| 16 February-29 March 2011
Instructor: Dr. Gerd Oberleitner
This distance learning course is a high-level introduction to the Human Rights Council, the main human right body of the United Nations (UN). The course is scheduled parallel to the regular session of the Human Rights Council. Depending on the Council's schedule it will also provide "live" coverage of the Universal Periodic Review session and special sessions. By making extensive use of the Council’s website -- which contains legal documents, press releases, and audio and video files on the session, and is updated daily -- course participants will be able to learn about the UN's human rights activities as they present themselves to the world: in real-time, with immediate access to the original material, live and uncut, and with all the dramatic twists and turns a session of the Council offers. The course will expose students to the real world of human rights in the making and offer them a glimpse into the world of human rights diplomacy on the highest possible level. An experienced course instructor will guide the participants through the Council's session so as to ensure a learning experience on a high academic level.
The course will start with a brief introduction to the UN human rights system, including the core UN human rights standards and supervisory machineries and the High Commissioner for Human Rights. It will assess the legacy of the dissolved Commission on Human Rights and the reform which led to the creation of the Human Rights Council. It will focus in-depth on the Council, its role, functioning and limitations; examine the newly established Council's Advisory Committee; analyse the place of the Council in the larger UN framework; and (based on international law and international relations theory) reflect on the potential and limits of global human rights institutions such as the Human Rights Council.
During the four weeks of the Council's session (and possible additional sessions) participants will be asked to follow the meetings of the Council, focus on specific issues, read the relevant materials as they appear on the website and as recommended by the course facilitator (press releases, reports of Special Rapporteurs, resolutions, statements by dignitaries, etc.), analyse the performance of the actors and stakeholders in the session, evaluate the voting procedure and outcome of the sessions, and form their own opinion on the work of the Human Rights Council. The course is intended to provide participants with the necessary skills to understand in-depth how multi-lateral human rights bodies function in their manifold capacity as law-making institutions, fora for discussions and reflection, and adjucators of states' human rights performance. Participants will learn how law, policy and diplomacy come together and interact in the field of human rights.
The course instructor will provide information in form of on-line material and "mini-lectures" in the weeks preceding the Council's session. He will guide participants through the session, recommend readings and will comment on the events. During the course NGO-staff, staff of the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and staff of diplomatic missions will be available to participants in Q&A sessions via online chat sessions and webinars.
The course involves approximately 40 hours of reading, on-line working groups, webinars, interaction among students and instructors, and assignments. The course will integrate active and participatory learning approaches within activities and assignments, with an emphasis on reflective and collaborative learning. The maximum number of course participants is 25. Students who successfully complete the course will receive a Certificate of Participation. It is also possible to audit the course.
Course outline [tentative]
Week 1. The UN Commission on Human Rights 1946-2006: achievements and failures
Week 2. The UN Human Rights Council: creation, mandate, expectations, transition
Week 3. Membership, functioning and role of the Council
Week 4. Responding to complaints: "1235" and "1503"
Week 5. "Countries" and "themes": the role of "special procedures"
Week 6. "Peer review": the Universal Periodic Review
About the instructor
Dr. Gerd Oberleitner is lecturer at the Institute of International Law and International Relations of the University of Graz, Austria, and Visiting Fellow at the Centre for the Study of Human Rights of the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). An international lawyer by training, his research interests are international human rights law, international humanitarian law, and the law of international organisations. From 1998 to 1999 he served as legal adviser in the human rights and humanitarian law department of the Austrian Ministry for Foreign Affairs, and has in subsequent years joined the Austrian governmental delegation to sessions of the UN Human Rights Commission. From 1999 to 2002 he worked as Executive Secretary of the European Training and Research Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (ETC) in Graz, where he is now member of the Executive Board. From 2002 to 2004 he was Lecturer in Human Rights at the London School of Economics. For more than fifteen years, he has taught international law and international human rights law in various programmes at the LSE, the University of Graz, at other universities and in summer schools, and in the Venice and Sarajevo Master Programmes on Human Rights and Democratisation. He has been an instructor for HREA distance learning courses since 2003. His latest book is Global Human Rights Institutions: Between Remedy and Ritual (Cambridge, Polity, 2007).
Who should apply
The course is aimed at university students and graduates of international relations, international law, politics and other areas, NGO staff members, staff of international organisations and other practitioners. Participants should have a good written command of English and have high competence and comfort with computer and Internet use. The number of participants is limited to 25 per course. HREA aims to ensure equal gender and geographical distribution across the selected participants. It is also possible to audit the course.
Costs
The course tuition fee is US$ 435. Tuition for auditors is US$ 165. Unfortunately, there are no scholarships or discounted tuition fees available for this course.
Application
The deadline for applications was 1 December 2010. We are no longer accepting applications.
Frequently asked questions about HREA's distance learning courses.
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