neo-conservatism and US
Foreign policy from Carter to Reagan. Tempe McMinn, (2011)
University of Sydney thesis.
Optional Media:
Battle of Algiers
Lumumba
Discussion Questions:
1. Human Rights in the 1940s-1970s didnt include all humans, where
were they not included and why not?

2. How did the concept of Savages, Victims and Saviours shape

articulations and understandings of rights in the 19th and 20th century?
3. Decolonisation didnt automatically put countries and populations from
the colonized world on an equal level of the countries and populations
of the West. Discuss.
4. Do you feel all humans are equal today? If not is the current
international human rights structure to blame?

Part B: Basic Principles of International Human Rights Law

Week 4: Treaties, Treaty Bodies, & Complaints Hearing Mechanisms - An
Analysis of CERD
This week will examine the human rights treaty CERD (Convention for the
Elimination of Racial Discrimination), and how treaties function. We will
examine the treaty text, the formation of a Committee, complaints hearing
mechanisms, Communications under the mechanism and the Committees
responses and become familiar with the role of General
Comments/Recommendations. By the end of this week all students will be
familiar with navigating the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human
Rights website.

Essential Readings:
International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial
Discrimination (CERD), available at
http://www.ohchr.org/EN/ProfessionalInterest/Pages/CERD.aspx&https://
treaties.un.org/pages/ViewDetails.aspx?src=TREATY&mtdsg_no=IV2&chapter=4&lang=en
Thornberry, P., Confronting Racial Discrimination: A CERD
Perspective, Human Rights Law Review, vol. 5, Issue. 2 (2005) pp.
239-269.
Shaw, M., International Law, (Cambridge University Press, October
2014) 7thedition, Chapter 16: The Law of Treaties pp.654-662 (the
making of and consent to treaties). 670-692.
Cases/presentations:
MahaliDawas& Yousef Shava v Denmark, CERD Communication No.
46/2009, Doc No. CERD-C-80-D-46-2009 available at:
http://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/treatybodyexternal/TBSearch.aspx?
Lang=en&TreatyID=6&DocTypeID=17 S
CERD General Recommendation 32, 75th Session: The meaning and
Scope of Special Measures in the International Convention on the
Elimination of All Forms Racial Discrimination (2009) available at:
http://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/CERD/Pages/CERDIndex.aspx
CERD General Recommendation 35.

Further Readings:
CERD General Recommendation 31, 65th Session: On the Prevention of
Racial Discrimination in the Administration and Functioning of the
Criminal Justice System (2005) available at:
http://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/CERD/Pages/CERDIndex.aspx
Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Elimination of
Discrimination against Womenavailable
here:http://www.ohchr.org/EN/ProfessionalInterest/Pages/OPCEDAW.asp
x
Goodman, R. ; Alston P., International Human Rights, The Successor to
International Human Rights in Context: Law, Politics, and Morals
(Oxford University Press, 2013) pp. 1080-116
Goodman, R., Human Rights Treaties, Invalid Reservations, and State
Consent, The American Journal of International Law, vol.96 (2002)
pp.531-560
Redgwell, C., Reservation to Treaties and Human Rights Committee
General Comment No.24 (52), International and Comparative Law
Quarterly, vol. 46, Issue. 02 (1997) pp 390-412
Lijnzaad, L. Reservations to UN-Human Rights Treaties, Ratify and
Ruin? (MartinusNijhoff, 1995) pp. 131-149
Parisi, F.; Sevcenko, C., Treaty Reservations and the Economics of
Article 21 (1) of the Vienna Convention, Berkeley Journal of
International Law, Vol. 21, No. 1 (2003) pp. 1-26
Keller, L., The Impact of States Parties' Reservations to the Convention
on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women,
Michigan State Law Review, Rev. 309 (2014) pp. 309-326
Moloney, R., Incompatible Reservations to Human Rights Treaties:
Severability and The Problem of State Consent, Melbourne Journal of
International Law , Vol. 5 (2004)
Baylis, E., General Comment 24: Confronting the Problem of
Reservations to Human Rights Treaties, Berkeley Journal of
International Law, Vol.17, Issue 2 (1999) pp. 277-329
Stephen Hagan v. Australia, CERD Communication No.26/2002,
available
at:http://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/CERD/Pages/CERDIndex.aspx
Discussion Questions:
1. What does the CERD aim to achieve?
2. Does the CERD have a complaints hearing mechanism? Does it need
an Optional Protocol to hear cases? If yes/no is this different to other
international human rights law treaties?
3. Are all states bound under the complaints hearing mechanism? How
might this differ between treaties?
4. What is the role of General Comments/Recommendations?
5. What is the legal status of a General Comment/Recommendation? How
effective are both the decisions of treaty body complaints hearing

