The Higher Canadian Institute for Business
and Engineering Technology
Quality Assurance Unit
Course Specification
Course Name: Human Rights
Course Code: HUM 35212
I. Basic Course Information
Program(s) on which the course is given: Engineering Common Course
Department offering the course: Common Course
Academic level:
Semester in which course is offered: Spring
Course pre-requisite(s): None
Credit Hours: 1 hr.
Contact Hours Through: 3
Lecture
20
Tutorial*
1.0
Practical*
0.0
Total
3.0
Approval date of course specification: January 2015
II. Overall Aims of Course
Human rights have become an increasingly central issue in global politics. This course
introduces students to the law and politics of international human rights. It examines
the gradual construction of an international human rights regime and its influence on
international politics. The course seeks to understand how and why human rights
standards have come into being and how they change over time. Drawing on historical
and contemporary cases from around the world, the course will survey the actors and
organizations, including states, international organizations, and non-state actors,
involved in the promotion of human rights around the globe, as well as obstacles to
such promotion. It will review competing conceptions of human rights, whether
human rights are universal, problems of enforcement, and the role of human rights in
foreign policy. Major topics include civil and political rights; economic, social and
cultural rights; the laws of war, genocide, torture, humanitarian intervention,
transnational corporations, women’s rights, and the international criminal court
III. Program ILOs covered by course
Program Intended Learning Outcomes (By Code)
Knowledge &
Intellectual Skills
Professional Skills
Understanding
K11
I3
P7
General
Skills
G1,G3
1
The Higher Canadian Institute for Business
and Engineering Technology
Quality Assurance Unit
Course Specification
Intended Learning Outcomes of Course (ILOs)
a. Knowledge and Understanding
On completing the course, students should be able to:
k. 1 Outline topics related to humanitarian interests and moral issues
b. Intellectual/Cognitive Skills
On completing the course, students should be able to:
i.1 Select appropriate solutions for engineering problems based on analytical
thinking
c. Practical/Professional Skills
On completing the course, students should be able to:
p.1 Implement comprehensive understanding of intellectual skills in project
d. General and Transferable Skills
On completing the course, students should be able to:
g.1 Collaborate effectively within multidisciplinary team.
g.2 Communicate effectively
IV. Course Matrix Contents
Main Topics / Chapters
1-
2-
3456789-
Course Overview :
Part I: Introduction,
Theory, and History
Theoretical Perspectives II:
Constructivism, Critical
Theory
Are Human Rights
Universal? The Cultural
Relativism Debate
Part II: The Promotion of
Human Rights
The International Human
Rights Regime
Universal Jurisdiction and
the International Criminal
Court s
The Laws of War
Case: The U.S and torture:
Iraq, Guantanamo,
Afghanistan
Donnelly, Ch. 14,
“Globalization, the State and
Duration
(Weeks)
1
Course ILOs Covered by Topic
(By ILO Code)
K&U
I.S.
P.S.
G.S.
K11
G1,3
K11
P7
G3
K11
P7
G3
K11
P7
G3
K11
P7
G3
K11
P7
G3
K11
K11
P7
G3
G3
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
K11
G3
2
The Higher Canadian Institute for Business
and Engineering Technology
Quality Assurance Unit
Course Specification
Human Rights.”
III. Globalization and
10 Human Rights
Modern Slavery
11- Humanitarian Intervention
12- Women’s Rights
Net Teaching Weeks
K11
G3
K11
K11
G3
G3
1
1
1
12
V. Course Weekly Detailed Topics / hours / ILOs
Week
No.
1
2
3
Sub-Topics
course overview :
 Introduction: Human rights in world politics [
watch this online on Canvas]
 Donnelly, Ch. 1, “Human Rights as an Issue in
World Politics.”
 Kenneth Roth, “The Day After,” Human Rights
Watch, World Report 2013.
Why human rights matter: the case of El Salvador
 Danner, The Massacre at El Mozote Donnelly, Ch.
8, pp. 113-123.
We will discuss the book in class.
