Philip G. Alston

Courses

• International Human Rights Law

  This course provides a critical overview of international human rights law, taking full account of the challenges to its legitimacy both from actors in the Global South and from many western scholars, and the sustained political attacks on it from a range of countries such as China and Russia, as well as the selective and inconsistent engagement on the part of the United States. The course examines the historical origins of the concept, its international legal underpinnings, and the political and other dynamics that have driven the expansion of the regime, as well as the factors that have undermined or constrained it. The course focuses mainly on the principal international actors operating under the auspices of the United Nations such as the Security Council and the Human Rights Council. It also looks at the work of the expert groups that monitor states’ treaty obligations such as those dealing with civil and political rights, torture, women, and racism, and the key institutional actors such as the UN Secretary-General and the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. The course builds upon specific case studies from around the world and also upon the instructor’s experience in a range of prominent international human rights capacities over more than four decades. In-depth discussions will focus on subjects such as racism, women’s rights, corporate responsibility, climate change, the rights of persons with disabilities, the rights of LGBTI persons, torture, and other issues.