International Human Rights Law 2: Law, courts and practice - LAW00049I

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Module summary

Human rights law, the legal profession and courts play an increasingly prominent role in the struggle for human rights. International and domestic law sets out an evolving set of rights and freedoms; human rights lawyers mobilise transnational legal strategies; a growing number of decision makers, courts and tribunals are called upon to determine human rights claims. Drawing upon contemporary examples of the legalisation of human rights, the module provides an introduction to the role of the law, the courts and the legal profession in the struggle for human rights. Students will become familiar with the key sources and methods of interpretation of human rights law, the role of litigation and the courts in the struggle for human rights, and the challenges facing those pursuing legal advocacy for human rights.

Related modules

International Human Rights Law 1 will be a pre-requisite for this module.  The current (likely renamed) International Human Rights Law (Level H/6) module will likely be a prohibited combination (subject to discussion about any changes to its content).

Module will run

Occurrence	Teaching period
A	Semester 1 2025-26

Module aims

The module introduces you to the role of lawyers, the law and legal institutions such as courts in the struggle for human rights. It builds your understanding of past attempts to use the law for human rights, identifying both the opportunities for legal advocacy as well as its limitations. The module will link your understanding of human rights law with the challenges of its application in the real world, helping you develop skills you will need for human rights practice. The module will also provide an opportunity to develop your human rights imagination, by requiring you to develop a new legal strategy for advocacy on an aspect of a contemporary human rights challenge.

Module learning outcomes

By the end of the module you will have achieved the following module learning outcomes (MLOs):

• MLO1: You will be able to undertake a critical assessment of historic and contemporary case studies in the struggle for human rights, including relevant legal norms and arguments and the role of the legal profession and institutions. [Understanding the human rights project]
• MLO2: You will be able to conduct legal and social science research on aspects of the legal articulation, advocacy and litigation of human rights including by identifying and justifying the actions of relevant actors, and approaches to the law engaged in aspects of the struggle. [Building human rights research skills]
• MLO3: You will be able to apply your understanding of human rights legal norms, arguments, and the operation of legal institutions to apply new legal arguments and tactics and assess the possible outcomes of their use in the human rights struggle [Developing human rights advocacy skills]
• MLO4: You will be able to discuss and debate ideas about the role of the law in human rights both orally in the classroom and in writing [Communicating confidently and effectively].

Module content

The module will introduce students to the role of the law, legal institutions and the legal profession in the struggle for human rights, by exploring key aspects of its developments and moments in the struggle. Through a combination of lectures (focusing on key themes) and workshops (allowing us to explore key struggles), we will examine the doctrinal, institutional and professional opportunities and challenges that confront those seeking to use the law to pursue human rights. Key themes that will be examined in the lectures include the sources and interpretation of international human rights law, the role of domestic law (such as constitutional law and public law) in legal advocacy for human rights, the role of courts and other institutions in interpreting and enforcing human rights, and the challenges of (transnational) litigation on human rights. Case studies that will be explored in the workshops include legal advocacy on sexual orientation and gender identity, the role of the law (and persons with disability themselves) in the struggle for the rights of persons with disability, the role of the law in prohibiting (and eliminating the practice of) torture, cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment and punishment, and strategic litigation for human rights. These topics are indicative and actual topics of lectures and case studies may vary from year to year.

Indicative assessment

Task	% of module mark
Essay/coursework	100.0

Special assessment rules

None

Indicative reassessment

Task	% of module mark
Essay/coursework	100.0

Module feedback

The assessment will be to write a proposal for law reform or litigation of a human right (human rights case study) addressing a contemporary human rights challenge. A series of prominent (milestone) struggles in the use of the law in the human rights project will be discussed during the module's workshops, providing a framework for students to identify and analyse their chosen case. Students will receive immediate oral feedback to their ideas and arguments from their peers and their tutor during the workshops; lectures will provide students with broader theories and developments in the human rights project.

As a formative assessment, students will submit a short outline of their human rights case study and will receive written feedback on this. Collective discussion about the assessment (and feedback) will occur during the later workshops. Students will receive written feedback on their summative submission in line with departmental policies (ie. written feedback addressing how students performed on the assessment based upon the assessment matrix for the programme and identifying areas of success and making suggestions for improvement).

Indicative reading

Koh, Harold H. The 1998 Frankel Lecture: Bringing International Law Home, 35 Hous. L. REV. 623 (1998).

Duffy, H. (2018). Strategic Human Rights Litigation: Understanding and Maximising Impact. United Kingdom: Bloomsbury Publishing.

Mark Heywood, South Africa's Treatment Action Campaign: Combining Law and Social Mobilization to Realize the Right to Health, Journal of Human Rights Practice, Volume 1, Issue 1, March 2009, Pages 14–36.

Christopher McCrudden, Human Dignity and Judicial Interpretation of Human Rights, European Journal of International Law, Volume 19, Issue 4, September 2008, Pages 655–724,