Prerequisite/Recommended prerequisite for participation in the module

Please note that students who have attended the course ”Videregående menneskeret: aktuelle problemstillinger og dilemmaer” (Danish language) cannot participate in this course

Content, progress and pedagogy of the module

• To supplement the student’s knowledge and skills in a way that may form part of the student’s choice of educational and professional profile

Learning objectives

Knowledge

• International human rights law, including as an intrin- sic part of public international law
• The concept of human rights from a legal point of view, including considerations on universal applicabil- ity.
• The legal and institutional human rights framework of the United Nations, complete with comparative refer- ences to the principal regional systems.
• Admissibility criteria as adopted by relevant treaty monitoring bodies concerning individual communica- tions (complaints).
• The meaning and content of positive state obligations and of limitations on substantive human rights, includ- ing the concept of “state discretion” or “margin of ap- preciation”.
• The role of human rights in specific contexts, for ex- ample the ‘war on terror’.
• The question of human rights under pressure and that of  the “shrinking space “ for human rights advocates in promoting human rights  

Skills

• Explaining the legal standing of human rights in inter- national law and outlining generally their relationship with other bodies of public international law
• Analysing and applying concepts and terminology inte- gral to the course
• Identifying legal problems in regional and international human rights and applying relevant sources of law in solving these
• Describing the impact and status of human rights in national law
• Researching, presenting and analyzing decisions, general comments, concluding observations and recom- mendations adopted by human rights treaty monitor- ing bodies. Also applicable to illustrative national case law and case law of the European Court of Human Rights (ECrtHR)
• Presenting and analyzing the content of substantive provisions as contained in UN human rights instru- ments, considering also both the question of positive State obligations and possible limitations on human rights
• Communicating issues relating to international human rights law in a clear and well-structured manner, using the applicable terminology

Competences

• Explain issues pertaining to international refugee law and reflect and analyze  critically
• Assess and analyse rules and regulations as well as the consequences of the rules
• Qualify identified legal issues within international refugee law
• Be able to work problem-oriented by independently composing a problem and working in an analytical and structured manner
• Become responsible for own learning, development and specialization within the frames international refugee law
• Become able to provide advice on the content of human rights law and the consequences of violating this legal framework

Type of instruction

• Workshops

Extent and expected workload

• 270 hours

Exam

Exams

Name of exam	International Human Rights Law
Type of exam	Oral exam Group exam based on a projekt. 20 minutes per student. The project is to be written by no more than 4 students and is required to be approxi-mately 10 pages long. Further project requirements will be presented at a separate project introduction.
ECTS	10
Permitted aids	With certain aids: Project can be brougt to the exam.
Assessment	7-point grading scale
Type of grading	External examination
Criteria of assessment	We refer to the grading scale order

Additional information

• The module is open to students from Law and Business Law