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European Human Rights Law & Institutions - LAWS4157
UNSW in bloom

 
Faculty: Faculty of Law
 
 
School:  Faculty of Law
 
 
Course Outline: See below
 
 
Campus: Kensington Campus
 
 
Career: Postgraduate
 
 
Units of Credit: 8
 
 
EFTSL: 0.16667 (more info)
 
 
Indicative Contact Hours per Week: 2
 
 
Enrolment Requirements:
 
 
Prerequisite: Academic Program must be either 9200, 9210, 9230, 5740, 9211 or 5211
 
 
Fee Band: 1 (more info)
 
 
Further Information: See Class Timetable
 
 

Description

It is fair to say that Europe enjoys the world's most advanced regional human rights system. Its "jewel in the crown" is the European Convention on Human Rights of 1950, the world's first major human rights treaty, adopted by the Council of Europe after massive rights violations in the Second World War, and creating binding complaints procedures and judicial remedies. In recent years, and mostly since the adoption of the Maastricht Treaty in 1992, also the European Union has become a major actor in the field of human rights. Today’s Europe thus possesses two systems of human rights protection that are complementary and that constitute the core of this course.

This course consists of three main modules:

(1) the first examines the human rights system of the Council of Europe, with a strong focus on the European Convention on Human Rights (its origins; its scope; its supervisory mechanism and its relationship with the domestic legal orders); attention is also paid to the general institutional framework of the Council of Europe and to other human rights treaties in its realm, within a comparative perspective with other regional human rights systems;

(2) the second part looks in more detail to the human rights system of the European Union, this growing actor on the international scene, focuses on both the internal and external human rights aspects and sketches the relationship with the European Convention;

(3) the third module intends to focus on human rights in practice, through the lens of three major current issues, the fight against terrorism, the field of migration and asylum, and the development in the transitions to democracy in Europe; each of these three issues is initiated through some general background, followed by an analysis of relevant legislation and case-law, and by an interactive discussion of human rights policy and practice.


LLM Specialisations

International Law; Human Rights and Social Justice; European Union Law.

Recommended Prior Knowledge

None

Course Objectives

This course aims to:
  • introduce the students to the principles and institutions of European human rights law and practice;
  • develop students’ skills in applying, analyzing and critiquing those principles;
  • help the students appreciate the dynamic nature of European human rights principles and institutions and how they relate to international and domestic legal systems.
At the end of this course, you should be able to:
  • understand the principles and institutions of human rights law in Europe;
  • recall and recount the origins and evolution of those principles and institutions;
  • understand how these principles and institutions apply in practice;
  • recall the central facts and legal principles in the case law studied;
  • explain the meaning of the legal concepts, doctrines and principles studied;
  • analyse case law and identify the approaches of judges to decision-making;
  • identify and apply legal principles in a hypothetical fact situation;
  • demonstrate their ability to think critically, to justify their ideas in a reasoned manner, and to evaluate relevant legal theories;
  • demonstrate an ethical understanding of the nature of law;
  • communicate (orally and in writing) in an effective and scholarly way.

Main Topics

  • The origins of the European Convention
  • The fundamental principles of European human rights law
  • Enforcement of human rights: The European Convention system and possible reform
  • The UK Human Rights Act 1998: Its relationship with the European Convention
  • Other European approaches to the Convention
  • The European Union, the European Convention and human rights: Conflicts and complementarities
  • Selected human rights for case study: freedom of speech; freedom from torture

Assessment

Class participation Preparation and engagement in class 10%
Oral presentation Oral presentation 20%
Research assignment 5,000 - 6,000 words 70%
 

Course Texts

Prescribed


Clare Ovey and Robin White, Jacobs and White, The European Convention on Human Rights 4th edn (Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2006.

Recommended
Conor A Gearty (ed), Principles of Human Rights Adjudication (Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2004)

Additional websites that can be of use to the students include:
www.africa-union.org
www.amnesty.org
www.coe.int
www.eu.int
www.hrw.org
www.oas.int
www.unhchr.ch

Resources

Refer to Course Outline provided by lecturer at the beginning of session.

URL for this page:

© The University of New South Wales (CRICOS Provider No.: 00098G), 2004-2011. The information contained in this Handbook is indicative only. While every effort is made to keep this information up-to-date, the University reserves the right to discontinue or vary arrangements, programs and courses at any time without notice and at its discretion. While the University will try to avoid or minimise any inconvenience, changes may also be made to programs, courses and staff after enrolment. The University may also set limits on the number of students in a course.