Philosophy and Ideology of Human Rights (2020-2022)

NỘI DUNG MÔN HỌC/ COURSE SYLLABUS

NỘI DUNG MÔN HỌC/ COURSE SYLLABUS

1. Mục tiêu đào tạo/ Course Objective

2. Nội dung/ Course objectives

3 Course Schedule /Chương trình

4.  Evaluation and Exam

One academic paper (in Vietnamese or English)                                          20 %

The papers should be between 1500-2000 words.  The paper topic is:

Human rights in practice: Constraints and opportunities for human rights advocacy

Class Participation and                                                                                   15 %   

Group Assignment/Presentation                                                                    15 %

Final written exam                                                                                          50 %.

Syllabus

Lecture 1. Introduction to the course. Basic concepts and principles of human rights

The session is designed to share with students the structure and outlines of the whole course. It will go through the different readings assigned and discuss how to read them. Students are requested to give inputs to the course in this and the subsequent lectures.

The session discusses historical context of the internationally recognized human rights (after 1945) and constraints on contemporary human rights practices. It looks into the nature of human rights and fundamental freedoms: What are human rights? What are the main human rights standards; what are the main ‘human rights ‘principles’?

Readings

• James W. Nickel. Making Sense of Human Rights (second edition) Blackwell Publishing. Ch. 1 (The Contemporary Idea of Human Rights) and ch. 2 (Human Rights as Rights). In total 28pp.

Consult the following websites (e-docs on human rights)

https://www.un.org/en/universal-declaration-human-rights/ [1]

https://www.ohchr.org/documents/publications/handbookparliamentarians.pdf [2]

Supplementary readings

• Symonides, Janusz, Human Rights: Concepts and Standards, UNESCO Publishing, 2000, Chapter 1.
• Hayden, Patrick, The Philosophy of Human Rights, Paragon House & St.Paul, 2001, Chapters 1-3.
• Khoa Luật-Đại học Quốc gia Hà Nội, Giáo trình Lý luận và Pháp luật về quyền con người , NXB CTQG, Hà Nội, 2009.
• Khoa Luật-Đại học Quốc gia Hà Nội Tư tưởng về Quyền con người .  NXB Lao động-Xã hội. 2011
• Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Human Rights Manual, 1998, Chapter 1.

Lecture 2: The historical evolution of human rights before World War 1

This session will discuss the “pre-history” of modern human rights. Rights have existed for a long time in different cultures and societies, often giving important historical foundations for modern human rights. In history, claims to rights and rights protection have been part of social and political struggles for recognition and respect for people`s dignity and decent treatment. Rights have been part of people`s struggle for protecting welfare and better and respectful governance.

Readings

• Thomas Buergenthal, “International Human Rights in an Historical Perspective” in Symonides, Janusz. Human Rights: Concepts and Standards, UNESCO Publishing, 2000. Chapter 1.
• Ilias Bantekas and Lutz Oette. International Human Rights: Law and Practices. Cambridge, 2013. Ch. 1 (“International human rights law and notions of human rights: foundations, achievements and challenges”). 40 pp.

Suggested reading:

• Michelin Ishay, The History of Human Rights: From Ancient Times to the Globalization Era, Berkeley: University of California Press, 2004. Chapter Introduction and chs. 1 (60 pp).

Lecture 3: Human rights and political philosophy: Selected issues

The session will take the students through different political thoughts, including liberalism and socialism. It will discuss how different political ideologies have influenced the understanding and practice of human rights after the II World War. The concept of human rights legitimate claims (claim-rights) will be addressed.

Readings

• Jerome J. Shestak, “The Philosophical Foundations of Human Rights” in Symonides, Janusz, Human Rights: Concepts and Standards, UNESCO Publishing, 2000, Chapter 2.
• James W. Nickel. Making Sense of Human Rights (second edition) Blackwell Publishing. Ch. 1 (“The Contemporary Idea of Human Rights”) and ch. 3 (“Making sense of human rights) and 4 (Starting points for justifying human rights”). In total 35 pp. 
• E-document on Human Rights

Supplementary readings

• Hayden, Patrick, The Philosophy of Human Rights, Paragon House & St.Paul, 2001, Chapters 1-3.
• C.Mác – Ph.Ăng-ghen, Về quyền con người, NXB Chính trị quốc gia, Hà Nội, 1998.
• Phạm Hồng Thái [3], Lưu Kiếm Thanh [4], Lịch sử các học thuyết chính trị trên thế giới, Nxb Văn hóa Thông tin, 2001. (History of political theories in the world)

