General Course Information
1.1 Course details
| Course code: | LLAW6242 / JDOC6242 |
| Course name: | Human Rights in Practice |
| Programme offered under: | LLM Programme / JD Programme |
| Semester: | First and Second |
| Prerequisites / Co-requisites: | No |
| Credit point value: | 9 credits / 6 credits |
| Cap on student numbers: | 20 |
1.2 Course description
The Human Rights in Practice course enables students to discover how human rights lawyers, advocates, and practitioners engage with human rights issues both domestically and internationally, through experiential learning. Students will engage substantively with different areas of international law and collaborate with select community partners on human rights projects. Students will explore and experience first-hand the relationship between international human rights law and the Hong Kong legal system.
The course seeks equip students with the skills and knowledge necessary to excel in the changing global legal environment by providing opportunities to work on cutting-edge international legal issues while serving the community.
The course aims to:
- Expose students to the challenges and skills of acting in the role of a lawyer within the unstructured situations that international human rights lawyers confront in practice;
- Expand opportunities for collaborative experiential learning;
- Instruct students in the theory and practice of domestic and international human rights law, as well as comparative legal analysis;
- Give students an opportunity to practice their professional skills and ethics;
- Encourage students to identify and provide service for unmet legal needs;
- Encourage critical analysis of the law, the relationship between international and domestic legal systems, and the different roles within legal systems; and
- Provide students an opportunity to evaluate the real-life application and effects of international human rights instruments, as well as contribute to the promotion, progressive enforcement, and internalization of international human rights.
Specific skills taught include design of community legal education materials; collaborative and community-based lawyering; domestic and international legal research and analysis, including comparative legal research; human rights research; and legal writing.
Each term features different human rights topics and work depending on the needs presented to the Course Coordinator. One of the focus areas between 2023-2024 is Disability Rights – specifically on Conditional Discharge issues. Students will have the opportunity to conduct research on issues faced by patients placed under Conditional Discharge and assist with their appeal cases before the Mental Health Review Tribunal.
1.3 Course teachers
| Name | E-mail address | Office | Consultation | |
| Course convenor | Patricia Ho | measorho@hku.hk | CLE | By email |
Learning Outcomes
2.1 Course Learning Outcomes (CLOs) for this course
At the conclusion of this course, students should be able to:
CLO 1 Evaluate, present, and discuss the real-life application and effects of international human rights law.
CLO 2 Conduct research, individually and in teams, on case-specific themes and country situations, through a variety of media and sources, including web-based resources.
CLO 3 Understand, and be able to analyze, the application of international human rights instruments in specific situations, as well as across different jurisdictions.
CLO 4 Explain to a layperson the sources of law in Hong Kong and/or other identified jurisdictions which provide for identified human rights and the available enforcement measures to ensure those rights.
CLO 5 Draft a substantive legal document relevant to the work of their partner organization(s); examples include a detailed topical report, case summary, legal research memorandum, training manual, briefing paper, etc.
CLO 6 Reflect critically on and take action to advance a) the theory and practice of human rights in Hong Kong and/or other identified jurisdictions, b) the development of their professional skills and ethics, c) the nature of the lawyer-client relationship, and d) the value of pro bono service.
CLO 7 Demonstrate the communication skills of listening, questioning, and interviewing, including empathetic and careful listening and skillful questioning both with and without the use of an interpreter.
CLO 8 Identify issues and conduct legal research, fact investigation, analysis and writing relevant to the practice of international human rights law (related to the legal and factual issues of a topic arising in the work and context of a partner organization).
CLO 9 Recognize challenges in human rights practice, creatively identify options, execute their own judgment, and understand the impact of their decisions.
CLO 10 Reflect constructively on the dynamics involved in building and sustaining relationships with partners in a variety of situations.
Additional learning outcomes, which are specific to each project, will be identified in the individual project work plans.
2.2 LLM and JD Programme Learning Outcomes (PLOs)
Please refer to the following link:
LLM – https://course.law.hku.hk/llm-plo/
JD – https://course.law.hku.hk/jd-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 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| CLO 6 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| CLO 7 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| CLO 8 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| CLO 9 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| CLO 10 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
Assessment(s)
3.1 Assessment Summary
| Assessment task | Due date | Weighting | Feedback method* | Course learning outcomes |
| Weekly seminar, team meetings & written weekly reports | TBC | 35% | 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 | |
| Ongoing clinic: work throughout the semester – fieldwork, research, writing & investigation | TBC | 35% | 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 | |
| Final work product | TBC | 30% | 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 |
| *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
To be advised by the convenor(s).
3.3 Grading Criteria
Students will be assessed on a pass/fail basis.
Learning Activities
4.1 Learning Activity Plan
| Lecture: | 3 hours / week for 12 teaching weeks |
| Private study and/or project working time | 9-10 hours / week for 12 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(s).
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/