International Human Rights (2 credits)
Professor Susan Tiefenbrun and Judge Theodor Meron

This course examines the global human rights movement that grew out of World War II and how international human rights laws, instruments and institutions respond to human rights violations. International human rights include civil and political rights, economic rights, social and cultural rights, women’s rights and children’s rights. These rights are reflected in legal norms, political contexts, moral ideas, international relations and foreign policy. This course uses an interdisciplinary approach to examine the laws and policy of international human rights as applied to all individuals in general and to women in particular. The course reviews applicable international human rights laws, instruments, U.N. treaty organs, regional and international tribunals, and the role of NGOs in the human rights movement. The course analyzes state and international policies, practices, and attitudes in order to understand the causes and consequences of discrimination and abuse perpetrated on individuals. Gender justice and the empowerment of women to facilitate full enjoyment of their human rights, accountability and enforcement is a central theme of the course. Special attention is paid to the universal crime of sex slavery, human trafficking, and rape as a weapon of war in the development of massive human rights violations. Students analyze the rules and standards of contemporary human rights as expressed in states’ constitutions, laws, practices, international treaties, customs, court decisions, investigative reports and recommendations of international institutions, and governmental and non-governmental actors in order to understand the ongoing development of international human rights laws.

Comparative Health Law and Bioethics (2 credits)
Professor Joy Delman

Comparative Law, Medicine and Bioethics covers the right to health as well as access to health care in international law. We will review issues of comparative genetic privacy, disclosure of genetic data, issues in death and dying (including self-determination, aid-in-dying, and euthanasia,) assisted reproduction, in-vitro fertilization, surrogacy, medical decision-making for minors and humans as research subjects. These topics will be examined according to the laws in the U.S. as well as in various European, Asian and South American countries.

Comparative Refugee and Asylum Law (2 credits)
Professor Ilene Durst

At the end of 2008, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees identified 15.2 million persons living as refugees and 827,000 asylum applications pending worldwide. That is 16 million persons who were forced to flee their home countries because of persecution perpetrated or condoned by their government. As these numbers swell, and migration increases at a pace not seen since the early part of the 20th century, international and domestic law governing who is granted protection by countries other than their own becomes more significant. This course addresses international and comparative domestic law governing the migration of refugees. We will examine the current law, policy and procedure in the context of historical, political, social and economic events. Because the legal regime had its birth in international agreements, we will exam the treaties and protocols protecting individual rights and the state’s right to dictate who enters and remains within its borders. We will then compare various nations’ approaches to applying those international precepts. Our inquiry will be guided by whether and how nations respect Elie Wiesel’s teaching that “[w]hen human lives are endangered, when human dignity is in jeopardy, national borders and sensitivities become irrelevant.”

Comparative Antitrust Laws (2 credits)
Professor A. Thomas Golden

This course will present the fundamentals of American Antitrust and European Union Competition law in a comparative context. The course will begin with an introduction to relevant economics and economic theory. It will then address the specific statutory structures in the United States and in the European Union. Finally the course will focus on particular cases that illustrate the differences in practice that exist between the enforcement policies of the two regions.