This course explores the origins, principles, and applications of human rights and humanitarian law, providing participants with a framework for understanding the legal aspects of delivering humanitarian assistance. It introduces applicable conventions and protocols, explores ways through which the law can enhance humanitarian assistance, and gives students an opportunity to analyze case studies and develop a thorough understanding of the applicability of human rights and humanitarian law to their daily work. This integration of academia with the participants’ field experience provides practical implications of this ever-evolving field. The aim of the course is to enhance students’ ability to monitor violations of respective rights and determine effective ways of advocacy, while also integrating international norms and standards into their individual field of work.
Topics covered include: Human Rights Law (Introduction, history, concepts, (non-) state actors; civil, cultural, economic, political and social rights, child rights); Tools for Humanitarian workers (Natural Disasters and Human Rights); Humanitarian Law (Introduction, history, Geneva Law, The Hague Law, rules of engagement, combatant status, determining conflicts); The Human Rights based approach (integrating a human rights based approach into programming and projects), Human Rights monitoring and advocacy; The Right to Humanitarian Assistance (legal concepts and current developments); Humanitarian Intervention and the responsibility to protect; International Criminal Law (History, concepts, tribunals and the ICC, practical implications for humanitarian workers); International Disaster Response Law.
This course is a week-long elective course for the IDOHA module of the MIHA. If interested in pursuing the MIHA, please apply here.
To take this course individually, independent of the Masters, follow this link.
