CURRICULUM

GW–Oxford International Human Rights Law Program

The courses in this section are available primarily through the Law School’s summer program on human rights law, offered in conjunction with the Uni-versity of Oxford and held on its campus. Selected courses may also be offered at the Law School. In addition to the courses listed below, the GW–Oxford program curriculum offers Law 546, International Law of Human Rights, as Fundamentals of International Human Rights Law and Law 568, Human Rights Lawyering.


 820 Human Rights and the International Criminal Process (2)
 
Examination of the increasingly articulate body of international human rights law addressing the rights of individuals to equitable treatment at the hands of the state, including international standards regarding detention, arrest, bail, search and seizure, punishment, and a range of fair trial rights, such as the right to counsel, the presumption of innocence, and standards of evidence. Special topics include the rights of defendants and the rules of evidence in international tribunals, such as the Yugoslavian War Crimes Tribunal, as well as the impact of international norms in do-mestic criminal cases. (Examination)


822 Comparative Human Rights Institutions (2) 

Examination of the distinctive features of the institutional arrangements for the protection of human rights in the United States and other countries and regions. Emphasis on developments in the European Union, the Or-ganization for Cooperation and Security in Europe, and inter-American and African systems. Topics to be covered include the availability of re-gional courts for hearing individual cases, documenting human rights vio-lations, and monitoring elections and human rights performance. (Exami-nation)


824 International Human Rights and Refugee Law (2) 

Examination of the protection of refugees, asylum seekers, and the inter-nally displaced under the UN Refugee Convention and other international instruments, regional accords, and national law. Emphasis is placed on considering the various conceptions of “refugee,” defining persecution, and understanding the rights of asylum and nonexpulsion. Regional develop-ments in Europe, Southeast Asia, and Africa are covered. The predicament of populations at risk, especially women and victims of war or conflict, is discussed. The consequences for the human rights of forced migrants of humanitarian intervention, safe havens, and economic sanctions are ana-lyzed. (Examination and class participation)


826 Human Rights in the Marketplace (2) 

The impact of international human rights standards on global trade, corpo-rate governance and competition, international finance, and economic de-velopment. Basic principles and institutions; market-based initiatives to-ward corporate responsibility (i.e., efforts by companies to attract con-sumers and investors by voluntarily adopting human rights codes of con-duct or social accountability standards); domestic regulation (directives and legislation in various countries that, through human rights condition-ality, attempt to recruit the transnational corporation as an instrument of foreign policy); civil liability (the enforcement of standards against corpo-rations through private lawsuits in domestic courts); and international regulation (under which intergovernmental organizations attempt to chan-nel corporate conduct in ways that are thought to be socially responsible). (Examination)


828 International Rights of Women (2) 

Major treaties and international instruments (both U.N. and regional) relat-ing to women’s rights; standards of sex discrimination as developed by in-ternational tribunals and domestic courts; interaction of international and domestic law in the context of women’s human rights; feminist and activist theories and critiques of state responsibility for violence against women; conflicts between women’s rights and religious or cultural rights.


830 Human Rights Advocacy and Dissemination (2) 

This course offers students the opportunity to develop skills in human rights advocacy and dissemination. Through the use of simulation exer-cises, such as the preparation of petitions to regional and international human rights bodies, country condition reports in support of litigation in national courts, and applications for refugee status, students engage in critical analysis of the methods and strategies for human rights advocacy at the local, national, regional, and international levels. Emphasis is also placed on the training of officials in human rights standards and the dis-semination of such information to the general public. Students who re-ceive credit for Law 570 may not enroll in this course. (Simulation exer-cises and class participation)


832 Rights of Minorities, Groups, and Indigenous Peoples (2) 

The legal instruments that protect the rights of minorities, groups, and in-digenous peoples, and the jurisprudential bases of those instruments. Emphasis on the legal issues that arise under treaties and customary in-ternational law as ethnicity gains importance in post–Cold-War politics and in the workings of international organizations. Jurisprudential ap-proaches to the rights of persons and groups, including natural law, liberal individualism, and communitarianism. Exploration of the question of whether modern representative democracies are capable of protecting minorities and cultural variation. (Examination)


834 Humanitarian Law and Populations at Risk (2) 

Study of the evolution of the laws of war from the seventeenth century through the Geneva Conventions and the war crimes jurisprudence of the late twentieth century, with primary emphasis on populations at risk in times of war, including civilians and prisoners of war. Examination of the applica-tion of customary and conventional law principles to current conflicts, e.g., the former Yugoslavia, Somalia, and Iraq. Emphasis on the extent to which humanitarian law constrains the actions of international actors, including the United Nations, NATO, and the European Union, in their various peace-keeping functions. (Examination)


836 Human Rights and Military Responses to Terrorism (2) 

Examination of international human rights issues that arise when govern-ments use military force, instead of traditional civilian law enforcement methods, to respond to terrorism or the threat of terrorism. Topics include definitions of terrorism and military force; basic authority of governments to use military force against suspected terrorists; and human rights ques-tions posed by military actions such as surveillance of civilian populations to detect terrorist activity, targeted killings and destruction of property of suspected terrorists, and the detention, interrogation, trial, and other pun-ishment of persons accused of terrorism. Consideration of the duty of governments to use military force to provide security against terrorism and the rights of persons injured by military responses to terrorism to receive compensation. (Examination)


838 War, Peace, and Human Rights (2)
The international legal regime applicable during times of armed conflict. Protection and promotion of international human rights law in post-conflict situations, with emphasis on the role of United Nations peacekeeping op-erations. (Examination)


839 Advanced Seminar in Human Rights (2)
Selected topics in the theory and practice of human rights law to be an-nounced at the time of registration. Enrollment is limited. May be repeated for credit if topic differs. Prerequisite: Law 520 or permission of instructor. (Research paper)