HRHP Courses & Descriptions

For more information on degree audit and additional courses that are counted, please visit our HRHP Degree Audit page, the SIPA Bulletin, or your Stellic Degree Tracking account.

INAF U4090 - Accountability in Humanitarian Assistance

Prerequisites: Undergraduate students are not permitted to register this course

This short course will explore the concept of accountability within humanitarian intervention. In particular it will look at the contemporary significance of accountability for humanitarian response – when and why it has become an important concept for humanitarian intervention, and specific events that have led to a shift from donors to recipients of aid as the agents of accountability and how it is being implemented in the field. Key questions that will be explored include: To whom are humanitarian agencies accountable? What are the competing accountabilities and how do these influence program decisions and agency performance? Why is accountability to affected people important during a humanitarian response? Aside from ideological views, why should the humanitarian sector be concerned with accountability to affected people? What are its end goals? What does an effective accountability mechanism look like? How do agencies implement it? Do these work? In what contexts? How is their effectiveness being measured? By whom? Through an exploration of case studies from the field (including 2005 South East Asian tsunami, Pakistan earthquake and flood response, Haiti earthquake, European Migration of 2015/2016), a mix of lecture, group exercise, video presentation, the course will address the above questions. Guest speakers will be brought in to discuss the issues with those who are grappling with the accountability debates in the field.

Class Format & Semester
  • 1 credit
  • Spring Semester
  • Short Course
HRHP Concentration Requirement
  • Elective
Instructor

Jessica Alexander

INAF U6041 - Corporations and Human Rights

This course is designed to provide students the opportunity to learn about the growing importance of human rights and their impact in the world today. Through an in-depth examination of the field of business and human rights students will gain an understanding of the existing and emerging international human rights framework relevant to business, learn ways in which business and human rights intersect, and be exposed to the range of methods and tactics being employed by human rights advocates and businesses to address their human rights impacts. By the end of the course, the student will have a firm grasp of the current business and human rights debates, and be able to critically evaluate the efficacy of applying human rights standards to corporations and the effect of corporate practices on human rights. Classroom discussion will include a review of trends in human rights; the development of human rights principles or standards relevant to corporations; human rights issues facing business operations abroad; the growing public demand for greater accountability; strategies of civil society advocacy around business and human rights; collaborative efforts between business and non-profit organizations; and other issues managers must deal with. Through guest lectures, students will have the opportunity to engage first hand with business managers and advocacy professionals dealing with these issues.

Class Format & Semester
  • 3 credits
  • Fall Semester
  • Seminar
HRHP Concentration Requirement
  • Human Rights Policy Focus Area
  • Elective
Instructor

Joanne Bauer

INAF U6141 - Humanitarian Response Simulation

The simulation will be designed in order to provide exposure to a range of topics including but not limited to: Refugee and cross-border migration issues; Practical implications of international humanitarian law; Ramifications of international human rights law in crises; The interagency nature of a large-scale humanitarian response, including UN, National Governments, international NGOs and national NGOs and how to coordinate across actors; Humanitarian field negotiations; Humanitarian operations issues (logistics, staff security, human resources management, etc.); Emergency response design. The scenario upon which the simulation is based will be situated in Paradoxia, reflecting elements of a relatively recent real-world situation whereby a natural disaster evolves into a large-scale civil conflict. This will give students the opportunity not only to understand the complexities of planning and implementing a humanitarian response in a challenging environment. The learning objectives for the participants, therefore, are primarily: further their understanding of the roles of individual humanitarian actors and their inter-relationships; enhance their recognition of the difficulties associated with working in an inter-cultural environment; augment their understanding of the challenges involved in achieving effective coordination and cooperation among a range of humanitarian actors; build the capacity to make decisions based on relevant and time-sensitive information; strengthen their ability to develop strategies and operational plans that will improve immediate response without impeding future recovery.

Class Format & Semester
  • 1 credit
  • Spring Semester
  • Simulation
HRHP Concentration Requirement
  • Elective
Instructor

Jeffrey Klenk

INAF U6143 - Gender, Globalization and Human Rights

Prerequisites: Students who have not taken either International Human Rights Law or International Law must obtain instructor permission to enroll

From the 'feminization of migration' to labor market effects of trade agreements, from the recognition of rape as a war crime to the emergence of transnational advocacy movements focused on women's and LGBTQ rights, globalization is being shaped by and reshaping gender relations. Human rights norms are directly implicated in these processes. The development of global and regional institutions increases the likelihood that national policies affecting gender relations will be subject to international scrutiny. At the same time, local activists redefine international norms in terms of their own cultural and political frameworks with effects that impact general understandings. What 'human rights' can women claim, where, how and from whom? What human rights can LGBT people claim? How can we craft effective and fair policies on the basis of the existing human rights framework?

