Course Syllabus and Schedule

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Module 1: Why Does the World Need Human Rights?

1.1 What are Human Rights and why do we need them?

1.2 From economic growth to people-centered development

1.3 The 'Rise of Rights' in Development

1.4 How are Human Rights created?

1.5 Rights are nice but are they enough?

Module 2: How Do International Legal Frameworks and Institutions Interact with the Development Agenda?

2.1 Underlying concepts of International Law

2.2 United Nations Vision and Institutions

2.3 International Law and the Codification of Standards

2.4 Regional Systems for Human Rights  

2.5 Social Inclusion: A Litmus Test for the efficacy of Human Rights?

Module 3: International Human Rights Frameworks and Marginal Groups

3.1 If Rights are for all, why special rights for some?

3.2 Convention on the Rights of the Child

3.3 Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW)

3.4 International Human Rights Treaties

3.5 Limitations of Existing Standards

Module 4: What are the Basic Underlying Frameworks for Social Inclusion?

4.1 Subject in Law vs. Object in Law

4.2 Equality of Opportunity

4.3 Affirmative Action and Special Measures

4.4 Autonomy as a Means of Protection

4.5 The Role of Law in Combatting Inequality  

Module 5: Contested Rights and the Co-option of the Rights Discourse

5.1 The Hierarchy of Rights

5.2 Collective vs. Individual Rights

5.3 The Co-option of Rights

5.4 Intellectual Property Rights

5.5 Contested Rights: The Right to Life

Module 6: Sites of Gendered Poverty and Inequality

6.1 Ideas of Poverty and Wellbeing

6.2 Roots of Gender Inequality

6.3 Households as Sites of Inequality  

6.4 The Gendered Experience of Poverty

6.5 Attacking Gender Inequality within Development       

Module 7: Gendered Rights and Violence

7.1 Advancements in Women’s Rights

7.2 Conceptualizations: Sexual and Reproductive Rights  

7.3 Conceptualizations of Violence and Legal Frameworks

7.4 The gender agenda in the UN human rights framework

7.5 Root Causes and Lived Realities: VAWG  

7.6 Social Communication for Social Change: Puntos De Encuentro

Module 8: The Nature of Social Exclusion: Minorities and Indigenous Peoples

8.1 Who are Minorities and Indigenous Peoples?

8.2 What are the key issues facing Minorities and Indigenous Peoples?

8.3 Global Snapshots of social exclusion by Continent

8.4 Tools to Overcome Structural Inequalities

8.5 Social Policies to combat social exclusion  

Module 9: Who Will Advocate for the Vulnerable at Their Most Vulnerable?

9.1 Vulnerability and ‘natural’ disasters  

9.2 Gendered experiences of disaster

9.3 Social Protection: Problematizing Conditional Cash Transfers   

9.4 Culture v Rights: The case of Female Genital Mutilation

9.5 Equalizing the Encounter: Free Prior Informed Consent

Module 10: From Exclusion to Inclusion: Responding to crisis and conflict

10.1 Humanitarian Response to Crisis

10.2 ‘Do no harm’: The rise of ‘New Humanitarianism’

10.3 International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC)

10.4 Democratization and political participation: The Situation Room

10.5 Responding to Crisis: Mediating for Peace  

Module 11: New Directions: Rights and the SDGs

11.1 Sustainable Development and Rights

11.2 A Vision of Rights for the Future

11.3 Pathways to Sustainable Development and Human Rights

11.4 Human Rights and the Economy  

11.5 The SDGs and Beyond