mechanisms and general comments/recommendations in securing

change?
6. What declarations and reservations have been made against the
CERD?
7. To what extent do you feel these impede its effectiveness?
8. With reference to the above cases how have different bodies
interpreted and applied CERD? Do you feel the judgments reflect the
universal intentions of an international treaty?
Week 5: Sources, Declarations and Reservations.
This week we examine how we identify international human rights law.
International human rights law is a branch of public international law as
such its sources are those set out in Article 38(1) of the Statute of the
International Court of Justice (ICJ). We examine the sources of international
human rights law: treaties, customary international law, jus cogensand soft
law. We will examine other international human rights law treaties, the
functioning of the UN since its inception, the system of Universal Periodic
Review, and the concept of reservations and declarations.
Essential Readings:
Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties (1969), articles 1, 2(a), 1923; 26, 31, 46 and 53, 56 available
at:https://treaties.un.org/doc/Publication/UNTS/Volume
%201155/volume-1155-I-18232-English.pdf
Bantekas, I. Oette, L. Sources as in Chpt 2: International Human
Rights Law: The Normative Framework as in: International human
Rights Law and Practice (2013) pp.53-71
Baratta, R., Should Invalid Reservations to Human Rights Treaties be
Disregarded?, European Journal of International Law, vol. 11, Issue 2
(2000) pp.413-425
Cases/Presentations:
1951 I.C.J 15, Reservations to the Convention of the Prevention and
Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, Advisory Opinion of 28 May 1951
(Summary), available at http://www.icj-cij.org/docket/index.php?
sum=276&code=ppcg&p1=3&p2=4&case=12&k=90&p3=5
Belilos v. Switzerland (1988) 132 ECHR, available at
http://hudoc.echr.coe.int/sites/eng/pages/search.aspx?i=00157434#{"itemid":["001-57434"]}
UN Human Rights Committee, General Comment, no.31: The Nature of
the General Legal Obligation Imposed on States Parties to the
Covenant. Adopted 29th March 2004
UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, General
Comment no.3: The Nature of States Parties Obligations. Adopted
14th December 1990

Key Human Rights Treaties:

(please note that you are not expected to read all of these treaties for this
weeks class. However, you must familiarize yourself with these treaties over
the course of the next 15 weeks)
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR)
International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
(ICESCR)
UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC)
UN Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against
Women (CEDAW)
Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Racial Discrimination
(CERD)
Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD)
Convention on the Rights of Migrant Workers (CRMW)
International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced
Disappearance (CPED)
Further Readings:
Charlesworth & Chinkin: The Boundaries of International Law: A
Feminist Analysis. Chpt 4 (2000) pp.96-123
Boyle, A. & Chinkin, C. The Making of International Law (2007)
Goodman, R. Human Rights Treaties, Invalid Reservations and State
Consent, 96 AJIL (2002), pp.531-60
Joseph Raz, Human Rights in the Emerging World Order (2010) 1 Trans
national Legal
Theory 31
Nuemayer, E. Qualified Ratification: Explaining Reservations to
International Human Rights Treaties. Journal of Legal Studies 36 (June
2007): 397.
Koh, Harold. Why Do Nations Obey International Law? Yale Law Journal
106 (1997): 2599.
Schabas, W. Invalid Reservations to ICCPR: Is United States Still a
Party? Brook Journal of International Law 21 (1996).
Cook, R. Reservations to the Convention on the Elimination of All
Forms of Discrimination against Women Virginia Journal Of
International Law 30 (1990)
Discussion Questions:
1. What is a source of international law and why do human rights
lawyers and advocates need to have a good understanding of these
sources?
2. What is customary international law?
3. What is treaty law?
4. What is soft law? Give some examples of both international human
rights law treaties and soft law instruments.
5. What are rights as a matter of international law?

6. What rights do we find enshrined in international human rights law?

Are some rights more important than others (compare and contrast
between treaties)?
7. Why does international human rights law traditionally assign human
rights law duties only to states?
8. Can entities other than states have duties under international human
rights law?
9. What is the nature of state obligations under the ICCPR and ICESCR?

Week 6: Equality and Non-Discrimination & Domestic Implementation of

IHRL
This week will examine the concept of equality and non-discrimination, the
notion of substantive equality and how international human rights treaties
are implemented by states via ratification. We will also consider the
effectiveness of having international treaties to secure universal domestic
implementation and the extraterritorial application of the same.
Essential Readings:
The UN Human Rights Council and its Special Procedures:
http://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/HRC/Pages/HRCIndex.aspx
F. Megret. Chpt. 5 Nature of Obligations as in International Human
Rights Law, edsMoeckli et al (2014) pp.96-119
Moeckli, D. Chpt. 8 Equality and Non-Discrimination as in
International Human Rights Law, edsMoeckli et al (2013) pp.157-173
Lisa Waddington, Aart Hendriks, 'The Expanding Concept of
Employment Discrimination in Europe: From Direct and Indirect
Discrimination to Reasonable Accommodation Discrimination'
(2002) 18 International Journal of Comparative Labour Law and
Industrial Relations, Issue 4, pp. 403428
Discussion Questions:
1. What is the UN Human Rights Council and what does it do?
2. What specific procedures and working methods does the UN Human
Rights Council employ? How effective do you think they are?
3. What do you think of the outcome of the HRC 19th Special Session on
Syria? What is the value, if any, of the final resolution passed at the
end of the session?
4. What do UN Special Rapporteurs do? What powers do they have?
5. What role do NGOs play in the protection and promotion of human
rights at the international level?
Further readings:
Milanovic, M., 2009. Norm conflict in international law: whither human
rights? Duke Journal of Comparative & International Law. 20(1), 69131

Milanovic, M., 2011. Extraterritorial application of human rights

treaties: law, principles, and policy. Oxford University Press
Oona A. Hathaway, Do Human Rights Treaties Make a Difference?
Yale Law Journal 111 (2002)

Cases:

A.T. v Hungary A/60/38 (part 1 Annex 3) 26-Jan*-2005

D.H. &Othrs. Czech Republic ECHR Grand Chamber 2007
Gillot v France, HRC Communication No. 932/2000 Un Doc. A/57/40 at
270 (2002)
Osman v UK (2000) 29 EHRR 245

Discussion Questions:
1. What is the difference between de jure and de facto equality?
2. What is substantive equality? What can states do to achieve it?
3. What are positive obligations? Do all rights have correlating
positive obligations? Using the ICCPR and the ICESR, please identify
and discuss examples of positive obligations.
4. What does the subject to available resources test mean for
economic, social and cultural rights? Why is it that only the text of
the ICESCR (and not the ICCPR) refers to these qualifiers?

