Ateneo - UPO

The course is devoted to the study of the protection of human rights in international and European law. Lectures will focus on the theoretical foundations of fundamental rights in the international field, the evolution of normative systems and some critical aspects of the discipline. Particular attention will also be devoted to case studies, from which the main mechanisms of the system's functioning and the aporias linked to recent issues will emerge.

The materials will be made available by the lecturer via the DIR platform. Particularly doctrinal contributions and international judgments will be studied and compared.

The aim of the course is to enable those undertaking studies in political philosophy to learn, from a multidisciplinary perspective, how human rights protection works in the international order. This is in order to arrive not only at a basic knowledge, but above all at a critical understanding of some of the dynamics of the relations between the state and the individual and their reflections at the international level.

There are no prerequisite courses. It is advisable to have already attended the first-year courses of the Master's degree programme and to have a knowledge of English that enables understanding of the course materials.

The course will alternate between face-to-face teaching and discussion of the materials provided by the lecturer. In this way, alongside the traditional lecture, classroom discussion on both theoretical and practical aspects of the subject will be encouraged.

As the lectures will address the various topics of the course through comparisons and discussions of the materials provided, attendance is recommended

Final paper on a topic of your choice agreed with the lecturer and dealing in depth with the topics covered during the course. The final mark is based on the following criteria: relevance of the discussion to the assigned topic; ability to deepen critical profiles; logic and systematic structure of the arguments; use of bibliographic and jurisprudential sources.

The course aims to provide a critical insight into human rights, their conceptual and historical foundations as well as the main international legal instruments and institutions that aim to protect and promote human rights worldwide. The course will offer a variety of disciplinary perspectives on the topic of human rights, starting mainly from international law, but also from history, philosophy, social anthropology and international relations theories. Concrete case studies will be used in the course to illustrate the range of human rights issues and the usefulness of international law. The combination of theoretical approaches, legal analysis and investigation of specific historical events and concrete case studies will enable students to acquire key skills in the application of human rights to their research in a variety of fields. Current topics and students' interests will also be discussed as case studies within the core programme.

The course aims to provide the tools to:
Improve the ability to think critically and engage in complex theoretical and practical reasoning;
Be able to identify the different dimensions of human rights and accountability in contemporary international affairs, including through an understanding of different approaches to the study of human rights;
Understand the functioning of the main international human rights legal instruments and relevant international human rights institutions;
Acquire the tools to be able to independently conduct critical research on human rights and related international and national practice.