LAW - 989S The Rights of Disadvantaged and Vulnerable Groups

(2 hrs)

This course examines legal practices that have been and should be developed for the weak and vulnerable and consequently require special protection. The first half of the course examines applicable international human rights standards, monitoring procedures and case‐law concerning certain disadvantaged and vulnerable groups, in particular minorities and indigenous peoples. Some of the issues are of a general character, like the equal enjoyment of all human rights, the prohibition of discrimination in that enjoyment, and the question of individual and group rights. Other issues concern special rights and/or special measures (also called preferential treatment or affirmative action) that have been designed and put in place to achieve equal rights for some of the different groups. What are some of the strategies that will allow the realization of the rights and measures designed for these groups? The second half of the course focuses on the protection of one particularly vulnerable group, internally displaced persons (IDPs) ‐‐ those forcibly uprooted within their own countries by civil war, generalized violence, human rights violations, and/or natural disasters. The tensions between national and international responsibility will be examined together with the role of the international community in addressing internal displacement both in conflicts and natural disasters, the relationship of IDPs to the concept of the responsibility to protect (R2P), and the meaning of a durable solution for IDPs. Nifosi-Sutton Summer