NOTE: video: “Justice and the Generals” (2002)
 El Salvador (con’t.).
 Theoretical Perspectives I: Realism, liberalism
 Donnelly, Ch. 2, “Theories of Human Rights.”
 Kathryn Sikkink, “Introduction to the Origins of
Human Rights Policies,” in Mixed Signals: U.S.
Human Rights Policy and Latin America (Cornell,
2004), pp. 3-22. (C) Stephen Krasner, Sovereignty:
Organized Hypocrisy (Princeton, 1999), p. 67-71
Theoretical Perspectives II: Constructivism, Critical
Theory
Keck and Sikkink, “Transnational Advocacy Networks
in International Politics,”in Activists Beyond Borders
(Cornell, 1998), pp. 1-38. (C)
Makau Mutua, “Savages, Victims and Saviours: The
Metaphor of Human
Rights,” Harvard International Law Journal, Vol. 42
(2001), pp. 201-245. (C)
The Rise of Human Rights: WWII, Nuremberg and the
Universal Declaration
Kathryn Sikkink, “The Idea of Internationally
Recognized Human Rights,” in Mixed Signals: U.S.
Human Rights Policy and Latin America
(Cornell,2004), pp. 23-47. (C)
Contact Hours
Total
Theoretical Practical
Hours
Hours
Hours*
3
2
3
2
1
3
2
1
3
The Higher Canadian Institute for Business
and Engineering Technology
Quality Assurance Unit
Course Specification
4
5
Ashild Samnoy, “The Origins of the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights,” in Alfredsson and Eide,
eds., The Universal Declaration of Human Rights: A
Common Standard of Achievement (The Hague:
Matinus Nijhoff, 1998),
pp. 3-22. (C)
Discussion sections begin.
Are Human Rights Universal? The Cultural Relativism
Debate
Donnelly, Ch. 3, “The Relative Universality of Human
Rights.”
Bilihari Kausikan, “Asia’s Different
Standard,” Foreign Policy, No. 92 (Autumn1993). (C)
Mahmoud Monshipouri, “The Muslim World Half A
Century After the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights: Progress and
Obstacles,” Netherlands
Quarterly of Human Rights (1998), pp. 287-314. (C)
Cultural relativism: cases
Frances Althaus, “Female Circumcision: Rite of
Passage or Violation of Rights?”
International Family Planning Perspectives (September
1997), pp. 130-133 (C).
M. Baer and A. Brysk, “New Rights, Private Wrongs:
Female Genital Mutilation and Global Framing
Dialogues,” in Clifford Bob, eds., The International
Struggle for New Human Rights (2009), 93-107. (C)
Burqa case: Phyllis Chesler, “Ban the Burqa? The
Argument in Favor,” Middle East Quarterly (Fall
2010). (C)
Martha Nussbaum, “Veiled Threats?” at:
http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/07/11/veiledthreats/ (skim the “comments”).
discussion sections
Part II: The Promotion of Human Rights
The International Human Rights Regime Donnelly, Chs.
5-7.
Luisa Blanchfield, The United Nations Human Rights
Council: Issues for Congress. Congressional Research
Service (April 2013). (C)
Balakrishnan Rajagopal, “Who Failed Whom?
Assessing the UN’s Human
Rights Efforts,” Audit of the Conventional Wisdom,
MIT Center for International Studies, October 2007.
(C) “Does the U.S. deserve its new seat on the Human
Rights Council?” Colum Lynch, Turtle Bay (blog),
Monday, November 12, 2012.
International and regional human rights regimes (con’t.)
3
2
1
3
2
1
4
The Higher Canadian Institute for Business
and Engineering Technology
Quality Assurance Unit
Course Specification
6
7
8
9
10
Short essay due.
Discussion
Human Rights and Foreign Policy: The United States
and Human RightsDonnelly, pp. 124-135; Ch. 9.
