Master 1 Human Rights Law

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (henceforth UDHR) is both a point of arrival and a point of departure regarding our contemporary understanding of human rights. As a point of arrival, the UDHR is the result of an attempt to collate the “wisdom of the ages,” in order to find the best way to ensure the protection of the rights of all—especially after the atrocities committed during the two world wars.

This course intends to provide students with an overview of international law and the structure of the international legal system.

This course examines the general principles of international criminal law, providing a practical and theoretical framework for the rules, concepts and legal constructs key to the subject. Jurisprudence will be included to assist the student to fully understand the core concept of international criminal law.

The course seeks to explain the concept, nature and history of International Humanitarian Law (“IHL”) in such a manner that the student will become familiar with its operations in international law. Some concrete case studies will be included to assist the student to fully understand the core concept of IHL.
Wars have been waged from time immemorial and its practice continues to change over time. Our interest in this module is the law regulating conflicts.

As an introductory course on contemporary challenges in international human rights law, the course is designed to offer basic insights on various topics.  Students are encouraged to do further reading so as to deepen and expand their appreciation of the complexity that characterises the various topics.

Important issues in legal philosophy range from abstract conceptual questions about the nature of law and legal systems, to normative questions about the relationship between law and morality, politics and other norms as well as the justification of various legal institutions. Although this course will deal with conceptual themes of philosophy of law especially in the first section, the course generally focusses on the practical and readily applicable aspects of the field.

Often legislation is based on the consensus of the majority feeling of a group of people rather than on solid philosophical and theological arguments. This frequently leads to superficial legislation with short term benefits for a group of people, but long-term misery for all. The author of this book provides us with a foundation upon which healthy legislation can be built.

Human dignity based on the concepts of the image of God and Christ’s redemption becomes the basis for human rights debate from a Christian theological perspective. It is in the community of the human family that a human person realizes his/her being the imago Dei.

The notion of human rights refers to the norms, basic rights and freedom that protect people from political, economic, legal, and social abuses or unjustified infringements. There is clearly a profuse assertion of rights which individuals, groups and institutions make. Today, people encounter claims of rights frequently and in a greater variety than before. The main aim of this section is to help one understand the concept of “rights”. Having dealt with the notion of “rights” itself, this section will explore the categories and forms of rights in general. The section will conclude by discussing the concept of human rights.

SEM48 - Human Rights, Philosophy and Religious Studies

4th October - 29th November 2021 

presented by Isaac Mutelo

E-seminar in Philosophy and Social Sciences
by Jaco Kruger
From 11th April to 6th June 2022

E-seminar in Philosophy and Law

by Isaac Mutelo

From 3rd October to 28th November 2022

This course intends to introduce the students to the theories associated with optimistic and pessimistic views of the developmental potential of migration and diaspora communities.  

The course introduce the students to the complex architecture of the global food governance, its historical evolution and the inherent challenges.

E-seminar in Social Sciences
by Lorenzo Gallo
From 2nd october to 27th november 2023

The course will help the students appreciate the current debates on the soft law approach and the UN binding treaty approach to the handling of business and human rights impacts.

E-seminar in Humans rights

Isaac Mutelo

From 14 April to 8 June 2025

The political economy of developing nations is a rapidly evolving field, and this course aims to equip students with the analytical tools and conceptual frameworks needed to grapple with its many nuances and challenges.

This course aims to empower students to appreciate these complexities and engage critically with the multifaceted nature of the decolonization agenda.