Week 7: Limitations, Derogations and Exceptions (inc. Constitutional

provisions) & State Responsibility Regarding Full Implementation.
This week we continue our examination of the basic interpretive principles of
international human rights law. We note that some rights may, under
particular circumstances, be limited. We examine the criteria for the
limitation of rights. We also review the criteria and procedure for state
derogations as set out in Article 4 of the ICCPR. We then consider the nature
of state obligations re the tripartite responsibility of the respect, protect and
fulfilment of human rights.
Essential Readings:
Dominic McGoldrick, The Interface Between Public Emergency Powers
and International Law, Int J Constitutional Law (2004) 2 (2): 380-429
The Siracusa Principles on the Limitation and Derogation Provisions in
the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights UN Doc. No.
E/CN.4/1985/4, Annex (1985)Available here:
http://www1.umn.edu/humanrts/instree/siracusaprinciples.html
UN ICCPR Articles 4, 6, 9, 12, 19, 20, 21, 22, 29
UN ICESCR Articles 6, 7, 8, 10 and 13
ECHR Articles Article 15
UN Human Rights Committee General Comment 29
UN Human Rights Committee General Comment 24, (ICCPR
Reservations)

Cases/presentations:
Lawless v. Ireland, 1 Eur. Ct. H.R. 15 (1961);
The Greek Case, 1969 Y.B. Eur. Conv. on H.R. 71-72 (Eur. Commn on
H.R.).
Velasquez Rodriguez v Honduras IACtHR Series C, No.4 29-July-1988
Further Readings:
Sandy Ghandhi, The Human Rights Committee of the International
Covenant on Civil and Political Rights: Practice and Procedure in the
New Millennium', (2008) 48 Indian Journal of International Law 208231
Goodman, R. Human Rights Treaties, Invalid Reservations and State
Consent, 96 AJIL (2002), pp.531-60
Oren Gross, Once More unto the Breach: The Systemic Failure of
Applying the European Convention on Human Rights to Entrenched
Emergencies, 23 Yale Journal of International Law 437 (1998);
EyalBenvenisti, Margin of Appreciation, Consensus, and Universal
Standards, 31 NYU Journal of International Law and Politics 843 (1999).
Brannigan and McBride v.UK ECHR Application no. 14553/89 (1993)
Discussion Questions:
1. When, how and for what reasons can states justifiably limit rights?
What criteria are set out in articles 19, 20 and 21 of the ICCPR?
2. What is a derogation? What is a limitation?
3. Are there any rights that can never be subject to limitation?
4. Under what circumstances may a state derogate from international
human rights law?
5. What is the procedure for states wishing to derogate from the
ICCPR?
6. Can a state derogate from the ICESCR?
7. What is a reservation? Who determines whether a reservation to a
human rights treaty is valid? Can invalid reservations be severed?
8. Which human rights norms qualify as peremptory norms of
international law? How, if at all, does peremptory status (jus
cogensnorms) contribute to better protection of human rights?
9. What is the status of the UDHR under international law?
Week 8: Regionalisation of Human Rights: Regional Treaties and Regional
Difference
The aim of this session is to provide a broad introduction to regional human
rights protection systems. We will identify regional instruments and the
differences they contain that support/detract from the full implementation of
international human rights globally.
We will examine the regional human rights conventions applicable in the
Arab world, Africa, America, Europe and the ASEAN Declaration for a
comparative global perspective.

Essential Readings:
Francis Deng In Human Rights: Southern Voices Ed. Twining, W. CUP
(2009) Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town,
Singapore, Sao Paulo, Delhi. P30-52
Conflict in Culture, Tradition and Practices: Challenges to
Universalism as in International Human Rights, 1st Edition, Alston and
Goodman 2012 pp.383-466
Articles 12-32 of the Constitution of India
Regional Charters/Declarations:
European Convention on Human Rights (1953)
The African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights (1986)
The Inter-American Convention on Human Rights (1978)
The Cairo Declaration of Human Rights in Islam (1990) available here:
http://www.oic-oci.org/english/article/human.htm
The Arab Charter of Human Rights (2004)
ASEAN Declaration on Human Rights (2012)
SAARC and Human Rights: Looking Back and Ways Forward, Forum
Asia (2012), pp.6-45
Further Readings:
Shaw, M. N. Chpt. 7 The Regional Protection of International Human
Rights as in International Law. 7th edition Cambridge University Press,
Cambridge (2014) pp.248-284

William J. Jones, Universalizing Human Rights The ASEAN Way,

Journal of Social Sciences 3, no.3 (2014): 72-89.

