Geneva: International Human Rights
2 weeks | 3 credits
June 29 – July 12, 2025
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Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law: PracticalÌýChallenges
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This two-week course focuses on current United Nations international human rights law and its implementation and enforcement in the Geneva-based United Nations mechanisms. Students will examine some of the main tools developed by the UN Human Rights Council, such as Special Procedures and the Universal Periodic Review, as well as the treaty bodies under selected UN human rights treaties and UN specialized agencies. The course will also explore the crucial role that civil society, non-governmental organizations and states play in the implementation and enforcement of contemporary human rights law in Geneva. In addition, students will study international humanitarian law as an autonomous branch of international law that recognizes specific protections to human beings. Through this, students will be exposed to the work of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).
The second component of the course will focus on the International Labor Organization (ILO) and the multiple ways in which it negotiates, promotes and supervises international labor standards, including rights at work, employment and social protection. Much of labor legislation around the world is based on the principles and instruments that governments, employers and workers have agreed to in the ILO since 1919. In addition to employment, social protection, rights at work and social dialogue (tripartite cooperation), a special look will be taken at the ways the ILO makes its unique standards supervisory system work. This course component will also highlight corporate social responsibility and the way in which ILO technical cooperation operates throughout the world, paying special attention to standards for the protection of the most vulnerable groups in the societies and the global economy.
The course includes invited speakers and site visits to various Geneva-based institutions, as well as visits to the sessions of human rights institutions such as the UN Human Rights Committee (supervisory organ of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the UN Human Rights Council. The ILO component will take place in the premises of the ILO, in cooperation with several units of this international organization.