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Campus: Kensington Campus
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Career: Postgraduate
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Units of Credit: 8
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Indicative Contact Hours per Week: 4
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Description
This course equips students to understand the major human rights concerns arising in the global economy and international attempts to address them. It focuses on the relationship and interconnection between business activities, public policy and human rights obligations with emphasis on: international human rights and development; international investment, trade and human rights; and transnational corporations and human rights.
LLM Specialisations
Corporate, Commercial and Taxation Law; International Law; Human Rights and Social Justice.
Recommended Prior Knowledge
None
Course Objectives
The aims listed below are part of the aim of the UNSW School of Law to instil in students the understandings values, skills and qualities necessary to become highly qualified professionals with a strong sense of citizenship, community and social justice. See the Appendix for a detailed description of the Graduate Attributes for Law (GA):
- Core disciplinary knowledge :a functioning and contextual knowledge of law and legal institutions
- Transferable intellectual skills: excellent intellectual skills of analysis, synthesis, critical judgment, reflection and evaluation
- Research skills: the capacity to engage in practical and scholarly research
- Communication skills: effective oral and written communication skills both generally and in specific legal settings
- Personal and professional values: a commitment to personal and professional self-development, ethical practice and social responsibility
Placing these broader objectives in the specific course context, this course aims:
- To examine and analyse the main legal concepts and principles of international human rights law, particularly those rights which relate to global economic activity
- To acquire a sound understanding of the core objectives of and legal principles in the main bodies of public international economic law, particularly international trade and investment law
- To explore the impacts of international economic law on human rights
- To study and evaluate current initiatives for the regulation (and self-regulation) of transnational corporations in relation to human rights
- To assess the effectiveness of avenues for enforcement of international human rights principles and law in the global economy
Main Topics
- An examination of the origins and fundamental principles of international human rights law (with particular emphasis on economic and social rights)
- A review of the tenets of the dominant economic theories relating to human development.
- An evaluation of selected legal norms, policy initiatives and contemporary commercial activities in the global economy.
- The nature and extent of international regulation of foreign investment
- Is there is a role for greater international regulation?
- The nature of the relationship between foreign investment and human rights.
- The core principles of the law of the World Trade Organisation (WTO)
- Two case studies: WTO intellectual property law as it affects developing country access to pharmaceuticals; and, the WTO Agreement on Agriculture (and the transnational agribusiness corporations it nurtures) in relation to food and 'food security' worldwide.
- Transnational corporations: the lack of an international legal system for the regulation of TNCs; human rights violations perpetrated by TNCs; the responsibility of transnational business for the protection of human rights; current self-regulatory initiatives of TNCs; enforcement, particularly through tort, company and trade practices law in Australia and internationally; and, corporate reporting and its nexus with human rights.
- Analysis of select Australian laws and regulations which, directly or indirectly, impose human rights obligations on Australian corporations
Assessment
| Class participation |
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20% |
| Research essay |
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80% |
Course Texts
Prescribed
Course Materials will be posted to enrolled students prior to the first class. Additional materials will be distributed during classes. A list of further reading for the course will be posted to the course WebCT site prior to the commencement of classes. Recommended
None
Resources
See Course Texts above.
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