Michael Ignatieff, “Introduction: American
Exceptionalism and Human Rights,” in Ignatieff, ed.,
American Exceptionalism and Human Rights
(Princeton, 2005), pp. 1-26. (C)
Government of China, “Human Rights Record of the
United States in 2012,” at
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/201304/21/c_132327175.htm (skim)
Colum Lynch, “US Subjects its Human Rights Record
to Review by UN Council,” Washington Post,
November 5, 2010. (google)
Human Rights and the Arab Spring
Vera Van Huellen, “The ‘Arab Spring’ and the Spiral
Model: Tunisia and Morocco,” in Risse, Ropp and
Sikkink, The Persistent Power of Human Rights
(Cambridge, 2013), pp. 182-199.
discussion sections
Midterm Exam
Universal Jurisdiction and the International Criminal
Court David Forsyth, “Transitional Justice: Criminal
Courts and Alternatives” in Human Rights in
International Relations (2012), pp. 117-152.
Henry Kissinger, “The Pitfalls of Universal
Jurisdiction,” Foreign Affairs, 80 (July/August 2001).
(C) Kenneth Roth, “The Case for Universal
Jurisdiction,” Foreign Affairs (Sept/Oct. 2001). (C)
David Kaye, “Who’s Afraid of the International
Criminal Court?” Foreign Affairs (May/June 2011).
(C)
Adam Branch, “International Justice, Local Injustice,”
Dissent (Summer 2004). (C) Mahmood Mamdani, “The
New Humanitarian Order?” The Nation, September 29,
2008. (C) Solomon Dersso, “The International
Criminal Court’s Africa Problem,” Al Jazeera, June 11,
2013.David Bosco, “Why is the International Criminal
Court picking only on Africa?” WP Opinions, March
29, 2013
ICC roleplaying
video: The Torture Question (2005)
The Laws of War (go to lecture, no discussion sections
today) Donnelly, Ch. 15, “(Anti)Terrorism and Human
Rights.” Steven Ratner, “The Geneva Conventions:
Think Again,” Foreign Policy (March/April 2008). (C)
Case: The U.S and torture: Iraq, Guantanamo,
3
2
1
3
2
1
3
2
1
3
2
1
5
The Higher Canadian Institute for Business
and Engineering Technology
Quality Assurance Unit
Course Specification
11
12
Afghanistan
David Forsythe, “The United States and International
Humanitarian Law,”
Journal of Human Rights (Jan-Mar 2008). (C)
Torture memos: Gonzales to Bush, Jan. 25, 2002
Powell to White House, Jan. 26, 2002
Taft to Gonzales, Feb. 2, 2002, 1st two pages
Bybee to Gonzales, August 1, 2002, 1st two pages
(To download, google “torture memos new york
times”).
Amitai Etzioni, “Terrorists: Neither Soldiers Nor
Criminals,” Military Review (July/August 2009). (C)
Case: The 2008-09 Gaza War
UN Goldstone Report, read Executive Summary
(September 2009). ( download by googling “Goldstone
report” ). Moshe Halbertal, “The Goldstone Illusion,”
The New Republic, Nov. 6, 2009.C)
Robert Bernstein, “Rights Watchdog, Lost in the Middle
East” New York Times, Oct. 19, 2009.
Kenneth Roth, “Human Rights Watch Applies the Same
Standards to Israel,
Hamas,” Ha’aretz, October 26, 2009.
discussion
Video: Free Trade Slaves (1999)
Donnelly, Ch. 14, “Globalization, the State and Human
Rights.”
Transnational Corporations
Forsythe, “Transnational Corporations and Human
Rights,” in Human Rights in International Relations
(Cambridge, 2012), pp. 277-314. (C) Debora Spar, “The
Spotlight and the Bottom Line: How Multinationals
Export Human Rights,” Foreign Affairs (March/April
1998). (C)
Chris Albin-Lackey, “Without Rules: A Failed
Approach to Corporate
Accountability,” Human Rights Watch, World Report
2013, pp. 29-40.
discussion.
Modern Slavery
[Begin reading A Problem from Hell]
Ethan Kapstein, “The New Global Slave Trade,”
Foreign Affairs (Nov./Dec.2006) (C).