• John S.Mill, Bàn về Tự do (Nguyễn Văn Trọng dịch và chú giải), NXB Tri thức, 2006 (On Liberty)
• John Locke, Khảo luận thứ hai về chính quyền - Chính quyền Dân sự (T.S. Lê Tuấn Huy dịch), NXB Tri thức, 2007
• James Nickel, Making Sense of Human Rights, Blackwell Publishers, 2007, pp 7-189 (182 pp). Philip Alston [5], Ryan Goodman [6] và Henry J. Steiner [7], International Human Rights in Context: Law, Politics, Morals, Oxford University Press, 3rd edition, 2007.

Lecture 4: Human rights and political philosophy: Selected issues, including debates about universality and relativism of human rights

In this session, students are invited to pose any question that they may seek for clarifications on the first three sessions. They may provide the questions before hand or ask in the class. They are requested to come up with their own understanding and look into the on-going debates on universality and relativisms especially the Asian values debates. The session will also try to look into the current conceptual differences in Asia when compared with the rest of the world.

Readings

• Jack Donnelly, ‘The relative universality of Human Rights’, Human Rights Quarterly 29, 2007, pp 89-103 (14 pp).
• Jack Donnelly, ‘Both universal and relative. A reply to Goodhart’, Human Rights Quarterly 30, 2008, pp 194-204 (20 pp).
• Michael Goodhart, ‘Neither relative nor universal. A response to Donnelly’, Human Rights Quarterly 30, 2008, pp 183-193 (10 pp).

Lecture 5:  Third generation of rights and its debate

This session emphasizes that human rights are reflexive to social problems and challenges; new problems may require dynamic rights responses. The right to development, the right to peace and the right to a healthy and sustainable environment are illustration on such responses. Students are requested to present examples on so-called third generation rights problems (poverty, climate change, peace and security) and reflect on how these issues can be framed as human rights issues.

Readings

• Ilias Bantekas and Lutz Oette. International Human Rights: Law and Practices. Cambridge, 2013. Ch. 12 (“The right to development, poverty and related rights”). 36 pp.

Seminar 1 Human rights in context: Constraints and opportunities for human rights practices

In this webinar, students are presenting cases of human rights advocacy in Vietnam and other countries on their own choosing. Students may work together in groups to prepare presentations in class. As a reference reading, they should consult the following text: Ilias Bantekas and Lutz Oette. International Human Rights: Law and Practices. Cambridge, 2013. Ch. 3 (Human rights in practice).

Lecture 6: Legal theories of human rights

The session discusses the legal concept/theories of human rights. It will trace the concepts of natural rights and its development into international law. The session will examine a case of right to food, legal philosophy and principles of international laws.

Readings

• Felix Ekardt, Human Rights, the Right to Food, Legal Philosophy, and General Principles of International Law (paper provided)
• Mark Searl, A Normative Theory of International Law Based on New Natural Law Theory, A thesis submitted to the Department of Law of the London School of Economics for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy
• London, September 2014 (read Chapter 4 – pp.131-173) (paper provided).

Recommended readings

• The UNESCO Courier, Human rights : Back to the future, October-December 2018, pp.7-10, ,

• Meckled-Garcia, Saladin and Basak Cali, (eds), The Legalization of Human Rights, Routledge, 2006 Introduction, Chapter 1, 2
• Todd Landman, Studying Human Rights, Routledge, London & New York, 2006. Chapter 3,5,8
• Montesquieu [8], Bàn về tinh thần pháp luật (Hoàng Thanh Đạm dịch, NXB Lý luận Chính trị, 2004
• Jean-Jacques Rousseau, [9]Bàn về Khế ước Xã hội (Hoàng Thanh Đạm dịch), NXB Lý luận Chính trị, 2004.

Lecture 7: Human Rights and religions

The session addresses the issues of human rights seen from different religions and how religions impact the understanding and practices of human rights in different societies.

Readings

• John White, Jr., Law, religion, and human rights, Columbia Human Rights Law Review, Vol.28, No.1, Fall 1996 (paper provided)
• Dipti Patel, The religious foundations of human rights :A perspective from Judeo-Christian tradition and Hindusim (paper provided)
• Valentine Zuber, Are human rights religious origins?, International Journal on Human Rights, SUR 29 - v.16 n.29 • 17 - 31 | 2019 (paper provided)
• Uttamkumars Badge, Eseential elements of human rights in Buddhism, Journal of Law and Conflict Resolution, (Review), Vol.6(2), pp.32-38, May 2014. (paper provided).

