Glossary

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European Human Rights Law & Institutions - LAWS8157

Faculty: Faculty of Law

School: Faculty of Law

Course Outline: See below

Campus: Kensington Campus

Career: Postgraduate

Units of Credit: 6

EFTSL: 0.12500 (more info)

Indicative Contact Hours per Week: 2

Enrolment Requirements:

Pre-requisite: Academic Program must be 9200 or 9210 or 9230 or 5740 or 9220 or 5750 or 9211 or 5211.

CSS Contribution Charge: 1 (more info)

Tuition Fee: See Tuition Fee Schedule

Further Information: See Class Timetable

View course information for previous years.

Description

Europe enjoys the world’s most advanced regional human rights system. Its “jewel in the crown” is the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) of 1950, the world’s first and still unique human rights treaty, adopted by the Council of Europe as a reaction to the mass murders and atrocities of the Second World War. 47 States have ratified the Convention; some 50’000 applications have been submitted in 2008; some 100’000 cases are pending before the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR). In recent years, the European Union has also become a major actor in the field of human rights. Europe thus possesses two systems of human rights protection that are complementary and constitute the core of this course.

Please note:

LLM Specialisations

Human Rights and Social Justice

Recommended Prior Knowledge

None.

Course Objectives

This course has the following aims:

To introduce the participants to the principles and institutions of European human rights law and practice.
To develop the skills necessary to apply, analyze and criticize these principles
To develop the skills necessary to communicate and debate the role law, rights and politics play in the general growth and change of law and society.

At the end of this course, participants should be able to:

demonstrate a sound knowledge of the principles and institutions of human rights law in Europe;
recall and recount the origins and evolution of these principles and institutions ;
understand how these principles and institutions apply in practice;
recall the central facts and legal principles in the case law studied;
analyse case law and identify the different approaches and philosophies of judges;
demonstrate their ability to think critically and creatively and justify their ideas in an effective, reasoned and scholarly manner;
appreciate the difference of the world of the professors and that of the judges.

Main Topics

A general introduction and a discussion of the changing views about the tasks of the ECtHR;
Human rights in the European Union (EU);
“Absolute” guarantees (right to life, prohibition of torture);
Private and family life;
The freedoms of expression, of the press and of association;
Multiculturalism, democracy’s enemies, terrorism;
Right to property;
Prospects and reform of the system.

Assessment