Document Type

Undergraduate Syllabus

Date

Fall 2025

School

Diplomacy

Course Number

DIPL 4106 AA

Course Description

This course introduces students to the historical development and emergence of the human rights movement, particularly following World War II and during the consolidating period of the 1970s. This period is often labeled the golden decade of human rights, as the movement that commenced at the end of World War II was consolidated through the adoption of two crucial international instruments. Furthermore, human rights advocacy, which works through victims’ testimony and evidence-based reporting on violations, began to take center stage, departing from the basic rules of humanitarian engagement that include impartiality, neutrality, and independence.

With four interrelated parts, the course starts with an examination of the historical antecedents that led to the crafting of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the subsequent normative instruments spanning civil and political rights, and economic, social, and cultural rights. The conceptual underpinnings forwarded to justify human rights will be discussed based on relevant readings detailed in this syllabus. The second part discusses specific human rights topics based on globally agreed standards such as the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR). The third part focuses on overall enforcement mechanisms that exist at international, regional, as well as domestic levels. The final part raises some of the contemporary topics, such as climate change, pandemics, and technology, as they relate to human rights. The course endeavors to provide a firm grounding for students' understanding of human rights regimes and the institutions mandated to protect these rights, while also fostering a critical perspective on their historical development and current challenges.

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