Basic Income: A Transformative Policy for India (G. Standing, S. Davala,

R. Jhabvala and S.Kapoor Mehta (London and New Delhi, Bloomsbury
Academic, 2015). Details

A Precariat Charter: From Denizens to Citizens (London and New York,

Bloomsbury Academic, 2014) G. Standing

"From denizens to citizens: Forging a precariat charter" G. Standing in

C-U. Schierup, R. Munck, B. Likic-Brboric and A. Neergaard
(eds), Migration, Precarity, & Global Governance: Challenges and
Opportunities for Labour (Oxford University Press, 2015), pp.83-100
Social Income and Insecurity: A Study in Gujarat, G. Standing, J. Unni,
R. Jhabvala and U. Rani (New Delhi, Routledge, 2010)
Heyns, C. Padilla, D. and Zwaak, L. A Schematic Comparison of
Regional Human Rights Systems: An Update, Sur. RevistaInternacional
de DireitosHumanos, No.4, So Paulo, June 2006

Moeckli, D. et al. (eds.) International Human Rights Law, (2013 edition)

pp.435-457
Engle, Sally, Merry: Human rights and Gender Violence: Translating
International Law into Local Justice 2006 Chicago University Press,
Chicago. Chapter 4: Disjunctures between Global Law and Local
Justice

Discussion Questions:
1. What value can you see in creating a regional human rights system?
Do you think they have more legitimacy than the UN Human Rights
Machinery?
2. What are the advantages and disadvantages for having regional
human rights systems in for international human rights law?
3. Would you like to see SAARC and ASEAN countries create regional
human rights systems?
4. What substantive protections must the state put into place to ensure
that international human rights law obligations are met at the domestic
level?
5. Which organs of state play a key role in the implementation of
international human rights law?
6. What practical challenges do individual states face when attempting to
implement international human rights law at the domestic level?
Week 9: The UN Charter-based Human Rights Protection System: The UN
Human Rights Council Universal Periodic Review: A Case Study of India
In 2006 the UN dissolved the Human Rights Commission under Kofi Annan
and established the Human Rights Council in an effort to re-invent the
functioning, and reputation of the UN. This week we examine the UN HRCs
newest procedure the Universal Periodic Review (UPR). The UPR was
established in 2006 in an attempt to avoid the politicization that plagued the
former UN Human Rights Commission. The UPR provides a means for the
periodic examination of every UN member states human rights record,
regardless of the treaty ratifications of a particular state. This week we will
examine the UPR procedure through the lens of a case study of India before
the UPR.
Essential Readings
UN GA Res.60/251 Establishing the Human Rights Council. UN GA Doc.
A/RES/60/251
Basic Facts about the UPR as found here:
http://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/UPR/Pages/BasicFacts.aspx
The United Nations, Markus Schmidt Human Rights Council section
Moeckli, et al. (eds.) International Human Rights Law, (pp.359-374
2014 edition)

The best way to learn about the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) is to
look at the web site and explore its working methods:
http://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/UPR/Pages/UPRMain.aspx
For a non-governmental perspective on the UPR process see:
http://www.upr-info.org/
You may also wish to watch the web cast of India before the UPR:
http://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/UPR/Pages/INWebArchives.aspx
Human Rights Council Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review
First session Geneva, 7-18 April 2008, National Report of India, UN
Document: A/HRC/WG.6/1/IND/1 6 March 2008 (this report is very long
so please just try to get a general sense of the issues covered in the
report and please pick one specific right that interests you and focus
on reading that section)
Compilation of UN Information Submitted to the UPR, UN Document:
A/HRC/WG.6/1/IND/2 27 March 2008
Stakeholders Summary, Submitted to the UPR, UN Document
A/HRC/WG.6/1/IND/3 6 March 2008
Report of the Working Group of the UPR on India, UN Document:
A/HRC/8/26 23 May 2008
HRC Decision on the Outcome of India before the UPR, UN Document:
A/HRC/8/26 23 May 2008

Further Readings
UPR Info, Analytical Assessment of the UPR (2008-2010).
UPR Info, NGO Timetable the Role of NGOs at the UPR (2010)
African Women Millennium Initiative on Poverty & Human Rights
(Zambia), Working with the Universal Periodic Review of the United
Nations Human Rights Council: A Handbook for Civil Society
Organizations (2010)
Discussion Questions
1. What is the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) mechanism? How does it
work?
2. What is the value, if any, of the UPR?
3. What are the benefits and drawbacks of states examining the human
rights records of other states?
4. What role do NGOs play in the UPR?
5. What do you think about the Indias State Report submitted to the
UPR? Do you think it adequately reflects the human rights situation in
the country?
6. Compare and contrast the State Report of India with Stakeholders
summary.
7. What do you think of the Decision on the Outcome of India? Do you
think it is realistic? What do you think the chances are for
implementation at the domestic level?

Part C: Thematic Approaches

Week 10: Human Rights and Identity Religion
This week we will introduce religion and how it often is used to engage with
human rights dialogue and to justify particular interpretations and
subsequent implementation practices. We will also examine religion as a
point of difference within human rights and analyse how these differences
are often controversial in their implementation.
Essential Readings:
Articles 18, 19, 20 and 21, ICCPR
Peter Danchin,Suspect Symbols: Value Pluralism as a Theory of
Religious Freedom in International Law,
http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1058641
Kapur, R. Un-Veiling Equality: Disciplining the Other Woman Through
Human Rights Discourse as in Islamic Law and International Human
Rights Law: Searching for Common Ground? Eds. Anver M. Emon,
Mark S. Ellis, Benjamin Glahn. OUP 2012 Oxford (UK).
Cases/presentations:
Hudoyberganova v Uzbekistan CCPR/C/82/D/931/2000 (5 November
2004)
Leyla Sahin v Turkey EHCR 2005 ECHR 819 / (2007) 44 EHRR 5SAS v
France ECHR 2014
Ranjit Singh v France CCPR/C/106/D/1852/2008 (4 February 2013)
EEOC v Abercrombie & Fitch Stores Inc., Supreme Court of the United
States, No. 14-86, June 1, 2015.
Further Readings:
AFP, French Muslim student banned from school for wearing long
black skirt as in the Guardian (UK) 28-4-2015. Available at:
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/apr/28/french-muslimstudent-banned-from-school-for-wearing-long-skirtSusanna Mancini,
Power of Symbols and Symbols as Power: Secularism and
Religion as Guarantors of Cultural Convergence,
http://heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPage?
handle=hein.journals/cdozo30&div=81&id=&page=
Danchin, P. G. Who Is the Human in Human Rights? The Claims of
Culture and Religion. 29-4-2009 available at:http://politics-of-religiousfreedom.berkeley.edu/files/2011/06/Danchin_Claims-of-Culture-andReligion.pdf
Chaib, S. O. Mann Singh wins turban case in Geneva after losing
in Strasbourg 19-11-2013 Available at:
http://strasbourgobservers.com/2013/11/19/mann-singh-wins-ingeneva-after-losing-in-strasbourg/

