PADM 5888. International Human Rights

3. Negotiation of human rights and definition of enforcement mechanisms

5, 7 February 2024

This session will look at the process of defining international human rights after the UN Declaration, particularly on the how the eight United Nations human rights conventions were agreed. It will look particularly at the two International Covenants on Civil and Political Rights and on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights that were agreed in 1966. It will also look at difference between countries using a continental legal system and those using a common law system. It will look particularly at why the United States has only ratified three of the eight conventions.

Questions covered	Why did the world need specific human rights conventions? How is enjoyment of rights dependent on the legal system of a country? What were the issues of the two International Coventants?
Lectures	Negotiation of human rights lecture
Required readings	McFarland, , Chapters 6, 12, 19, 22, 23  and 26
Recommended readings	Glendon, Mary Ann, A World Made New: Eleanor Roosevelt and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Random House, 2002.
Discussion questions	How does application of the human rights conventions vary by type of legal system? Why does the United States have problems ratifying human rights conventions?
Recording	Recordings of 5 and 7 February 2024 will be in the course Canvas.

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Revised: January 16, 2024 .