17 September-28 October 2014 (E06814) | Closed
Instructor: Dr. Gerd Oberleitner
This certificate course is an introduction to the United Nations (UN) human rights system. The protection and promotion of human rights is a cardinal task of the UN. Over the past half century the UN has been active in drafting and adopting human rights standards and norms, and a considerable number of institutions, procedures and mechanisms have been (and continue to be) created in the field of human rights.
This e-learning course will provide on overview of and critical introduction to the UN human rights system. It will introduce the core UN human rights standards and discuss their universality. It will present the UN treaty bodies which monitor compliance with human rights treaties, the Human Rights Council and its mandate, role achievements and failures since its took over from the dissolved Commission on Human Rights in 2006, and the Council’s subsidiary bodies. It will highlight the role of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and discuss the place of women’s human rights in the UN system, the mainstreaming of human rights in UN specialised agencies, programmes and funds, and the role of civil society in the UN Human rights framework.
The course is intended to provide participants with the necessary skills to understand the UN human rights system and the standards and institutions, procedures and mechanisms developed over the past half century. It will allow for a critical reflection on the universality of these standards and the effectiveness of these mechanisms, on the role of human rights in the wider UN system, and on the potential and limits of entrusting the United Nations with protecting and promoting human rights. Participants will learn how law, policy and diplomacy come together and have shaped the UN human rights system, and how the system can be explained in theory and functions in practice. The course instructor will provide information in form of on-line material and “mini-lectures” and will guide participants through the required and optional readings. During the course NGO-staff and staff of the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights will be available to participants in Q&A sessions through webinars.