Recommended readings

•  Hayden, Patrick, The Philosophy of Human Rights, Paragon House & St.Paul,

2001, Chapter 4.

• IDHC (ed.). Religion and human rights: Towards a culture of coexistence, Materials of Peace and Human Rights, 20, December 2010, Chapter 1 (pp. 10-19). Available at : http://www.gencat.cat/governacio/pub/sum/dgrip/MPDH_20_eng.pdf [10]

Lecture 8: Development of Human Rights since the 2nd World War

The idea of human rights emerged explicitly after the WWII. This session discusses the formation of human rights after the WWII. It looks at the development of the Bill of rights and the development of international human rights framework.

Readings:

• David P. Forsythe, Human rights in International Relations, Cambridge University Press, 2006 (2nd edition).
• S. İlgü Özler, The Universal Declaration of Human Rights at Seventy: Progress and Challenges, Ethics and International Affairs, Carnegy Council, December 2018. Available at: https://www.ethicsandinternationalaffairs.org/2018/udhr-at-seventy-progress-and-challenges/ [11]
• M. Cherif Bassiouni, The Future of Human Rights in the Age of Globalization, Denver Journal of International Law & Policy ,Volume 40 Number 1 40th Anniversary Edition , 6 April 2020, https://digitalcommons.du.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1138&context=djilp [12]

Recommended readings

• Human Rights in the Twenty-first Century, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, 1992.

Lecture 9 : First and second generations of rights and its challenges

The session will examine the concepts of ‘generations’ of rights. It will also looks at the development of the two generations of rights including political and civil rights, economic, social and cultural rights, in particular.  

Readings

• Spasimir Domaradzki, Margaryta Khvostova and  David Pupovac, Karel Vasak’s Generations of Rights and the Contemporary Human Rights Discourse (paper to be provided).   
• Mark Tushnet, A Dossier on taxonomy of generations of rights, Journal of Institutional Studies 2 (2016), file:///C:/Users/Admin/AppData/Local/Temp/77-341-1-PB.pdf
• Fausto Pocar, Some thoughts on the Universal declaration of human rights and the ‘generations’ of human rights, https://www.stu.edu/Portals/law/docs/human-rights/ihrlr/volumes/10/10-3%20Pocar.pdf [13]

Recommended readings

•  Symonides, Janusz, Human Rights Concepts and Standards, UNESCO Publishing, 2000, Chapters 4-5.

Lecture 10:  Human rights concepts in Asia and debates  

The session addresses human rights concepts as advanced in Asia/SEA. It examines how Asian regional contexts define human rights concepts and practice in Asia.

Readings

• Sen, Amartya, Human Rights and Asian values, 16th Morgenthau memorial lecture on Ethics & Foreign Policy, 1997.
• Aristoteles Constantinides, Questioning the Universal Relevance of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Cuadernos Constitucionales de la Cátedra Fadrique Furió Ceriol nº 62/63, pp. 49-63
• Akio Kawamura, Human Rights and the 'Asian' Perspective, HURIGHTS OSAKA, FOCUS December 1997 Volume 10, https://www.hurights.or.jp/archives/focus/section2/1997/12/human-rights-and-the-asian-perspective.html [14]

Recommended readings:

• FIDH, Dymystifying human rights protection in Asia, Background paper, https://www.fidh.org/IMG/pdf/asie669anglaisbassdef.pdf [15] (Chapter 1 in particular)
• De Bary, Theodore and Tu Weiming, (eds.), Confucianism and human rights, Columbia University Press, 1998.
• Leena Evonius and Damien Kingsbury (ed.), Human Rights in Asia, A Reassessment of the Asian Values Debate. Palgrave Macmillan. 2008

Seminar 2: As suggested by lecturer

Students are suggested to identify a few issues relating to some sessions that they are interested. The presentations may be done in group works. Issues may include, to name a few, 1) will there be 4^th generation of rights and which one?; 2) Asian values and protection of human rights in SEA/Asia; 3) Are religions conducive to equality – an examination of the rights of women or LGBT groups.

Student presentations and Final Wrap up comments on paper/mock exam

Facilitated by teaching assistant