International Human Rights Law


Human Rights

In this course, Professor Jill Marshall (Royal Holloway, University of London) explores the international human rights system, with a particular focus on women and gender discrimination. In the first module, we think about the development of international human rights law and the mechanisms for its enforcement across the world. The second module addresses a complicated question within this field – what if supposedly universal human rights conflict with local cultural practices? In the third module, we look at the 1979 UN Convention for Women, a set of provisions targeting gender discrimination, and how it is upheld. The fourth module outlines the role of regional human rights courts, including the European Court of Human Rights, and the fifth tackles the important question of why it is necessary to have a separate convention for women. We conclude with a sixth module on violence against women and how it is addressed at a global level, focusing especially on international criminal law.

International Human Rights Law


In this module, we think about international human rights law, focusing on: (i) its origins with the formation of the UN, and its goal of producing a system whereby states could be held accountable for abuses towards their citizens; (ii) the basic legal framework for international human rights – the International Bill of Rights – and the key documents which underpin it; (iii) some of the main provisions of the International Bill of Rights; (iv) the role of regional human rights systems, such as the European Convention on Human Rights and Court of Human Rights; (v) the importance of equality and universality in human rights law, and the difficulty of achieving this in practice.