General Course Information
1.1 Course details
| Course code: | LLAW6068 |
| Course name: | Human Rights: History, Theory and Politics |
| Programme offered under: | LLM Programme |
| Semester: | Second |
| Prerequisites / Co-requisites: | No |
| Credit point value: | 9 credit |
| Remarks: | Only for LLM(HR) students |
1.2 Course description
The field of human rights remains dynamic, with emerging social movements and competing conceptions of justice reshaping what is plausibly understood what people can plausibly demand as human rights. This course considers persistent and emerging debates in the field, building on traditional human rights frameworks to consider the utility and promise of human rights as a vehicle for transformation in the present day. The course investigates lasting questions of what it means for something to be understood as a human right, looking at philosophical, political, and cultural debates about the nature of human rights in legal and social systems. It also examines questions surrounding the institutionalization and mobilization of rights, their limitations, and the efficacy of mechanisms and strategies used to ensure that rights have meaning for the people who hold them.
1.3 Course teachers
| Name | E-mail address | Office | Consultation | |
| Course convenor | Stefano Osella | osella@hku.hk | CCT 504 | By email |
Learning Outcomes
2.1 Course Learning Outcomes (CLOs) for this course
CLO 1 Articulate different theoretical and historical foundations for human rights.
CLO 2 Assess the promise and limitations of different strategies for enforcing or guaranteeing human rights.
CLO 3 Situate human rights movements within a wider framework of international, regional, and national governance.
CLO 4 Apply human rights frameworks to emerging social and political crises.
CLO 5 Identify ways to determine the success or failure of human rights as a tool for achieving change.
2.2 LLM and JD Programme Learning Outcomes (PLOs)
Please refer to the following link:
LLM – https://course.law.hku.hk/llm-plo/
2.3 Programme Learning Outcomes to be achieved in this course
| PLO A | PLO B | PLO C | PLO D | PLO E | PLO F | |
| CLO 1 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| CLO 2 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| CLO 3 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| CLO 4 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| CLO 5 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
Assessment(s)
3.1 Assessment Summary
| Assessment task | Due date | Weighting | Feedback method* | Course learning outcomes |
| To be advise | TBC | 100% | 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 |
| *Feedback method (to be determined by course teacher) | |
| 1 | A general course report to be disseminated through Moodle |
| 2 | Individual feedback to be disseminated by email / through Moodle |
| 3 | Individual review meeting upon appointment |
| 4 | Group review meeting |
| 5 | In-class verbal feedback |
3.2 Assessment Detail
The final paper will be a research paper of approximately 15-20 pages, responding to prompts provided by the instructor or a topic of the student’s choosing approved by the instructor.
Each student will write three response papers over the course of the semester, which should critically engage with the readings and concepts for the relevant week. The papers will be shared with the class in advance of our class session, and students are expected to read them to provide a partial basis for class discussion.
3.3 Grading Criteria
Please refer to the following link: https://www.law.hku.hk/_files/law_programme_grade_descriptors.pdf
Learning Activities
4.1 Learning Activity Plan
| Seminar: | 3 hours / week for 11 teaching weeks |
| Private study time: | 9.5 hours / week for 11 teaching weeks |
Remarks: the normative student study load per credit unit is 25 ± 5 hours (ie. 150 ± 30 hours for a 6-credit course), which includes all learning activities and experiences within and outside of classroom, and any assessment task and examinations and associated preparations.
4.2 Details of Learning Activities
To be advised by the convenor.
Learning Resources
5.1 Resources
| Reading materials: | Reading materials are posted on Moodle |
| Core reading list: | TBA |
| Recommended reading list: | TBA |
5.2 Links
Please refer to the following link: http://www.law.hku.hk/course/learning-resources/