IRPS 220Global Human Rights

Global Human Rights focuses on the political aspects of human rights in a number of contexts: theoretical/philosophical, legal and public policy. Various geographic regions are studied to highlight specific cases of human rights protection and violations. Both Western and non-Western perceptions of human rights form the context for exploring topics pertaining to natural rights, economic/social/cultural rights, civil/political rights, individual and collective rights and the debate between cultural relativism and universal human rights. This course also surveys, through the use of documentaries and movies, some of the most critical and controversial human rights (e.g. self-determination, genocide/ethnocide, women’s and children’s rights and labor rights) and the relevant mechanisms and institutions for the successful implementation of human rights norms, standards and practices.