Dellatorre, M. &Ferschtman, M. Case Watch: A New Perspective on

Frances Ban on Religious Headcoverings in Schools 15-05-2013
Available at: http://www.opensocietyfoundations.org/voices/casewatch-new-perspective-france-s-ban-religious-headcoverings-schools
Chaib, S. O. Freedom of Religion in Public Schools: Strasbourg Court v.
UN Human Rights Committee 14-02-2013 Available at:
http://strasbourgobservers.com/2013/02/14/freedom-of-religion-inpublic-schools-strasbourg-court-v-un-human-rights-committee/
Memorandum to the Turkish Government on Human Rights Watchs
Concerns with Regard to Academic Freedom in Higher Education, and
Access to Higher Education for Women who Wear the Headscarf Human
Rights Watch Briefing Paper June 29, 2004
The Leyla Sahin v. Turkey Case Before the European Court of Human
Rights, Hoope, T. Chinese Journal of International Law (2006), Vol. 5,
No. 3, 719722
Veiling and Headscarf- Skepticism in Turkey, Saktanber, A. Corbacioglu,
G. Social Politics (Oxford Journsls) Winter (2008) 15 (4): 514538
Bielefeldt, H. "Western" versus "Islamic" Human Rights Conceptions?:
A Critique of Cultural Essentialism in the Discussion on Human Rights.
Political Theory Vol.28, No.1 (Feb 2000) pp.90-121
Culturalist critique of western legalism by S.N. Balagangadhara
M. Goodhart, Origins and Universality in the Human Rights Debate:
Cultural Essentialism and the Challenge of Globalization, Human Rights
Quarterly 25 (2003) p.935
Oloka-Onyango, J; Tamale, S. "The Personal Is Political," or Why
Women's Rights Are Indeed Human Rights: An African Perspective on
International Feminism Human Rights Quarterly, Vol. 17, No. 4 (Nov.,
1995), pp. 691-731
Beyer, P. De-Centering Religious Singularity: The Globalization of
Christianity as a Case in Point Numen, Vol.50, No.4 (2003) pp.357-386
Freeman, M. The Problem of Secularism in Human Rights Theory.
Human Rights Quarterly, vol.26, no.2, (May 2004) pp.375-400
Henkin, L. Religion, Religions, and Human Rights The Journal of
Religious Ethics, vol.26, No.2 (Fall 1998) pp.229-239
Westen, P. The Empty Idea of Equality Harvard Law Review vol.95
(1981-1982) 537

Discussion Questions:
1. What is the relationship between freedom of thought, expression,
association and religion?
2. The fundamental freedoms are derogable rights according to Article 4
of the ICCPR. Under what circumstances may states derogate from
articles 19, 20 and 21 of the ICCPR?
3. Under what circumstances can states limit articles 19, 20 and 21 of the
ICCPR? What test must they meet in order to ensure that any
limitations are in accordance with international human rights law?

4. What rights are set out in the UN Human Rights Defenders

Declaration? Given that the Declaration is a soft law instrument,
what value does it have?
5. The separation of the state from religion and a secular approach to
policy and law is often seen as progressive and as respectful and
tolerant of difference. Some of the largest economies and populations
in the world do not however adopt this approach. Discuss.
6. The human in religion is inherently male. Evaluate the strengths and
weaknesses of this argument.
7. Theorists and practitioners commonly assume that the concept of
human rights is secular and that it normally takes priority over other
values. These assumptions are controversial for those who approach
human rights from the perspective of religious beliefs. Freeman. To
what extent do you feel rights should be interpreted from a faith based
lens?
8. The HRC and ECtHR have differed in their understanding of the human
right to manifest ones religion with a headscarf and have
subsequently given different judgments. How can you explain these
differences?
Week 11: Human Rights and Torture
During this session we examine the right to life and the prohibition against
enforced disappearances, torture, cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment
and punishment which are core human rights that protect the integrity of the
human person. We explore both the status and scope of the right to life and
the prohibition against torture.
Essential Readings:
National Security, Terrorism and the Law of Armed Conflict as in
International Human Rights, 1st Edition, Alston and Goodman 2012
pp.383-466
Articles 4, 6, 7, 9, 10, 12, 14, 17 ICCPR
UN Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading
Treatment or Punishment
Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and other Cruel,
Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment
Amnesty International, Denied: Failures in Accountability for Human
Rights Violations by Security Force Personnel in Jammu and
Kashmir,2015,
https://www.amnesty.org/download/Documents/ASA2018742015ENGLIS
H.PDF
Cases/presentations:
Chahal v. The U.K., (22414/93) ECHR 54 (15 November 1996) (case
summary)
Ireland v. United Kingdom, 25 Eur. Ct. H.R. (ser. A) 25 (1978);

