INTL 4620 - Human Rights and Humanitarianism

What is on this page?

Announcements

Special events or notices

Handouts

Course syllabus & paper handouts

Lecture guides

Lecture outlines, recommended additional reading, etc.

Links

General list of helpful links

Announcements

Handouts

• Syllabus
• Paper assignment
• Instructions for writing papers

Lecture outlines

Human Rights in Theory

Aug. 20: Human Rights as Politics

lecture outline.

Aug. 25: Human Rights as Idolatry

lecture outline.

Aug. 27: Different Ways of Thinking about Human Rights

lecture outline.

Sept. 1: Human Rights (Standards) in International Relations

lecture outline.

Sept. 3: Movie: Foot Soldier for Equal Justice

biography of Horace Ward, the subject of the movie.

Sept. 8: Economic and Social Rights

lecture outline.

Sept. 10: Competing Human Rights Priorities

lecture outline.

Sept. 15: The Universality of Human Rights?

lecture outline.

Additional reading / watching

• Foot Soldier for Equal Justice has a second part. It can be watched in the UGA library (basement media department).

Human Rights in Politics and Practice

Sept. 22: The Political Power of Human Rights

lecture outline.

Sept. 24: The Political Power of Civil Rights?

lecture outline.
Website of the Moore's Ford Memorial Committee.

Sept. 29: The Political Power of a Word: Genocide

lecture outline.
Short videoclip of Raphael Lemkin talking about genocide.

Oct. 1: The Political Power of a Word: Torture

lecture outline.
Short videoclip of Matt Lauer questioning Bush on torture

Oct. 6: NGOs and the Protection of Human Rights

lecture outline.

Oct. 8: Transnational Corporations and Human Rights

lecture outline.
Website of the UN Global Compact.
Interesting website of some major critics of the Global Compact

Oct. 13: Transititional Justice and Human Rights

lecture outline.
Some articles on transitional justice in the U.S. from earlier this year: "The Case for Establishing a Truth Commission" (Democracy Now!, March 6); "Congress inches toward 'truth commission' for torture probe" (Christian Science Monitor, May 13); George will calls for a truth commission" (August 30)

Oct. 15: The International Criminal Court

lecture outline.
The website of the ICC, with a list of states that are parties to the ICC.
Note that they have video streaming of their hearings; a "confirmation of charges" hearing in the Abu Garda case (Darfur) begins Oct. 19 and is expected to last until Oct. 30.
Riz Khan interview with Moreno-Ocampo on the Darfur case: part 1, part 2.
Riz Khan interview with Moreno-Ocampo on the Gaza conflict (first 8+ minutes) & the Bashir (Sudan) indictment (remainder of interview): part 1, part 2.

Oct. 20: The Political Power of Human Rights, Revisited

lecture outline.

Genocide & Refugee Crises

Oct. 27: Genocide, Refugees, Humanitarianism: Introduction

lecture outline.
Frontline documentary on Darfur: On Our Watch.
Video streaming of Karadzic trial available here (links on left side of page)

Oct. 29 Cambodia: Genocide

lecture outline.
Short documentary on the issue of trying those responsible for the Cambodian genocide: here (on Youtube).
Also: interview with Pol Pot - part 1 and part 2.

Nov. 3: Cambodia: Refugees

lecture outline.
Documentary about Cambodian refugees from 1991/1993: part 1 and part 2.

Nov. 5: Rwanda: Genocide

lecture outline.
Excellent PBS Frontline documentary on the Genocide: Ghosts of Rwanda
(In addition to the documentary itself, the interview with Fergal Keane, also on the video page, is well worth watching).
Two Journeyman Pictures documentaries:
- from the immediate aftermath, as the RPF moved towards Kigali
- examining the effort to bring perpetrators to justice afterwards.

Nov. 10: Rwanda: Refugees

lecture outline.
Some short videos about the current refugee crisis in the Congo:
- Al Jazeera overview of the situation
- about a recent visit by the UN HCR, Antonio Guterres
- about efforts to maintain lists of IDPs as they flee from one camp to another
- showing a refugee camp in the aftermath of a lotting
- about problems maintaining security in the camps
Some additional reading:
- Article in the New York Times about the looting of Congo's minerals
- Website of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), including excellent, up-to-date maps of the conflict

Nov. 12: Darfur: Genocide and Refugees

lecture outline.
Satellite images of destruction & refugee camps at the height of the conflict in 2004.
More up-to-date images, through Google Earth.

Child Warriors & Slavery

Nov. 17: Child Labor, Child Slavery, Child Soldiers

lecture outline.
Short videos about child soldiers:
- UNICEF video about Paris Commitments
- Forced recruitment in Colombia
- Child soldiers in Congo
- Former Congolese girl soldier addresses UN
- Child soldiers in Sudan (Darfur)

Nov. 19: Child Soldiers: Causes & Prevention

lecture outline.

Dec. 1: Child Soldiers: Justice & Rehabilitation

lecture outline.

Looking Forward

Dec. 3: Human Rights Issues Today

Readings:
- Foreword to Amnesty International's 2009 Report (read pp. 5-17 only).
- Introduction to Human Rights Watch's 2009 report.
- CNN story on Obama's human rights policy (also watch the video).
lecture outline.

General recommended links

Excellent general information on international politics

• The Financial Times
• The Economist
• Foreign Policy Magazine
• Foreign Affairs Magazine

Human Rights

• Human Rights Watch
• Amnesty International
• United Nations Human Rights page
• The Save Darfur coalition

Resources for essay writing

• UGA writing center
• See also the useful writing resources at Princeton's writing center, which has a number of helpful handouts on developing an argument, revising, writing an introduction, etc.