300436 Social Rights and International Organisations (30-M24) (S) (SoSe 2020)

The aim of the seminar is to teach students on global social rights as a constitutive part of global social policy. To this ends, the participants of the seminar read and discuss renowned and recent literature on studies of human rights and international organisations including global social policy, global multi-level governance, network theory and international law approaches. On the basis of these approaches, the participants study the governance of social rights within the UN system (the UN Human Rights Council and treaty bodies), the Council of Europe (the European Court of Human Rights and the European Committee of Social Rights), plus, the cases of international conferences and non-governmental organisations. Finally, the participants explore a number of case studies of global social rights, i. e. right to health, right to food, right to adequate housing, right to education.
After attending the seminar, its participants will have the knowledge about the origins of social rights and their place in the overall thematic structure of global human rights. The attendees will be able to collect and analyse data on social rights from the UN- and Council of Europe related databases. The students will learn about the typology of international organisations, will be able to apply theoretical frameworks to studies of social rights and international organisations. Finally, the participants of the seminar will gain skills and competencies to planning of a research project.
The working language of the seminar is English, the discussions are expected to be in English as well. Students from all world regions and with various disciplinary backgrounds are welcome!