Course content - Learning outcome - Admission - Prerequisites - Overlapping courses - Teaching - Examination - Evaluation

Course content

This multi-disciplinary course focuses on how human rights case law addresses dilemmas in cultural diversity. The main focus is jurisprudence in the fields of freedom of religion or belief and minority rights, including rights of indigenous peoples, as these rights are interpreted both by international case law and in various regional and national jurisprodence. The case analysis aims at a discussion of selected international human rights norms and some core dilemmas that states face in fulfilling the requirements of international human rights law, while taking various cultural traditions into consideration. These dilemmas will be discussed in light of normative theories on individual and state.

Learning outcome

When you have completed this course you should have basic knowledge about the core content of the rights in this field (in particular International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights arts. 1, 18 and 27, complemented by the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights arts. 1 and 15 and the ILO 169 Convention on Indigenous and Tribal Peoples).
Second, you should also have insight in the conflicts and tensions between these rights and other human rights (e.g. freedom of religion or belief in conflict with rights of women) and third, an ability to assess these rights from different disciplinary perspectives in case law analysis. Students should develop understanding for dilemmas relating to contextual interpretations of universal human rights, and be able to debate various justifications of these rights as well as their limits.

Admission

Id does not exist in shared text

You may register for this course if you have admission to a Master's programme at UiO. All applicants must fill the formal prerequisites.

Priority is given to students admitted to Theory and Practice of Human Rights (master's two years) and then students admitted to the Human Rights programme option of Public International Law (master's 1 1/2-years).

Id does not exist in shared text

Prerequisites

Formal prerequisite knowledge

Id does not exist in shared text

Recommended previous knowledge

Introductory course in human rights.

Overlapping courses

5 credits overlap with HUMR5507 - Leading Cases in Human Rights Law (discontinued).

Teaching

Lectures (some seminar exercises included)

Access to teaching

Id does not exist in shared text

Examination

Written assignement, with a maximum of 4000 words.

Examination support material

Id does not exist in shared text

Language of examination

Id does not exist in shared text

The examination question will be given in English, and students may answer in English only.

Grading scale

Grades are awarded on a scale from A to F, where A is the best grade and F is a fail. Read more about the grading system.

Explanations and appeals

You may request an explanation of your grades, and you may also appeal against your grades or make a complaint about formal examination errors. Read more about explanations and appeals.

Resit an examination

You can usually resit an exam, but the conditions depend on whether you had a valid reason for absence from the regular exam. Read more about resitting an exam.

If a student has submitted a written assignment a second time in the same course s/he can only submit it in a new version. This means that there must be another title and theme, or that the new version must be considerably changed from the first version.

Students who wish to retake the exam in a later semester are not guaranteed that the course is ever repeated with a similar reading list, nor that the exam arrangement will be the same.

Withdrawal from an examination

A student may sit this exam up to 3 times. If a student wishes to withdraw from the exam, s/he must do so in StudentWeb at least two weeks prior to the first day of the exam. Failure to do so will be counted as one of the three opportunities to sit the exam.

Special examination arrangements

If you have a disability or a health problem that entails significant inconvenience in an examination situation, you may be considered for special examination arrangements. Mothers who are breastfeeding may apply for extra time to complete the exam.

Evaluation

Feedback from our students is essential to us in our efforts to ensure and further improve the high quality of our programmes and courses. All courses are subject to continuous evaluation. At regular intervals we also ask students on a particular course to participate in a more comprehensive, periodic evaluation of this course.