Summer Intensive Curriculum

The University Network for Human Rights summer intensive consists of three main components: classroom seminars, training modules, and real-world human rights advocacy work.

Seminars: Professor James Cavallaro will lead two seminars over the course of the summer. In the first course, students will critically assess the history, growth, and evolution of the global human rights movement. The second course familiarizes students with the legal mechanisms that govern the international human rights system.

Advocacy Seminar: In the space of seventy years, the human rights movement has transformed a utopian ideal into a central element of global discourse. In the last two decades, the relevance of human rights to international relations and domestic governance has grown exponentially. Yet increasingly, core values animating human rights have come under intensifying attacks. This seminar critically examines the growth and practice of the global human rights movement.

We consider the following: What are the origins of the human rights movement? Are these exclusively Western, or has human rights successfully incorporated non-Western perspectives? Has the movement been dominated by elite organizations from the Global North? What is the role of documentation, legal advocacy and social media in human rights advocacy? What are the main challenges and limits facing the human rights movement today?

Mechanisms Seminar: This seminar provides an introduction to the theory and practice of human rights. We will critically examine the international standards, actors, and institutions involved in the promotion and protection of human rights. The seminar considers the primary sources of international human rights norms, as well as leading cases and precedents. We also assess the operations of the oversight mechanisms charged with overseeing compliance with these norms

In particular, we will study the processes of the universal system (United Nations treaty bodies and Human Rights Council mechanisms), as well those of their regional counterparts. While much of what we study involves law, no background in law is necessary.

Training Modules: Professor Cavallaro will be joined by expert human rights practitioners to provide students with hands-on training relevant to various aspects of human rights practice. Through these trainings, students will learn and practice skills that human rights advocates use in the development and execution of their strategic campaigns.

Planned module titles (subject to change):

  • Fact-finding and Documentation: Simulating a Human Rights Crisis

  • Local Journalism and Human Rights

  • Social Media and Communications Strategies: Taking Back the Narrative

  • Photography and Videography for Human Rights

Guest instructors include, among others, (subject to change):

  • Samuel Moyn, Henry R. Luce Professor of Jurisprudence at Yale Law School

  • Maina Kiai, Director of Alliances and Partnerships at Human Rights Watch and Former UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights to Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association

  • Azam Ahmed, New York Times Bureau Chief for Mexico, Central America, and the
    Caribbean

  • Leilani Farha, UN Special Rapporteur on Adequate Housing and Executive Director of
    Canada without Poverty

  • Jamil Dakwar, Director of the Human Rights Program at the American Civil Liberties
    Union (ACLU)

  • Tara Vassefi, Digital Evidence Expert & Digital Consultant for Global Rights Compliance

Human Rights Projects: More information will be made available to accepted students in Spring 2020. To learn about the University Network’s past human rights projects, see our Projects page.