Guide to the exam of Human Rights and EU Policies for students attending class
Professor Alessandra Mignolli
I. Introduction to the International Law of human rights. Text: United Nations, The United Nations
Human Rights Treaty System, 2012 a. The development of HR law after the Second World War. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948. Universal and regional system of protection of HR. b. General characters of HR: universality, indivisibility. Generations of HR: fundamental civil rights, economic and social rights, sustainable development rights. The principle of non-discrimination. c. The most important United Nations Conventions on HR: international Convention on the elimination of all forms of racial discrimination (1965); International bill of HR (Covenant on civil and political rights and Covenant on economic and social rights, 1966); Convention on the elimination of all forms of discrimination against women (1979); Convention against torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment (1984); Convention on the rights of the child (1989); Convention on the protection of the rights of all migrant workers and members of their families (1990); Convention on the rights of persons with disabilities (2006); Convention for the protection of all persons from enforced disappearance (2006). d. Implementation of HR treaties. The role of the treaty bodies.
II. Regional dimension of HR. The American, African, Asian, Middle Eastern and Islamic HR systems
(outline). The European Convention on HR.
III. The European Union. Text: The ABC of EU Law. a. The EU as an evolutionary process. From the Treaties of Paris and Rome to the Lisbon Treaty b. The fundamental values of European integration c. Institutions, powers and competencies of the EU d. The legal order of the EU: the legal sources; the Union’s acts; the legislative process; the system of judicial protection e. Autonomy, interaction and conflict between EU and national law. The Van Gend en Loos, Costa-Enel and Simmenthal cases.
IV. HR in the EU legal system. Text: ABC of EU Law + lessons a. The development of HR in European integration through the case-law of the Court of justice: HR as general principles of EU law. b. The Charter of fundamental rights of the EU c. The problem of accession of the EU to the European Convention of HR
V. The external action of the EU. Text: Cardwell, EU External Relations Law and Policy in the Post-
Lisbon Era, 2012 + lessons a. The development of external competences: the ERTA case, 1/76 opinion and the principle of parallelism between internal and external competences.

b. The role of the institutions in the external action. Common foreign and security policies and other areas of external action. The High representative and the European external action service. c. The role of the Court of justice and the problem of economic sanctions against States and individuals.
The Kadi case.
VI. The EU’s role in the promotion of HR in third countries. The mechanism of democratic
conditionality. Text: Bartels, Human Rights and sustainable development obligations in EU free trade
agreements + lessons a. The evolution of the common commercial policy of the Union. Relations with the GATT/WTO b. Trade agreements and trade clauses in development cooperation agreements c. The mechanisms of preferential non-reciprocal commercial treatment for developing countries and conflicts with the GATT/WTO system for the relations EU/ACP countries d. From the Lomé Conventions to the Cotonou agreement and beyond. The bananas case and the new
Economic Partnership Agreements. e. The generalized system of preferences. f. The use of trade legal instruments for non-commercial purposes: the case of torture goods, diamonds, drugs precursors, firearms, timber. g. European Aid to development. The systems for financing development projects in third countries.
The 2014 package of regulations on financing the external action. The monitoring of HR, democracy, transparency and accountability requirements. h. The EU’s contribution to the establishment and implementation of the International Criminal Court.
VII. The EU policy of migration and asylum (text: Vitiello lesson)