LLM International Human Rights

In this course you will explore the place of human rights in United States and international law. More broadly, you will closely examine and evaluate the entire human rights regime, that is to say the norms, principles, rules, and decision-making institutions that occupy and organize this issue area within the broad sphere of international relations. The course is designed to provide students with a confident grasp of: the substantive norms of human rights; the philosophic basis for the concept of rights and the leading points of controversy about the existence or character of certain rights that appear in conventional enumerations; the diverse procedures available at the global, regional, and national level for defense and promotion of human rights; the subtle and not-so-subtle ways in which ideological and material interests influence the definition and enforcement of rights; the ways in which policy makers attempt to reconcile the demand for human rights enforcement with more traditional foreign policy objectives. (3 credits).