Transnational Business & Human Rights - JURD7589

Description

Course Objectives

• 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

• 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

• The context: globalisation
• The internationalisation of economic law and human rights law
• Key objectives, principles and structure of international human rights law
• Economic and social rights: character, content, enforcement
• The nature of states' obligations under the ICESCR
• International trade and human rights in developing countries
• Mapping the intersections between human rights and WTO law
• Case study: Trade in agriculture, the right to food and the global food crisis
• Case study: Intellectual property rights and access to drugs in developing countries
• Case study: Trade in services and the right to water
• International investment and human rights in developing countries
• The human rights responsibilities of transnational corporations
• Initiatives to regulate the human rights-related activities of transnational corporations
• Climate change and global economic law

Assessment