Natasa Kovasevic, “Child Slavery: India’s SelfPerpetuating Dilemma,”
Harvard International Review, Vol. 29, No. 2 (Summer
2007). (C)discussion. Paper topics due (a
paragraph).
Humanitarian Intervention
3
2
1
3
2
1
6
The Higher Canadian Institute for Business
and Engineering Technology
Quality Assurance Unit
Course Specification
13
Genocide power, A Problem From Hell, Chs. 1-5, 7,
10-11, 13-14. (253 pp)
Donnelly, Ch. 13, “Humanitarian Intervention Against
Genocide.”
David Reiff, “The Institution that Saw No Evil,” The
New Republic, Feb. 12, 1996. (C)
discussion
The Responsibility to Protect Alex Bellamy, “R2P Dead or Alive?” in Responsibility to Protect – From
Evasive to Reluctant Action? (Hans Seidel Foundation,
2012), pp. 11-28.
Case: Libya
Jon Western and Joshua S. Goldstein, “Humanitarian
Intervention Comes of Age,” Foreign Affairs (Nov/Dec.
2011).David Rieff, “R2P, R.I.P.” New York Times, Nov.
7, 2011.
Alan J. Kuperman, “A Model Humanitarian
Intervention? Reassessing NATO's
Libya Campaign,” International Security (Summer
2013), Vol. 38, No. 1, pp. 105-136.
Women’s Rights
Are women’s rights human rights?
Hilary Charlesworth, “What are Women’s International
Human Rights?” (1994) (C)
Madhu Mehra, “India’s CEDAW Story,” in Hellum and
Aasen, eds., Women's
Human Rights: CEDAW in International, Regional and
National Law (2013). (C)
George Will, “Another Pose of Rectitude” Newsweek
(2002). (C)
Final Exam
Total Teaching Hours
3
2
1
39
26
12
VI. Teaching and Learning Methods
Teaching/Learning
Method
Lectures & Seminars
Tutorials
Computer lab Sessions
Practical lab Work
Reading Materials
Web-site Searches
Research & Reporting
Problem Solving /
Problem-based Learning
Course ILOs Covered by Method (By ILO Code)
K&U
K11
K11
K11
K11
K11
Intellectual
Skills
Professional
Skills
P7
P7
General
Skills
G1,3
G1,3
G1,3
G1,3
G1,3
7
The Higher Canadian Institute for Business
and Engineering Technology
Quality Assurance Unit
Course Specification
Projects
Independent Work
Group Work
Case Studies
Presentations
Simulation Analysis
K11
K11
K11
P7
P7
P7
G1,3
G1,3
G1,3
K11
P7
G1,3
Others (Specify):
VII. Assessment Methods, Schedule and Grade Distribution
Course ILOs Covered by Method
(By ILO Code)
Assessment
Method
Midterm Exam
Final Exam
Quizzes
Course Work
Report Writing
Case Study
Analysis
Oral
Presentations
Practical
Group Project
Individual Project
K&U
I.S.
K11
K11
K11
K11
K11
P.S.
G.S.
Assessment
Weight /
Percentage
P7
P7
P7
P7
G3
G3
G3
G3
G3
20
50
10
50
-
Week
No.
8
15
2
14
K11
P7
G3
K11
K11
K11
P7
P7
P7
G3
G3
G3
10
10
Others (Specify):
VIII. List of References
Essential Text Books
“Jack Donnelly, International Human Rights (Westview, 2012), 4th
ed.
Mark Danner, The Massacre at El Mozote (Vintage, 1993).
Samantha Power, A Problem From Hell: America and the Age of
Genocide (Harper Perennial, 2003).
Course notes
Recommended books
Periodicals, Web sites,
etc …
Course Management System CMS
IX. Facilities required for teaching and learning
lecture rooms - computers - data show
Course coordinator: Dr. Mohamed Attia
8
The Higher Canadian Institute for Business
and Engineering Technology
Quality Assurance Unit
Course Specification
Head of Department: Associate Professor/ Hamdy Hussien
Date: January 2015
9