JUR 5710 Institutions and Procedures

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JUR 5710Institutions and Procedures

• Introduction

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Today

• Course content
• Assignment
• Mock Exam
• Required readings
• Exam
• Expectations
• Introduction

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Outline of course content

• Lectures
• Introduction to course
• UN Charter and human rights bodies (ML)
• UN treaty bodies (ML)
• The human rights project (AE) (arranged by the
  NCHR)
• Regional systems I Europe (ML)
• Human rights protection, present challenges (ML)
• Regional systems II Americas (CB)
• Regional systems III Africa (SK)
• Selected rights I Torture and minority rights
  (ML)
• Selected rights II Self-determination and Group
  Rights (GA)
• International Humanitarian Law and International
  Criminal Tribunals (MB)

• Course content
• This course focuses on the institutions, treaties
  and practices of these intergovernmental
  organisations, in addition to international
  criminal tribunals, providing a perspective of
  both the normative standards defining
  international human rights and the means by which
  they are monitored and implemented.

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Assignment and Mock Exam

• Assignment Present Human Rights Challenges
• Review of news, a discussion on which rights are
  at stake, organs or institutions involved
• 1 page description relevant facts, applicable
  law/instruments, parties, procedures and
  institutions
• Handed in on 18 September to Elisabeth Reien,
  elisabeth.reien_at_jus.uio.no
• Discussed and presented on 24 September

• Mock exam
• An old exam
• Corrected and graded
• Review and questions
• Dates to be decided

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Required Readings

• Burgenthal, Thomas et.al, International Human
  Rights in a Nutshell, 3rd.ed., St. Paul, MN West
  Group 2002,(49pp)
• Pp314-346 (33pp) international humanitarian law
  and international criminal tribunals
• Pp 402-417(16pp) NGOs
• Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. A Textbook.
  Second Revised Edition, Asbjørn Eide, Catharina
  Krause and Allan Rosas (eds.),The Hague Kluwer
  Law International, 2001.(97pp)
• Pp 9-54 (46pp) economic, social and cultural
  rights
• Pp 111-130 (20pp) self-determination and the
  right to development
• Pp 373-388 (16pp) minorities and indigenous
  peoples
• Pp 407-421 (15pp) armed conflicts
• Smith, Rhona, Textbook on International Human
  Rights, Oxford Oxford University Press, 2005.
  (252pp)
• Pp 1-183 (184) instiutions and mechanisms
• Pp 220- 233 (14pp) torture
• Pp 269- 283 (15pp) self-determination

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Expectations

• ?
• Review of the course

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Introduction

• Charter of the United Nations (1945)
• Article 1 The Purposes of the United Nations
  are
• To maintain international peace and security, and
  to that end to take effective collective
  measures for the prevention and removal of
  threats to the peace, and for the suppression of
  acts of aggression or other breaches of the
  peace, and to bring about by peaceful means, and
  in conformity with the principles of justice and
  international law, adjustment or settlement of
  international disputes or situations which might
  lead to a breach of the peace
• To develop friendly relations among nations based
  on respect for the principle of equal rights and
  self-determination of peoples, and to take other
  appropriate measures to strengthen universal
  peace
• To achieve international co-operation in solving
  international problems of an economic, social,
  cultural, or humanitarian character, and in
  promoting and encouraging respect for human
  rights and for fundamental freedoms for all
  without distinction as to race, sex, language, or
  religion and
• To be a centre for harmonizing the actions of
  nations in the attainment of these common ends.

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UN Charter (1)

• Principal organs, Art. 7
• a General Assembly
• a Security Council
• an Economic and Social Council
• a Trusteeship Council
• an International Court of Justice
• and a Secretariat.
• Such subsidiary organs as may be found necessary
  may be established in accordance with the present
  Charter.

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UN Charter (2)

• General Assembly, Art. 13
• The General Assembly shall initiate studies and
  make recommendations for the purpose of
• a. promoting international co-operation in the
  political field and encouraging the progressive
  development of international law and its
  codification
• b. promoting international co-operation in the
  economic, social, cultural, educational, and
  health fields, and assisting in the realization
  of human rights and fundamental freedoms for all
  without distinction as to race, sex, language, or
  religion.
• The further responsibilities, functions and
  powers of the General Assembly with respect to
  matters mentioned in paragraph 1 (b) above are
  set forth in Chapters IX and X.

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UN Charter (3)

• General Assembly Resolution,
• 60/251 Human Rights Council
• 1. Decides to establish the Human Rights Council,
  based in Geneva, in replacement of the Commission
  on Human Rights, as a subsidiary organ of the
  General Assembly the Assembly shall review the
  status of the Council within five years

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UN Charter (4)

• Article 55
• With a view to the creation of conditions of
  stability and well-being which are necessary for
  peaceful and friendly relations among nations
  based on respect for the principle of equal
  rights and self-determination of peoples, the
  United Nations shall promote
• a. higher standards of living, full employment,
  and conditions of economic and social progress
  and development
• b. solutions of international economic, social,
  health, and related problems and international
  cultural and educational cooperation and
• c. universal respect for, and observance of,
  human rights and fundamental freedoms for all
  without distinction as to race, sex, language, or
  religion.
• Article 56
• All Members pledge themselves to take joint and
  separate action in co-operation with the
  Organization for the achievement of the purposes
  set forth in Article 55