| 14 September-22 November 2009
Instructor: Gerd Oberleitner
In 1997, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan (in his report "Renewing the United Nations: A Programme for Reform") designated human rights as a "cross-cutting issue" for the whole United Nations (UN) system and asked for human rights to be "mainstreamed" into the programmes, policies and activities of all UN specialised agencies, programmes and funds. This proved to be a system-wide and ongoing challenge for the UN system, the results of which are both potentially far-reaching and little understood. A decade after the Secretary-General's call it is time to take stock of the achievements, failures and challenges of mainstreaming human rights in the UN.
This course will critically trace and evaluate the results of the Secretary-General's proposal, compare the different approaches taken by members of the "UN family" and note their experiences. After all, their response to mainstreaming is uneven, with some embracing the idea, some struggling with it and others eschewing it altogether. Despite numerous pledges to mainstream human rights, the very term still lacks conceptual clarity, and misunderstandings and disagreements as to both the process and its desired outcome remain. The obstacles to successfully mainstream human rights are plentiful and its practical requirements demanding. What do we learn, ten years on, from the experiences made by UN specialised agencies, programmes and funds? Is mainstreaming a beneficial process worth pursuing? What are the prerequisites for successfully mainstreaming human rights? How does mainstreaming change institutions; and does it also change our perception of human rights? These are some of the questions the course seeks to answer.
In 10 weeks of learning, discussion and interaction an experienced course instructor will guide participants through the readings, discussions and assignments. This will allow them to trace the history, theory and practice of mainstreaming human rights. The course will extensively involve key staff of UN organisations: in 6 out of 10 session high-level guests from UN specialised agencies, programmes and funds will talk about their experiences with mainstreaming, thus providing unique and practical insights into the workings of these organisations. Unlike many other programmes, the course will allow participants to look beyond the world of human rights bodies proper (such as the UN Human Rights Council). It will reveal that human rights have long taken root in organisations as prominent as UNICEF and UNDP and as modestly tucked away from the spotlight as UN HABITAT; as old as the International Labour Organization (ILO) and as specialised as UNFPA. It will demonstrate the indivisibility and interdependence of human rights and, in particular, the role of economic and social rights by examining how ILO, WHO and FAO work towards realizing, respectively, the right to work, health and food.
The course instructor will provide information in form of on-line reading material, including Webcasts and videos, and in weekly "mini-lectures", with the frequent intervention of staff of UN specialised agencies, programmes and funds. The course involves approximately 50 hours of reading, on-line working groups, assignments, internet chats and interaction among students, the instructor and invited guests, and is offered over a 10-week period beginning on 14 September 2009. The course will integrate active and participatory learning approaches within activities and assignments, with an emphasis on reflective and collaborative learning. Participants will do the required reading, prepare interim and final project assignments, including case studies, and participate in group discussions.
Course outline
Week 1: Introduction
Week 2: Mainstreaming human rights: history and theoretical challenges
Week 3: Mainstreaming human rights: practical requirements and operational consequences - UNESCO a case study
Week 4: ILO: workers' rights, international labour standards and the human rights system
Week 5: UNICEF: from children's needs to children's rights
Week 6: UNDP: development as a human right and the Millennium Development Goals
Week 7: UNFPA and UNIFEM: women's human rights and gender mainstreaming
Week 8: UN HABITAT: making the right to housing a reality
Week 9: FAO and WHO: food and health as human rights
Week 10: Human rights mainstreaming in the UN: making up the balance
About the instructor
Dr. Gerd Oberleitner is Senior Lecturer at the Institute of International Law and International Relations of the University of Graz (Austria). His research interests are in international human rights law, international humanitarian law, human security 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 (then) UN Human Rights Commission. In 1999, he co-founded the European Training and Research Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (ETC) in Graz and worked as the Centre’s Executive Secretary until 2002. From 2002 to 2004 he was Lecturer in Human Rights at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) and subsequently Visiting Fellow at the LSE’s Centre for the Study of Human Rights until 2007. For more than fifteen years, he has taught international law and international human rights law in a number of institutions and summer schools and teaches regularly 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 of international law, international relations, politics and other areas, NGO staff members and other practitioners who want to learn about human rights mainstreaming, the UN human rights system and selected human rights issues. The course is also intended for staff members of UN specialised agencies who want to learn more about human rights mainstreaming in practice. Participants should have at least basic knowledge on human rights. 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$ 725; permanent residents of non-OECD countries are eligible for a discounted tuition rate of US$ 350. Tuition for auditors is US$ 275; permanent residents of non-OECD countries are eligible for a discounted tuition rate of US$ 125. Unfortunately, there are no scholarships available for this course.
* Current member countries of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) are: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Korea, Luxembourg, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovak Republic, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States.
Application
The application deadline for this course was Friday, 11 September 2009. Lecture notes, course readings and other materials and other course resources will soon be available publicly and for free as part of HREA's Open Education Initiative.
Frequently asked questions about HREA's e-learning courses.
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