Class Format & Semester
  • 3 credits
  • Fall Semester
  • Seminar
HRHP Concentration Requirement
  • Human Rights Policy Focus Area
  • Elective
Instructor

Yasmine Ergas

INAF U6405 - Human Rights and the Politics of Inequality

This course investigates the relationship between human rights and key policies affecting economic and social equality and equity issues. In particular, the course will focus on how human rights criteria have been integrated into economic governance in various arenas, including trade, labor, development, and environmental policy. The course will introduce students to both theory and practical points of leverage for advancing human rights in the public and the private sector. Students will learn about the strengths, weaknesses and impacts of grievance mechanisms that are tied to economic policies, such as free trade agreements or World Bank complaint mechanisms. They will analyze the impacts of development and investment policies on human rights and strategies for incorporating human rights criteria into governmental and non-governmental decision-making processes.

Class Format & Semester
  • 3 credits
  • Spring Semester
  • Seminar
HRHP Concentration Requirement
  • Human Rights Policy Focus Area
  • Elective

INAF U6489 - Human Rights Research and Reporting

In the global context of the rise of anti-rights populism, human rights activism requires increasingly sophisticated approaches on the part of human rights activists. Technological developments have enabled new kinds of cybersurveillance and other threats to human rights; as well as new methodological approaches for documenting human rights violations from geo-spatial analysis to open source investigations. Emerging areas of work from disability rights to a growing focus on economic and social rights has created demands for new approaches to identifying, documenting and rights violations. The seasoned human rights activist needs quantitative skills as well as the ability to sensitively interview victims and witnesses or assess a morgue report. An ever more hostile environment for human rights with "fake news" deployed as rebuttal by autocrats – as well as the possibility of creating "deep fakes" through artificial intelligence - has intensified the stakes for research and the need for rigor. This course seeks to introduce practical skills of a human rights investigator: how to identify and design a research project, how to conduct the research, and how to present compelling findings and principled but pragmatic recommendations to the public, media and advocacy targets. There will be a strong emphasis on practical engagement, and students will be expected, in group work, to develop project concepts and methodological approaches to contemporary human rights problems. Each week, they will review and discuss in class new reporting from human rights investigations by journalists and human rights activists. They will also hone their writing skills to present human rights findings in a clear, concise and compelling manner, whether in internal memos, press releases, or detailed public reports. Guest speakers from diverse parts of the global human rights movement will present their experiences and advice.

Class Format & Semester
  • 3 credits
  • Fall Semester
  • Seminar
HRHP Concentration Requirement
  • Human Rights Policy Focus Area
  • Elective
Instructor

Iain Levine

INAF U6490 - International Humanitarian Law & Human Rights in Wars

This course introduces students to international humanitarian law (IHL) and human rights law (IHRL) applicable in wars with specific references to humanitarian policies and humanitarian action. Participants will advance their understanding of working for IHL/IHRL civil society organizations, international organizations, the media and for political, social and humanitarian institutions in light of the actual challenges to the application of the law for wars. As parties in recent wars have deliberately made the violation of rules their policy, options and mechanisms to enforce and develop the rules are one of the foundations of the course.

The course examines challenges to IHL/IHRL posed by inhuman treatment of prisoners, bombarding civilians, use of child soldiers, starving cities, fighting terror groups, threatening the use of nuclear weapons, polluting the environment and cyber warfare. How can law control fighters in the way they attack enemy soldiers and civilians? How can rules be implemented and enforced, and which institutions can be used to control fighters? What rules protect persons when they are prisoners or detained in war? What weapons and their use endanger civilians unlawfully? How can humanitarian assistance be delivered and what law protects humanitarian workers? What new law do we need to limit cyber warfare and the use of drones? Questions will be explored by references to actual conflicts such as the conflicts in Syria, Libya, Yemen, Iraq, Afghanistan, Lebanon and Ukraine.

Class Format & Semester
  • 3 credits
  • Fall Semester
  • Seminar
HRHP Concentration Requirement
  • Humanitarian Policy Focus Area
  • Elective
Instructor

Horst Fischer

INAF U6499 - Human Rights and Humanitarian Policy Practicum

This 1.5 credit, 7-week course is designed as a forum in which human rights practitioners, humanitarian aid workers, practitioners and academics share their professional experiences and insights on the modern development of international human rights and humanitarian law, policy, and practice. The Practicum plays an important role in the Human Rights and Humanitarian Policy Concentration as a means by which students: 1. interact with speakers and gain an understanding of the different roles that humanitarian aid workers and actors play in a variety of contexts, and 2. examine current trends in the human rights field and remain informed on the different roles that human rights actors play in a variety of contexts. The Practicum is designed, therefore, to enhance students' abilities to think critically and analytically about current problems and challenges confronting the field, and to do so in the context of a vibrant community of their peers. Whereas most courses integrate conceptual and theoretical perspectives of human rights, the Human Rights and Humanitarian Policy Practicum is meant to emphasize the processes of implementing human rights from the practitioner's perspective.

Class Format & Semester
  • 1.5 credits
  • Spring Semester
  • Short Course
HRHP Concentration Requirement
  • Elective
Instructor

Susannah Friedman

INAF U6751 - International Human Rights Law

This course introduces students to international human rights law (IHRL). In what sense are internationally-defined human rights "rights" and in what sense can the instruments which define them be considered "law"? How do we know that a claim is actually a "human right"? What are the relations among international, regional and national institutions in establishing and enforcing (or not) IHRL? Does IHRL represent an encroachment on national sovereignty? Is the future of IHRL regional? What enforcement mechanisms can we use, and who can decide upon their use? Finally, what redress is there for human rights violations, and how effective is it?

