UNIVERSITY OF LODZ
FACULTY OF INTERNATIONAL AND POLITICAL STUDIES
Course title
Code in USOS
International Protection of Human Rights
1300-D2P0017
Language
Semester
Number of hours
ECTS
Course type
English
Winter
30
3
Lecture
Level Master
Instructor’s name Dr. Aleksandra M. Różalska
Instructor’s e-mail rozalska@uni.lodz.pl
Course objectives One of the important questions to be investigated during these lectures is: are human rights universal?, Is there one regime of human rights or perhaps there exists several culturally, ethnically, and nationally diverse regimes? Therefore, the focus of this course is on western and non-western approaches to human rights. It also presents the international legal framework for human rights with a particular emphasis on basic principles such as equality, non-discrimination, freedom, integrity, and dignity embedded in various international agreements and conventions.
The lectures will cover the development of the human rights concept from historical and philosophical perspective as well as the institutionalization of human rights after WWII and the establishment of a United Nation system to protect them. I would like to initiate discussion on, among others, the role of non-governmental organizations, the concept of non-discrimination, and the universality of human rights.
After completing the course students will have the knowledge of:
1) Global and local systems of human rights protection.
2) Historical and philosophical backgrounds for the idea of human rights.
3) The history and contemporary challenges for women’s rights worldwide.
4) Universalist and cultural relativist approaches to the idea of human rights.
5) Non-western conceptions of human rights protection.
6) The role of the non-governmental organizations in human rights protection
After completing the course students will be able to:
1) Identify the main human rights violations in the contemporary world.
2) Deconstruct gendered aspects of human rights violations.
3) Elaborate on the universal system of human rights protection, its weaknesses and strengths
4) Give examples of international community’s interventions to protect human rights.
5) Identify the regions of notorious human rights violations
After completing the course students will be able to:
1) Identify the complexities of children’s rights protection.

Course description
(contents)
Textbooks
2) Evaluate the international community’s engagement in humanitarian intervention and in prosecuting of crimes against humanity.
1) INTRODUCTION TO THE COURSE. REQUIREMENTS &
EXPECTATIONS
2) HUMAN RIGHTS: BASIC TERMS, DEFINITIONS, ORIGINS
3) HISTORICAL AND PHILOSOPHICAL BACKGROUND OF THE
IDEA OF HR (1)
4) HISTORICAL AND PHILOSOPHICAL BACKGROUND OF THE
IDEA OF HR (2)
5) THE UNITED NATION HUMAN RIGHTS SYSTEM
6) EUROPEAN HUMAN RIGHTS SYSTEM
7) NON-WESTERN CONCEPTIONS OF HUMAN RIGHTS
8) WOMEN’S RIGHTS
9) CHILD’S RIGHTS
10) HR IN INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
11) HUMANITARIAN INTERVENTIONS
12) INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURTS AND TRIBUNALS
13) NON-GOVERNMENTAL AND GRASSROOT
ORGANIZATIONS IN HR PROTECTION
14) UNIVERSAL HR? HUMAN RIGHTS AND CULTURAL
RELATIVISM
15) CONTEMPORARY CHALLENGES TO THE EXISTING
SYSTEM OF HR PROTECTION
1. Jack Connelly, Universal Human Rights in Theory and Practice,
Cornell University Press: Ithaca/London 2002.
2. David P. Forsythe, Human Rights in International Relations,
Cambridge University Press: Cambridge 2006.
3. Andrea Cornwall and Maxine Molyneux (eds.), The Politics of
Rights, Routledge: London/New York 2008.
4. Marjorie Agosin (ed.)., Women, Gender, and Human Rights: A
Global Perspective, Rutgers University Press: New Brunswick 2002.
5. Mariusz Jabłoński, Sylwia Jarosz-Żukowska, Prawa człowieka i systemy ich ochrony, Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Wrocławskiego:
Wrocław 2004.
6. Agnieszka Florczak, Bartosz Bolechów (eds.), Prawa człowieka a stosunki międzynarodowe, Wydawnictwo Adam Marszałek, Toruń
2006.
7. Wiktor Osiatyński, Prawa człowieka i ich granice, ZNAK, Kraków
2011.
Assessment criteria Final exam (100%)