INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS LAW
Academic year and teacher
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- Versione italiana
- Academic year
- 2019/2020
- Teacher
- ALESSANDRA ANNONI
- Credits
- 6
- Didactic period
- Secondo Semestre
- SSD
- IUS/13
Training objectives
- 1. Acquired knowledge: Students will familiarize with the basic international rules concerning human rights protection and with control procedures established by the main international instruments of human rights protection.
2. Habilities: the course fosters the hability to identify the relevant legal sources (including case law) and to critically construe and analyze international human rights rules and their impact on the domestic legal order. Prerequisites
- Students enrolled in one of the Degrees offered by the Law Department who have not yet passed the exams of Constitutional Law, Institutions of Private Law, EU Law and International Law will not be admitted to sit the exam.
Incoming exchange students are advised to complete the online self-assessment test on International and EU Law available at: https://goo.gl/forms/rbuR62cFWAmC3U2L2. Students who score less than 22/30 on this test are strongly encouraged to attend the intensive course on Introduction to International and EU Law (16 September-4 October 2019) or the Course of Introduction to EU Law (3-21 February 2020) prior to the course of International Human Rights. Course programme
- 1) INTRODUCTION (2 hours).
The “multilevel” protection of human beings in international law: Humanitarian Law, the Law of International Minorities, Refugees Law, International Criminal Law and Human Rights Law strictu sensu. The history of human rights: From the mandate system of the League of Nations till today. The different “generations” of human rights. The role of the individual in the international legal system.
2) THE SOURCES OF INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS LAW (4 hours)
Hard Law and Soft Law. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Human rights in the UN Charter. Human rights treaties: Universal treaties and regional treaties; global treaties and specific treaties; the structure of human rights treaties, the applicability ratione materiae, ratione loci and ratione temporis of human rights treaties; the scope of States’ jurisdiction; admissibility of reservations; interpretation of human rights treaties. Customary and Ius cogens rules. Erga omnes character of human rights rules.
3) THE CONTENTS OF HUMAN RIGHTS RULES (8 hours)
Civil rights: The duty to respect and ensure respect for human rights. Absolute rights and rights that can be subjected to limitations. Scope of the margin of appreciation reserved to States. Derogations in times of war or other public emergency. The right to life. The prohibition of torture.
4) THE INTERNATIONAL RESPONSIBILITY FOR VIOLATIONS OF HUMAN RIGHTS RULES (4 hours)
Elements of the international wrongful act of the State. Responsibility for violations perpetrated by State organs and by non-State actors. States and International organisations’ respective responsibility for violations of human rights: the case law of the European Court of Human Rights. Circumstances precluding wrongfulness and human rights violations. Consequences of the wrongful act. Special consequences of the violation of an erga omnes obligation. Countermeasures and human rights. Individual responsibility for human rights violations.
5) ENSURING COMPLIANCE WITH HUMAN RIGHTS LAW (12 hours)
Diplomatic protection as a means for ensuring respect for human rights rules. The role of the UN: the legal bases of the UN monitoring activity; the Human Rights Commission, the Human Rights Council and special procedures; the General Assembly; the Security Council and the ICJ. Treaty monitoring mechanisms: reporting system, interstate and individual complaint procedures and fact-finding procedures. Judicial enforcement in the European system: structure of the European Court of Human Rights; advisory opinions; inter-States cases and individual applications; admissibility criteria; procedure; provisional measures; content and effects of judgments; execution of judgments. Criminal prosecution of human rights violations (outline). The scope of national courts’ civil jurisdiction (outline).
6) THE IMPLEMENTATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS LAW AT THE NATIONAL LEVEL: THE ITALIAN EXPERIENCE (2 hours)
Articles 10, 11, and 117 of the Italian Constitution. The relevant case law of the Italian Constitutional Court.
7) THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE FIGHT AGAINST ORGANISED CRIME AND THE PROTECTION OF FUNDAMENTAL HUMAN RIGHTS (8 hours). This topic will be addressed also in the context of tematic seminars organised by Ma.Cr.O. - Inter-Disciplinary Research Centre on Mafia and other forms of Organised Crime. Didactic methods
- 1. Lectures (32 hours). Slides and other teaching materials will be uploaded on the website of the course.
2. Seminars (8 hours). The seminars will be convened either by the instructor of the course or by guest lecturers. They will focus on the relationship between the protection of fundamental human rights and the fight against organized crime . Students will be asked to prepare in advance by reading some introductory materials on the topic, and to engage actively in the discussion in class. Learning assessment procedures
- Students attending classes:
- Evaluation of the personal contribution of the student during the seminars (25% of the final mark)
- Final exam (75% of the final mark).
Students attending classes may choose to sit the final exam the week after the end of the course, either as a written test or as an oral exam, or on any of the official exam dates, only as an oral. The exam will be in English, and aims solely at assessing the achievement of the learning objectives stated above.
Students not attending classes:
Students not attending classes will sit an oral exam in English, aimed at assessing the achievement of the learning objectives stated above.
To pass the exam, students must score at least 18/30. Reference texts
- Students not attending the course shall prepare the exam on: C. Tomuschat, Human Rights between Idealism and Realism, 3rd edition, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2014, except for Chapters 13 and 14.
Students who attend classes may prepare for the exam revising their own notes and studying the texts included in the reading list which will be published in February on the course's website.
Consultation of the main international instruments in the field of human rights is always required.
