Human-Rights

This course addresses the field of women’s human rights in an international context. Various topics will be covered in terms of their impact on women’s human rights globally including discrimination and intersectionality; gender-based violence; sexual orientation and gender identity; COVID-19; #MeToo, non-state actors, and social protest; sexual and reproductive rights; economic, social, and cultural rights; the environment and climate change; regional human rights systems; culture and religion; and the digital world.

This course is designed to introduce students to the field of transitional justice, which encompasses approaches when a society emerges from periods of conflict and repressive governance while confronting questions of how to navigate legacies of grave violations of human rights and humanitarian law.

This interdisciplinary seminar will focus on global justice: What do we owe the global poor? What are the causes of poverty and oppression? What are the most desirable rules for controlling borders? What makes states legitimate in international law? When is war justified? What are the optimal rules for international trade?

(6 credits in fall/spring; 3 credits in summer)
S/U only; fulfills Skills Training requirement

This course provides an introduction to International Criminal Law (“ICL”). Essential topics include the nature, scope, and purpose of ICL, and the broader goal of ending impunity for genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and the crime of aggression. Students will learn how the definition of each crime came about and has evolved to facilitate investigation and prosecution in times of crisis and conflict.

This course provides students with an understanding of the history and procedure of the United Nations charter and treaty-based system, as well as exposure to the relevant criticisms surrounding the political nature and the institutional framework of the United Nations that shapes the promotion and protection of human rights within the system. The course will also discuss how the universal human rights system reflects normative human rights within the individual complaints heard by the Human Rights Council and related treaty-bodies.

This course surveys tensions between human rights interests and national security imperatives as well as the extent to which such might be reconciled placing emphasis on but not limited to the period since the September 11, 2001. A two-credit course that will explore aspects of U.S.

(6 credits in fall/spring; 3 credits in summer)
S/U only; fulfills Skills Training requirement

(6 credits in fall/spring; 3 credits in summer)
S/U only; fulfills Skills Training requirement

An introduction to a wide range of legal and policy issues centered around the relationships among nations and the role of law in world order. Problems studied include the nature and sources of international law, the existence and activities of states, the status of individuals and associations within the international legal system, and issues of war, development, and environmental protection.