Naga Peoples Movement of Human Rights vs. Union of India, Writ

Petition Nos. (C) Nos. 5328/80, 9229-30/82 Civil Appeals Nos. 721/85,
722/85, 723/85, 724/85, 2173-76/91, 2551/91 and Writ Petitions (C)
Nos. 13644-45/84, Judgement dated 27 November 1997,
http://judis.nic.in/supremecourt/imgs1.aspx?filename=13628
(accessed 9 April 2015). (Naga Peoples Movement of Human Rights vs.
Union of India).
State of Jammu and Kashmir vs. Lakhwinder Kumar, Criminal Appeal
No. 624/2013 and 625/2013, Judgement dated 25 April 2013,
http://judis.nic.in/supremecourt/imgs1.aspx?filename=40332
(accessed 9 April 2015) (State of Jammu and Kashmir vs. Lakhwinder
Kumar, Judgement dated 25 April 2013); General Officer Commanding
vs. Central Bureau of Investigation, Criminal Appeal No. 257 of 2011
([2012] 5 S.C.R. 599), 1 May 2012,
http://supremecourtofindia.nic.in/scr/2012_v5_piii.pdf

Further Readings:
UN Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced
Disappearance
UN CAT Committee Concluding Observations on the combined third to
fifth periodic reports of the USA. CAT/C/USA/CO/3-5 19th December
2014 available here: http://daccess-ddsny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/G14/247/23/PDF/G1424723.pdf?
OpenElement
National Human Rights Commission, Need for the investigating
agencies to keep the complainants/victims informed of the progress of
investigation Measures to Improve Police-Public Relationship and
Confidence, 22 December 1999, p.75, section II(c)(e) & (f),
http://nhrc.nic.in/Documents/sec-4.pdf
CAT Shadow report CCR, HRC and IHRLC Berkeley Law Nov. 2014: The
United States Compliance with the United Nations Convention Against
Torture with Respect to Guantnamo Bay Detainees and the
Cumulative Impact of Confinement, the Abuse of Detainees Post
Release, and the Right to Redress. Available here:
http://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/treatybodyexternal/SessionDetails1
.aspx?SessionID=930&Lang=en
or:
The United States Compliance with the Convention Against Torture
with Respect to the Classification of Information Regarding the IllTreatment of Detainees in Secret Detention, James G. Connell, III,
representative of Ammar al Baluchi, a prisoner at Guantanamo Bay.
Available here: http://tbinternet.ohchr.org/Treaties/CAT/Shared
%20Documents/USA/INT_CAT_CSS_USA_18485_E.pdf
or:
Senate Select Committee on Intelligence: Committee Study of the
Central Intelligence Agencys Detention and Interrogation Program.
December 2014 available at:

http://www.intelligence.senate.gov/study2014/findings-andconclusions.pdf
or:
Redress: The Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958 in Manipur and
other States of the Northeast of India: Sanctioning repression in
violation of Indias human rights obligations, 18 August 2011 available
here:
http://www.redress.org/downloads/publications/AFSPA_180811.pdf
Chesterman, S. Why Not Torture? December 17, 2014 (working paper)
Report of the OHCHR 2014 - The use of torture-tainted information and
the exclusionary rule - A/HRC/25/60
Andrew Bellamy, No Pain No Gain, Torture and Ethics in the War on
Terror, (not justified but may be necessary in some exceptional
circumstances), http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.14682346.2006.00518.x/abstract
National Human Rights Commission Report Torture and gang rape by
police officers in Tripura - Case No. 5/23/2003-2004-WC available here:
http://nhrc.nic.in/PoliceCases.htm
UN Committee Against Torture (CAT), UN Committee against Torture:
Conclusions and Recommendations, United States of America, 25 July
2006
Rodley, N. & Pollard M. The Treatment of Prisoners Under International
Law (2009)
Hood & Hoyle, The Death Penalty: A World Wide Perspective (2008)
Malala Yousufzahi I am Malala (2012)
Inter-American Convention on to Prevent and Punish Torture (1985)
ValidzhonKhalilov v. Tajikistan, U.N. Doc. CCPR/C/83/D/973/2001 (2005)
C. Johnson v. Jamaica, CCPR, A/54/40 20 October 1998;
CCPR/C/64/D/592/1994 (1998)
Hirsi Jamaa and others v. Italy (the Boat People), European Court of
Human Rights, Application no.27765/09, Judgment of 23 February 2012
(case summary)
Rasul v. Bush 542 U.S. 466 (2004)

Discussion Questions:
1. Give some examples of acts that amount to a) torture b) cruel,
inhumane and degrading treatment or punishment.
2. Are state obligations to prevent torture, cruel, inhumane and
degrading treatment or punishment positive or negative or both?
Provide some examples.
3. What does the right to life actually protect? Is every killing a violation
of the right to life? If not, why not?
4. Does the death penalty violate the right to life? What other human
rights should be considered when we discuss the death penalty?
5. What is a disappearance? What human rights are potentially violated
when a person is subject to an enforced disappearance?

6. Optional: Why do you think the USA has not ratified the UN CAT but
has ratified the Inter-American Convention to Prevent and Punish
Torture?

