The Master of Laws (LL.M) in Human Rights Advocacy, offered jointly by the University Network for Human Rights and NOVA School of Law, provides students with a multidisciplinary understanding of human rights standards and their application to social conflict, and equips them to challenge abusive conduct by diverse sets of actors. The program combines rigorous study with hands-on training and engagement in human rights practice under the supervision of experienced, reflective advocates.
The program consists of three semesters over one full year. The first semester involves study of human rights standards with faculty from NOVA School of Law. The second semester brings a range of globally recognized scholars and activists to campus for intensive, week-long modules. in this semester. Students will have the opportunity to interact closely with leading thinkers and practitioners in human rights. The third semester comprises a full-time clinic that includes a human rights simulation training and close, supervised work with communities challenging rights abuses.
The LL.M will provide students with an immersive experience in the study and practice of human rights that, to date, has been available only in limited and legalistic form at law school human rights clinics. While the program will cover the normative and legal framework of human rights, students need not have university training in law to participate.
In the field of human rights today, the skills required for effective human rights defense include a blend of legal training in the law of human rights, fact-finding and documentation expertise, advocacy through campaigns in traditional and social media, grassroots organization, and other non-legal methods. Unlike in other graduate human rights programs, students enrolled in this LL.M will have the unparalleled opportunity to sharpen these skills by engaging in supervised, practical work.
Central and unique features of this LL.M program are UNHR’s Human Rights Simulation Exercise, followed by supervised travel and field work with partners fighting rights abuses. The simulation exercise places students in a controlled, scripted situation of conflict and violations, exposing them to, and empowering them to avoid common pitfalls and challenges in international human rights practice, including cultural insensitivity, re-traumatization, and the endangerment of witnesses in high-risk situations.
Once they have completed the Human Rights Simulation Exercise, students begin work with partner communities. They are given background preparation materials before traveling to apply what they’ve learned in projects on the ground. Working closely with their supervisor, students participate in meetings and interviews with local rights activists, abuse victims, authorities, and other stakeholders. They also visit sites of past, ongoing, and potential violations, and conduct other forms of field investigation.
The combination of instruction and practicum provides a unique space for both current and future practitioners to study, and then apply, theory, methodology, and novel approaches to advance human rights.
This program is taught in English.
A student can complete a year of additional studies at NOVA School of Law after this LL.M program to earn a Masters in Law with a Specialization in European and International Law. The additional year would include Methodology of Legal Research (6 ECTS) and a written thesis.
Coordination
Francisco Pereira Coutinho, Professor, NOVA School of Law
James (Jim) Cavallaro, UNHR & Visiting Professor, Yale & Professor, Wesleyan University
Aua Baldé, Professor, UNHR, Catholic University of Portugal, Chair, United Nations Working Group on Enforced and Involuntary Disappearances
Nausica Palazzo, Assistant Professor, NOVA School of Law
Goals
The overarching goal of the program is to equip the next generation of advocates with a thorough understanding of human rights standards and norms, as well as the essential skills needed to work with affected communities. Students in the program will:
Develop a strong foundation in the philosophical grounding, legal and governance theory, and doctrine undergirding human rights and human rights law.
Combine the study of human rights with reflective engagement in humanities, social sciences, and focus in choice of human rights specialization.
Build interviewing and analytical skills in a situation of conflict (further developed through the Simulation Exercise), avoiding common pitfalls associated with international human rights practice, including cultural insensitivity, re-traumatization, and the endangerment of witnesses in high-risk situations.
Sharpen non-legal methods of human rights defense and promotion, including fact-finding and documentation, advocacy through campaigns in traditional and social media, grassroots organization, amongst others.
Learn to think strategically while designing advocacy campaigns to reach community goals.
Target Applicant
Ideal candidates for this program are current and future advocates who wish to deepen their understanding of human rights mechanisms and sharpen their hands-on skills working with affected communities facing rights abuse.
While the program will cover the normative and legal framework of human rights, students need not have university training in law to participate.
Timetable
This course is taught during working hours.
Curricular Plan
The program includes three semesters:
One full semester (fall) of coursework at NOVA School of Law, with courses taught by NOVA School of Law professors and others invited by NOVA School of Law;
One full semester (spring) of modules taught by invited experts;
One full semester (summer) of clinical work (including simulation training, factfinding and documentation under close supervision).
Human Rights Standards, First Semester (Sept.-Dec.):
Courses include:
International Systems for the Protection of Human Rights, 6 ECTS
The European Human Rights System, 4 ECTS
Transitional Justice, 4 ECTS
International Humanitarian Law, 6 ECTS
Comparative Equality Law, 6 ECTS
Business, Human Rights and Sustainability, 4 ECTS
Students will choose four courses from among those offered.
