SOC 570 Comparative Human Rights Policies
This course aims to provide students with a multi-disciplinary introduction to human rights theory and practice. It starts with the theoretical foundations of human rights, especially the historical, philosophical and political-legal roots of the tradition, then proceeds to the development of universal human rights in the 19th and 20th centuries leading to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948.. Secondly, it discusses the main controversies surrounding current interpretations of human rights, such as: Are human rights standards universal or are they negotiable by certain cultures and societies? Can groups choose to apply only some rights and not others, depending on the circumstances? Must human rights give way to concerns for national security and the needs of the nation-state? We then discuss at more depth women's rights and economic rights, together with cases dealing with health and human rights. The course ends with the role of NGO's and other civil society organizations in human rights advocacy.