Week 12: Reproductive Rights as Human Rights

This week will analyse womens reproductive rights as human rights with
an emphasis on Indian and international laws and practices. We will
identify where to find international human rights law with regards to both
the right to health and reproduction specifically and analyse the
implications of these laws from a gender sensitive, rights based
perspective.
Essential Readings:
ICCPR art. 2, 6, 17 available here:
http://www.ohchr.org/en/professionalinterest/pages/ccpr.aspx
ICESCR art. 12 available here:
http://www.ohchr.org/EN/ProfessionalInterest/Pages/CESCR.aspx
CESCR General Comment 14: Right to the Highest Attainable Standard
of Health (2000) paras 8, 9, 12, 14. Available here:
http://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/treatybodyexternal/Download.aspx?
symbolno=E%2fC.12%2f2000%2f4&Lang=en

CEDAW art. 12 available here:

http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/cedaw/text/econvention.htm#arti
cle12
CEDAW General Recommendation 24 Right to Health (1999)
available here:
http://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/CEDAW/Pages/Recommendations.as
px
Constitution of India, Article 21: 21. Protection of life and personal
liberty.No person shall be deprived of his life or personal liberty
except according to procedure established by law.
Constitution of India, Article 47: 47. Duty of the State to raise the
level of nutrition and the standard of living and to improve public
health.The State shall regard the raising of the level of nutrition and
the standard of living of its people and the improvement of public
health as among its primary duties and, in particular, the State shall
endeavour to bring about prohibition of the consumption except for
medicinal purposes of intoxicating drinks and of drugs which are
injurious to health. Available at: http://lawmin.nic.in/olwing/coi/coienglish/Const.Pock%202Pg.Rom8Fsss(7).pdf
Gable, L. Reproductive Health as a Human Right
60CaseWResLRev957 (2010) pp.958-997

Cases: Access to Abortion International Comparative Perspectives:

Laxmi Mandal v DeenDayalHarinagar Hospital and Ors. 172-2010-DLT9

Maria de Lourdes da Silva Pimentel (Alyne) v Brazil, Communication No.
17/2008 decision 30th November 2007 Doc. No. CEDAW/C/49/D/17/2008
Miss D v. Ireland ECHR 2008 Application no. 26499/02 dated 27th June
2006

Further Readings:
Rebecca J. Cook, Human Rights and Maternal Health: Exploring the
Effectiveness of the Alyne Decision (2013) 41(1) Journal of Law,
Medicine & Ethics 103
Kaur, J. The role of litigation in ensuring womens reproductive rights an analysis of the Shanti Devi judgement in India Reproductive Health
Matters 2012; 20(39):21-30
Jain, D. &Rozario, N., Voices from the Field: Womens Access to
Contraceptive Services and Information in Haryana, India by Centre for
Health Law, Ethics and Technology, O.P. Jindal Global University in
Collaboration with Centre for Reproductive Rights, New York, CHLET
Publication (March 2013) p.16-25 Available at:
http://www.jgu.edu.in/chlet/PDF/ReportVOICES.pdf
Female sterilizationfailure: Review over a decade and its clinicpathological correlation. Date SV, Rokade J, Mule V, Dandapannavar S.
Int J Appl Basic Med Res. 2014 Jul;4(2):81-5. doi: 10.4103/2229516X.136781. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25143881
Unsafe abortions: Eight maternal deaths every hour. The Lancet,
Volume 374, Issue 9698, Page 1301, 17 October 2009
http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS01406736(09)61799-2/fulltext
Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights on the
Rights of Women in Africa art 1, (f), (g), (j), (k); art 2; art 5; art 14.
Available here: http://www.achpr.org/files/instruments/womenprotocol/achpr_instr_proto_women_eng.pdf
Achyut Prasad Kharel v Nepal 2004 Writ No. 3352 of 2061 BS (2004
AD)
Ngwena, C. Introduction to the Symposium Issue: Reproductive and
Sexual Health and the African Womens Protocol 16 Wash. &LeeJ.C.R. &
Soc. Just. 1 (2009)
Beltran Y Puga, A. Paradigmatic Changes in Gender Justice: The
Advancement of Reproductive Rights in International Human Rights
Law 3 Creighton Int'l & Comp. L.J. 158 2012
Cook, R & Dickens B. 'Human Rights Dynamics of Abortion Law Reform'
(2003) Human Rights Quarterly 1
Evaluating the Magnitude of Female Foeticide Problem of Punjab and
Haryana A Regional Analysis. Singh, D. Singh, S. IOSR Journal of
Humanities and Social Science (IOSR-JHSS) Vol. 19 (10) Ver. VII (Oct.
2014) pp69-78

A Long Battle for the Girl Child. Patel, V. Economic & Political Weekly
Vol XLVI No. 21 (2011)
Centre for Reproductive Rights: www.crlp.org
Planned Parenthood: www.plannedparenthood.org
Marie Stopes International: www.mariestopes.org.uk

Discussion Questions:
1. How are rights (such as the right to life, the right to the highest
attainable standard health) articulated regarding reproductive rights?
2. What are some of the reproductive health issues particular to women
in the global south?
3. Compare and contrast the articulations of health between the ICESCR,
CEDAW, African Womens Protocol and Indian PC&PNDT Act. How is the
global south represented?
4. Consider the AchyutParel judgment and evaluate the gender sensitivity
of the judgment.
5. How do you feel courts should interpret the right to equality between
men and women with regard to reproductive health services?
Week 13: Social and Economic Rights - The Right to Shelter &Education
This week will examine the right to education. We explore the nature and
scope of this right and its relationship to other human rights. We look at what
various human rights bodies and domestic courts have interpreted the right
to education to mean and the obligations it imposes upon states. We identify
ways in which education can be provided in a non-discriminatory manner and
ask what standard and quality of education the state is required to provide
under international human rights law.
Essential Readings:

Fredman, S. Human Rights Transformed: Positive Rights and Positive

Duties (Oxford University Press 2008). Chapter 8: Socio-economic
rights.
Report of the Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component
of the right to an adequate standard of living, and on the right to nondiscrimination in this context. 4th August 2015 UN Doc. A/70/270
available here:http://daccess-ddsny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/N15/242/95/PDF/N1524295.pdf?
OpenElement
ICESCR Article 13 & 14,
ICCPR Article 18
CRC Articles 28 and 29
CEDAW Article 10
CRPD Article 24

Report of the Special Rapporteur on the Right to Education, on the

promotion of equality of opportunity in education, Kishore Singh, 18
April 2011 A/HRC/17/29
CESCR General Comment 13: The Right to education (1999)
CESCR General Comment 20: Non-discrimination in economic, social
and cultural rights. (2009)
UN Millennium Development Goals

Cases:
Unni Krishnan, J.P. &Ors. v. State of Andhra Pradesh &Ors. AIR (1993)
SC 2178 33
Olga Tellis&Othrs. V Bombay Municipal Corporation &Othrs. AIR (1986)
SC 180, 1985 SCC (3) 545.
Government of the Republic of South Africa and Others vs. Grootboom
(Grootboom) 2001 (1) SA 46 (CC), 2000 (11) BCLR 1169 (CC) available
here: https://www.escr-net.org/docs/i/401409
Further Readings:
In preparation for class please take a look at the work of the UN Special
Rapporteur on the Right to Education:
http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/Education/SREducation/Pages/SREducat
ionIndex.aspx

Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, General Comment

16 (2005): The Equal Right of Men and Women to the Enjoyment of all
Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. 11th August 2005
Report Of The Special Rapporteur On Adequate Housing As A
Component Of The Right To An Adequate Standard Of Living, Miloon
Kothari, Commission On Human Rights Sixty-First Session,
E/CN.4/2005/48, 3rd March 2005
Women And The Right To Adequate Housing, UN Human Rights, New
York And Geneva, 2012, HR/PUB/11/02.
Ray, P. Leaving Home, Leaving Rights Journal of Indian Law and
Society Vol.4 Winter 2013 p.81-106
Marital Violence, Human Development And Womens Property Status In
India, Pradeep Panda and Bina Agarwal, World Development Vol. 33,
No. 5, Pp. 823850, (2005).
CEDAW GR 29 - Economic consequences of marriage, family relations
and their dissolution (2013) available at:
http://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/CEDAW/Pages/Recommendations.as
px
Gender Comment: Why Does the UN Committee on Economic, Social
and Cultural Rights Need a General Comment on Women? Dianne Otto
14 Can. J. Women & Law 1 (2002)

Khosla, M. Making Social Rights Conditional: Lessons from India,

International Journal of Constitutional Law 8 (4) 2010, pp. 739-765
(please read the section on the right to education)
Committee on the Rights of the Child, General Comment no.1 (2001)

Discussion Questions:
1. What is the scope of the right to education? Does it mean there should
be state funded free education for all children and adults?
2. What has the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child said about the
quality of education?
3. How does the right to education intersect with other human rights,
including the right to life, religion, expression and the prohibition of
non-discrimination?
4. What practical challenges do states face when attempting to
implement the right to education at the domestic level?
5. What is the significance of the Unni Krishnan case?

Part D: Critiques:
Week 14: The Future of Rights
This week will question where global power is vested, whether global
governance and human rights can be mutually complimentary or if power,
governance, and rights are moving apart from each other more now than
they were when the concept of universal rights was envisaged in the 1940s.
Essential Readings:
Kennedy, D. The International Human Rights Regime: Still part of the
problem? as in Dickenson, R. et al (Eds) Examining Critical
Perspectives on Human Rights (2012)
Mutua, M., The Complexity of Universalism in Human Rights, in Sajo,
A., (ed.) Human Rights with Modesty: The Problem of Universalism
(2004) as available on SSRN: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?
abstract_id=1533478
Baxi, U. The Future of Human Rights, 3rd edn., Oxford University Press
(2008) Chpt 4: Too Many or Too Few Human Rights?
Further Readings:
SlavojZizek Against Human Rights as in Wronging Rights?:
Philosophical Challenges for Human Rights and Global Political
Thought. (2011)
John Tasioulas, Taking Rights out of Human Rights (2010) 120
Ethics 647
James Griffin, Human Rights: Questions of Aim and Approach (2010) 1
20 Ethics 741

Baxi, U. The Future of Human Rights, 3rd edn., Oxford University Press
(2008) Chpt. 5 Critiquing Rights: Politics of Identity and Difference
page 124-159
Kennedy, David W. "Law and the Political Economy of the World,"
26 Leiden Journal of International Law 7 (2013).Kennedy, D. W.
"Challenging Expert Rule: The Politics of Global Governance,"
27 Sydney Journal of International Law 5 (2005) available at:
http://hls.harvard.edu/faculty/directory/10468/Kennedy/publications
Rainer, Forst, The Justification of Human Rights and the Basic Right
to Justification: A Reflexive Approach (2010) 120 Ethics 711

Discussion Questions:
1. Considering the above readings how well do you feel the concept of
universal human rights, as envisaged in the 1940s has been achieved?
2. According to Kennedy how do global governance and global power
relate to each other?
3. Evaluate whether you feel having a universal system of rights including
an implementation mechanism is possible. Support your answer with
reference to this weeks and the courses readings.
4. Considering the answers to the above questions how
sustainable/meaningful do you feel the UN is in todays world? Do you
think it is relevant today? Will continue to be relevant in the near
future? And if not why?

Week 15: Review

This week will give time to answer any outstanding questions of the course,
provide feedback and, if necessary, a revision class.