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Reimagining Human Rights Law (LAWS90049)
Graduate courseworkPoints: 12.5Not available in 2024
Overview
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This subject focuses on the reimagination of human rights from a gender and women’s rights perspective. The traditional human rights canon has been challenged in important ways by its deficiencies in the protection of the rights of women and sexual and gender minorities. The primary focus on violations by state actors was shown to obscure and make invisible violations against women in the private sphere of family and home, in particular gender-based violence. The partial and contingent protection of sexual and reproductive rights under international human rights law has revealed persistent gendered limitations. Meanwhile, the adherence to date of international human rights law to the male/female binary has proven exclusionary to the promotion and protection of the rights of sexual and gender minorities.
This subject considers these critiques and examines their explanatory force. It considers ways in which the international human rights system has responded to critiques and demands of feminist and gender scholars and activists. The subject will focus, first, on the international system for the protection of women’s rights, in terms both of ‘mainstream’ guarantees of non-discrimination and the specialised system for the protection of women’s rights, most notably CEDAW. Second, the subject will focus on certain emblematic violations of women’s and gender rights (gender-based violence, reproductive rights and the rights of sexual and gender minorities) and critically examine developments in the recognition and redress of such violations under international human rights law. Third, the subject will consider the relationship between the formal mechanisms of the human rights system and the mobilisation of human rights ideas and values by social movements and non-governmental organisation. It will consider, in particular, the role and value of international human rights norms in underpinning diverse social movements working in alliance for the improved protection of women’s and gender rights.
Principal topics include:
- An overview of the protection of women’s rights and gender rights under the so-called ‘mainstream’ system for the protection of human rights
- A discussion of feminist, queer and postcolonial critiques of the international human rights system
- Analysis of specialised treaties and instruments responding to these critiques, most notably CEDAW (the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women)
- Critical reflection on the particular role of the CEDAW Committee in monitoring and interpreting women’s and gender rights under international human rights law
- Analysis of developments for the enhanced protection of the rights of women to live free from violence, including the debate about the need for a new dedicated human rights treaty for the prevention of violence against women
- An examination of developments across the mainstream and specialised human rights systems for the protection of reproductive and sexual rights
- An understanding of the limited progress made to date under international human rights law for the protection and promotion of rights of sexual and gender minorities
- A review of sustained critiques of the human rights regime by scholars such as Ratna Kapur, Dianne Otto, Christine Chinkin and Hilary Charlesworth
- Examination of human rights in practice, focusing on the way these ideas are mobilised by women’s movements and human rights advocates to deal with local issues such as gender violence and reproductive rights.
Intended learning outcomes
A student who has successfully completed this subject will:
- Have a sophisticated appreciation of the challenges that the international human rights regime faces in the protection of women's rights and gender rights
- Be equipped to engage in a probing and constructive manner with the key criticisms and the challenges that they represent
- Understand how to make effective use of some of the principal international treaty regimes in the human rights field, in particular CEDAW
- Be able to apply international norms and obligations concerning women's and gender rights to domestic laws and contexts
- Have an understanding of human rights as a mobilising framework for women's movements and gender rights advocates
- Understand how human rights laws work in practice
- Evaluate in context new developments in the protection of women's and gender rights across diverse issues under international human rights law, including gender-based violence, reproductive rights and the rights of sexual and gender minorities
Last updated: 30 January 2024
Eligibility and requirements
Prerequisites
Students must meet one of the following prerequisite options:
Option 1
Admission into a Melbourne Law Masters program
Option 2
Admission into the MC-JURISD Juris Doctor
AND
One of
Code | Name | Teaching period | Credit Points |
---|---|---|---|
LAWS50041 | Public International Law | July (On Campus - Parkville) |
12.5 |
LAWS50049 | Human Rights Law and Practice | Semester 2 (On Campus - Parkville) |
12.5 |
Corequisites
None
Non-allowed subjects
None
Recommended background knowledge
Applicants without legal qualifications should note that subjects are offered in the discipline of law at an advanced graduate level. While every effort will be made to meet the needs of students trained in other fields, concessions will not be made in the general level of instruction or assessment. Most subjects assume the knowledge usually acquired in a degree in law (LLB, JD or equivalent). Applicants should note that admission to some subjects in the Melbourne Law Masters will be dependent upon the individual applicant’s educational background and professional experience.
Inherent requirements (core participation requirements)
The University of Melbourne is committed to providing students with reasonable adjustments to assessment and participation under the Disability Standards for Education (2005), and the Assessment and Results Policy (MPF1326). Students are expected to meet the core participation requirements for their course. These can be viewed under Entry and Participation Requirements for the course outlines in the Handbook.
Further details on how to seek academic adjustments can be found on the Student Equity and Disability Support website: http://services.unimelb.edu.au/student-equity/home
Last updated: 30 January 2024
Assessment
Description | Timing | Percentage |
---|---|---|
Assessment 1: Class participation | Throughout the teaching period | 10% |
Assessment 2: Research paper on a topic approved by the subject coordinator
| 9 June | 90% |
Hurdle requirement: A minimum of 75% attendance. Note: the attendance hurdle does not apply when the subject is delivered online. | Throughout the teaching period | N/A |
Last updated: 30 January 2024
Quotas apply to this subject
Dates & times
Not available in 2024
Additional delivery details
This subject has a quota of 30 students.
Enrolment is on a 'first in' basis. Waitlists are maintained for subjects that are fully subscribed.
Students should note priority of waitlisted places in subjects will be given as follows:
- To currently enrolled Graduate Diploma and Masters students with a satisfactory record in their degree
- To other students enrolling on a single subject basis, eg Community Access Program (CAP) students, cross-institutional study and cross-faculty study.
Please refer to the Melbourne Law Masters website for further information about the management of subject quotas and waitlists.
Melbourne Law School may reserve places in a subject for incoming international cohorts or where a subject is core to a specialisation with limited alternate options.
Last updated: 30 January 2024
Further information
- Texts
Prescribed texts
Specialist materials will be made available via the LMS in the pre-teaching period.
- Related Handbook entries
This subject contributes to the following:
- Links to additional information
- Available through the Community Access Program
About the Community Access Program (CAP)
This subject is available through the Community Access Program (also called Single Subject Studies) which allows you to enrol in single subjects offered by the University of Melbourne, without the commitment required to complete a whole degree.
Entry requirements including prerequisites may apply. Please refer to the CAP applications page for further information.
Additional information for this subject
If required, please contact law-admissions@unimelb.edu.au for subject coordinator approval.
- Available to Study Abroad and/or Study Exchange Students
This subject is available to students studying at the University from eligible overseas institutions on exchange and study abroad. Students are required to satisfy any listed requirements, such as pre- and co-requisites, for enrolment in the subject.
Last updated: 30 January 2024