General provisions

Determined on May 7, 2007 by Faculty of Law's Teaching Committee, Uppsala University, by virtue of Chapter 2 Section 5 a of the Higher Education Act and Chapter 6 Section 14 and 15 of the Higher Education Ordinance. The course plan enters into force on July 1, 2007.

In General

The course is 15 university points (15 ECTS credits) and an optional course at advanced level in the studies for the degree of Master of Laws, according to the degree requirements adopted 16 April 2007 by the Board of the Faculty of Law of Uppsala University. The course is held in English.

Entry requirements

The Swedish students are required to have passed all courses, except one, at the basic level of the programme for the Master of Laws degree. All obligatory elements of all courses must have been fulfilled. Exemption from the acceptance requirements may be granted by the board of exemption.

Foreign students should be qualified to study at university level.

Learning outcomes

To give students an understanding of the dynamics of the protection of human rights in an expanding and changing Europe as well as the complexity of the relationship between democracy, human rights and the rule of law.

The students are expected after the conclusion of the course to be able to:

- identify various solutions to legal problems at hand and in addition, apply the relevant international law norms/rules in a qualified manner.

- read and understand international case-law as well as identify the relevant issues in the concrete case

- analyse the human rights norms in a contextual manner, i.e. to apply an ideological perspective.

Content

Some of the specific issues to be dealt with include:

- European institutions

The legal requirements for membership of the Council of Europe and the European Union.

- Council of Europe, the European Union and human rights, and the human rights dimension of the OSSE

The course will provide knowledge on the relevant human rights provisions of the European regional organisations with regard to e.g. freedom of religion, freedom of assembly, children's rights and women's rights.

- Human rights development in some of the new democracies in Europe

The course is also intended to provide inspiration to intensified studies of several issues of present-day democracy, such as the role of democratic institutions and the importance of legal statehood.

- Democracy as an instrument of justice

The recent development in legal theory on democracy and justice shall be explored. It will provide a basis for discussion on development of the scope of human rights. The issue whether human rights can be cultural, social, economical, individual or collective will be in focus here.

- Minority rights as human rights and the indigenous peoples' rights

This section conflates the ideas on international protection of human rights, democracy and justice.

Instruction

A minor part of the teaching will consist of lectures whereas a major part will consist of seminars in which selected topics are analysed and debated.

The students themselves are required to write an essay of about 20 pages. The essay will be discussed thoroughly at the end of the course at the selected topic seminars where the students present and defend their writings. The students are expected to participate in the discussions on the different subjects presented in the papers and every student has to act as opponent to one paper.

Assessment

In order for the students to complete the course they must fulfil the following compulsory requirements:

- All students are required to prepare for and participate actively in all seminars.

- All students are required to complete a written essay and participate actively at the selected topics seminars.

Essays must be the individual work of the student. Cooperation with other students in the writing of essays is not permitted. Where plagiarism or cooperation in the writing of essays is proved, disciplinary measures will be taken in accordance with University rules.

The grades given are Fail (U), and the passing grades Pass (B), Pass with credit (Ba) and Pass with distinction (AB).