Modules with Experts, Second Semester (Feb.-May):
This semester is coordinated through the full-time course, Topics in Human Rights Practice I, 10 ECTS (spring). This course highlights expert practitioners who spend one week teaching modules in their areas of expertise. Week-long modules include:
Topics in Human Rights Practice I, 10 ECTS
Topics in Human Rights Practice II, 10 ECTS
Extreme Poverty and Human Rights, Philip Alston, NYU
Race, Racism, Human Rights and Social Justice, Ed Telles, University of California, Irvine
The Laws of War: A Critical Understanding, Samuel Moyn, Yale
Housing as a Human Right, Leilani Farha, former UN Special Rapporteur on Housing
Investment Law, Trade Law and Human Rights, Sergio Puig, European University Institute/University of Arizona
Literature and Human Rights, David Palumbo-Liu, Stanford University
Designing and Implementing Human Rights Projects and Advocacy Campaigns, Ruhan Nagra, University of Utah
The United Nations Special Mechanisms, Aua Baldé, UN WGEID and Catholic University of Lisbon
Practicum (or Clinic), Summer Semester (June-Aug.):
The third semester (summer) is the Practicum, overseen by the University Network for Human Rights. This semester will involve at least 365 hours of supervised work by students in the LL.M program (over the course of the academic year, to a limited extent) and, primarily, in the weeks immediately following the completion of coursework (the summer following the academic year).
The Human Rights Simulation Exercise
Over the course of the last two decades, University Network Director Jim Cavallaro and colleagues (including Stephan Sonnenberg, Ruhan Nagra, and others) have developed a unique fieldwork simulation training program. First employed when Cavallaro directed Harvard Law School’s International Human Rights Clinic and then expanded when he moved to Stanford Law School, this multi-day training exercise teaches students key fact-finding skills (interviewing, use of translators, documentation).
The exercise places students in a simulated situation of conflict, helping them avoid common pitfalls associated with international human rights practice, including cultural insensitivity, re-traumatization, and the endangerment of witnesses in high-risk situations.
The simulation exercise involves 40 to 50 actors (trained to play a range of roles in a situation of conflict/rights abuse) in a fully-immersive experience in which teams of two or three students gather information through interviews and other fact-finding methods. Student researchers interview actors cast as villagers, community activists, rebels, soldiers, ministers, journalists, and others to piece together an understanding of a complex situation of conflict or rights abuse. Students then engage in simulated advocacy sessions, including TV/radio interviews and presentations before officials and international fora. The UNHR team of supervisors and actors provide students with extensive feedback on their performance in each element of the simulation. This method of training has been replicated by law school clinics around the United States.
Supervised engagement in human rights advocacy
After completing the Introduction to Human Rights Advocacy course and Human Rights Simulation Exercise, through the clinical program, students are eligible to participate in supervised fact-finding trips to work with a partner community facing rights abuse. The Practicum/Fieldwork involves significant, intensive, pre-travel study prior to departure. In addition to the materials in the advocacy seminar, the simulation exercise, and the relevant modules, students are given background materials to prepare them for travel to work with the affected partner community.
Thus, students review substantive materials on the country and region in which their fact-finding and documentation will occur, as well as documentation related to the specific human rights project. This ordinarily involves texts (academic, human rights reports and journalistic), as well as video and audio files. When relevant, students may meet with speakers, activists or community members knowledgeable in a given situation. After several seminar sessions to discuss these readings, students travel in small groups with a supervisor (from the University Network for Human Rights) to the project site. Once at that locale, students work closely with their supervisor, participating in meetings with local rights activists, authorities, and stakeholders, as well as visiting sites of rights abuse or potential abuse. With close supervision, students interview victims, witnesses, and other stakeholders and gather information from other sources. On return to campus, students process interview notes and meet in a seminar format with their supervisors and peers to debrief and discuss the trip, the fact-finding and documentation process, and next steps, including advocacy strategy. In the weeks immediately following their travel, students continue to work with their supervisor on their advocacy projects.
Tuition and Fees
2025/2026
€12.300 to the University Network for Human Rights
€3.500 to NOVA School of Law
Tuition fees are annual and due in full upon enrollment in the course. Payment in installments is allowed for students as well.
In the case of withdrawal from the course, the amounts already paid are not refundable. The remaining tuition fee payments due for the academic year to which the application relates must also be paid.
Refund of the tuition fee is only possible where the previous course has not been completed by September, and is conditioned by its completion. In this case, the applicant must give proof of the situation through a declaration from the home institution, before the end of September. Amounts other than tuition fees (fees, school insurance and administrative costs) are not refundable.
Scholarships are available based on merit.
Applications
Target Applicant
Ideal candidates for this program are current and future advocates who wish to deepen their understanding of human rights mechanisms and sharpen their hands-on skills working with affected communities facing rights abuse.
While the program will cover the normative and legal framework of human rights, students need not have university training in law to participate.
Application Materials
Please send the below application materials to applications@humanrightsnetwork.org with the subject line “LL.M. Human Rights Advocacy Application” in order to apply. Attach all documents in PDF format. Incomplete applications will not be considered.
Statement of Purpose (500 words maximum)
Resume/CV
Academic Transcript(s)
Two (2) letters of reference
Rolling admissions beginning 1 October 2024.