LAWS4432 · Law

Introduction to Human Rights, Refugee, & Humanitarian Law

Boston College Law School

This class will examine legal understandings of and responses to some of the most compelling human rights challenges of our times. We will explore torture, forced migration, religious freedom, refugee and humanitarian protections, the human rights of migrants, human trafficking, and criminal prosecutions of alleged war criminals and those who commit crimes against humanity. We will engage critically with ideas of gender, culture, ethnicity, legal status, and race. There will be guest speakers, engagement with the BC Center for Human Rights and International Justice https://www.bc.edu/bc-web/centers/chrij.html,and (if possible) field trips to observe human rights in action. We will consider: -- Western ideas of human rights and how those ideas differ from other conceptions;--The international law, treaties, instruments, customary norms, etc. that create and protect human rights, including economic and social rights, rights against racial, ethnic, religious, and gender discrimination, rights to self-determination, and the rights of children;--The institutions that monitor and enforce human rights law, including regional systems such as those of Europe and the Inter-American system.Grading will be based on class participation (including in-class simulations and presentations, and aguided research paper of approximately 15 pages on a topic chosen by each student inconsultation with Prof. Kanstroom.