Class Format & Semester
  • 3 credits
  • Fall & Spring Semesters
  • Seminar
HRHP Concentration Requirement
  • Core Course
Instructor

Yasmine Ergas, Betsy Apple, Tonya Putnam

INAF U6765 - The European Union and Human Rights

The European Union (EU) has a deep and broad commitment to the respect and promotion of human rights, both in its internal and its external policies. However, it often faces difficulties in living up to this commitment. In this course we will study the EU's commitment to human rights as outlined in its founding Treaties, the role of its institutional actors in following up on this commitment, and the EU's internal and external actions and policies in this respect. For the EU's internal policies we will focus in particular on its non-discrimination policies as well as its migration policy. In the area of the EU's external relations we will explore the role of human rights in the EU's development cooperation, trade policy and humanitarian aid, as well as in the EU's multilateral relations with other international organizations, both global (e.g. the United Nations) and regional (e.g. Organization of American States; African Union; Council of Europe; OSCE).

Class Format & Semester
  • 3 credits
  • Spring Semester
  • Seminar
HRHP Concentration Requirement
  • Elective
Instructor

Jan Wouters

INAF U6802 - International Law

This course introduces students to the basic doctrines of public international law and considers their relationship to both international relations theory and a range of problems in current international politics. The course is aiming to provide a the normative framework to understand the present dimensions of international relations. Students are asked to consider the theoretical arguments, processes and frameworks that provide the structure of international law, and to analyze their practical application to world issues of current concern. A problem-oriented approach to various case studies will be us med in both lectures and discussion sessions, including international trade disputes, climate change agreements, cyber attacks, military interventions and responses to human rights violations. The course will integrate methods, substance and domestic application of the international legal system.

Class Format & Semester
  • 3 credits
  • Fall Semester
  • Seminar
HRHP Concentration Requirement
  • Elective
Instructor

Horst Fischer

INAF U8166 - Rethinking Human Rights and Humanitarianism

The goal of the course is to examine predicaments of rights through a variety of topics and perspectives. This is not an introductory course (it is meant for students who have previously taken international law, or other "fundamental" human rights classes), yet we will explore human rights broadly: the challenges facing human rights as an ethical and a social justice framework; the multiplicity of rights, and the tension of universality and localism.

Class Format & Semester
  • 3 credits
  • Spring Semester
  • Seminar
HRHP Concentration Requirement
  • Human Rights Policy Focus Area
  • Humanitarian Policy Focus Area
  • Elective
Instructor

Elazar Barkan

INAF U8180 - Human Rights Skills and Advocacy

This course is designed to develop practical advocacy skills to protect and promote human rights. A focus will be developing an advocacy strategy on a current human rights issue, including the identification of goals and objectives, appropriate advocacy targets and strategies, and the development of an appropriate research methodology. Students will explore broad-based human rights campaigns, use of the media, and advocacy with UN and legislative bodies. Over the course of the semester, students will become familiar with a variety of tools to apply to a human rights issue of their choosing. Case studies will illustrate successful advocacy campaigns on a range of human rights issues."

Class Format & Semester
  • 3 credits
  • Spring Semester
  • Seminar
HRHP Concentration Requirement
  • Human Rights Policy Focus Area
  • Elective
Instructor

Jo Becker

INAF U8189 - The Politics of History and Reconciliation

Since the end of the Cold War historical memory has come to play an increasing role in international and intranational conflicts. In addition numerous countries which are transitioning from dictatorship to democracy have focused on the gross historical violations of the previous regime. But not all. The question is how does a focus on the past facilitate present reconciliation? Societies are faced with the expectation that they will attend to the crimes of previous regimes. But what are crimes in historical perspective? And what are the standards for historical responsibility? How does historical conflict and reconciliation differ from approaches to immediate accountability for the past in newly democratic societies? The course examines these political and ethical dilemmas in a comparative historical perspective.

Class Format & Semester
  • 3 credits
  • Spring Semester
  • Seminar
HRHP Concentration Requirement
  • Human Rights Policy Focus Area
  • Elective
Instructor

Elazar Barkan

INAF U8690 - Managing Humanitarian Emergencies

This course focuses on the management of humanitarian operations and intends to provide students with an opportunity to explore critical and current issues in humanitarian aid. It gives students the chance to understand current debates in the humanitarian system; to develop a framework of analysis that they can use in head-quarters and the field; and to acquire a toolkit to help them succeed as aid workers. The course is focused on humanitarian operations from the perspective of an aid worker in the field. The course would therefore be of interest to those wishing to work with an aid agency, directly or indirectly with populations affected by disasters or those who just want to better understand the humanitarian aid system and the opportunities and challenges that humanitarian leaders face.

Class Format & Semester
  • 3 credits
  • Spring Semester
  • Seminar
HRHP Concentration Requirement
  • Humanitarian Policy Focus Area
  • Elective
Instructor

Susannah Friedman