Posted: May 28th, 2015

Human Rights in the International System

 

 

 

 

Length: Two 1,000-word responses

Weight: 30%

 

Answer two questions:

One question from part A.

One question from part B.

No References are required unless quotations are used.

 

Questions

 

Part A

 

1) How the European Court of Human Rights has interpreted the European Convention on the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms? What methods have been used in order the Court to encompass situations that were envisaged by the framers of the Convention? Has the Court exceeded its legitimate role of interpretation and has transgressed into the realm of policy-making?

 

2) “The [Inter-American] Court’s [of Human Rights] exercise of contentious jurisdiction infringes on at least two fundamental tenets of Latin American culture. First, Latin Americans share a distrust of authority; second, this distrust escalates when foreign institutions threaten national sovereignty”. (Corberra, 1992-93, taken from e-readings).

Discuss Corberra’s comment, do you agree? If so, why? If not, why not?

 

3) What are the major differences of the African Charter of Human Rights when compared with the European Convention and the American Convention on Human Rights? Do these differences constitute challenges for the African Union as well?

 

4) Under what conditions a minority should be entitled to the right of secession?

 

5) How valid is cultural relativism as a critique to the universal standards of human rights thesis?

 

 

 

Part B

 

1) Why does gender inequality continue to exist when women comprise at least (and usually more than) 50% of the world’s population? Analyse the question in relation to the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women.

 

2) What are the main features of the Genocide Convention that make the treaty an exceptionally important document for international law?

 

3) Analyse and discuss the arguments for and against the use of torture in ‘the war against terrorism’? What are your conclusions?

 

4) When humanitarian intervention is justified? What are the challenges for such operations?

5) Consider the scenario in which interrogators find out that a terrorist suspect in custody knows where a ticking bomb has been planted and must force that information from him to save lives. Is torture an option?

 

 

Guidelines

 

• Two short essays where the focus should be on developing an argument and using your own words. Reference when you use other people’s words – but avoid long quotes. Ensure the introduction clearly sets out your argument/position in respect to the question.

 

• In relation to the first point, further referencing than citations for direct quotes is not necessary. However, if you decide to use references any system of referencing is fine (Harvard is probably the easiest) and references and the bibliography do not count towards the word count. It is OK to have one bibliography for both essays.

 

• Ensure your essay does not contain plagiarised material. Put all direct quotes in quotation marks and use page numbers wherever possible.

 

• Do not cite lecture notes or other people’s posts from our DSO forums. Do not cite generic online encyclopaedias such as Wikipedia, etc.

 

• Essays can be a maximum of 10% over/under the word length.

 

• Submit your essay on time! Late penalties apply.

 

• Please read the marking criteria before planning your essay.

 

 

Marking Criteria

 

What the Assessor will be looking for when marking this assignment:

 

1) Comprehension of Unit Material: ensure that your use of facts is accurate and relevant concepts and theories are examined. Ensure you demonstrate an understanding of the relevant core readings of the unit as a whole.

2) Critical analysis: Your essay must sustain a coherent argument that is supported by giving evidence and reasons. This will require demonstrating careful analysis of other people’s arguments and being critical of the evidence at hand (this may require questioning the assumptions of the material you have read).

3) Relevance to the question: Ensure that the concepts and examples you use, and your argument as a whole, are focused on the question that you are addressing and the argument you are making.

4) Research: ensure that you use a significant amount of research. You should not be overly dependent on web sources – you should ensure that the number of web sources does not exceed your journal articles and books.

5) Clear essay structure: it should possess an introduction that sets out how you are going to answer the question, an essay body that considers evidence and research and then links these to your point of view, and a conclusion that reinforces your position in relation to the question.