Human Rights, Human Wrongs: Challenging Poverty, Vulnerability and Social Exclusion

Module 1: Why Does the World Need Human Rights?

• Human Rights and Why We Need Them
• From Economic Growth to People-Centered Development
• The “Rise of Rights” in Development
• Creating Human Rights
• Are Rights Enough?

Module 2: International Legal Frameworks, Institutions and Development

• Underlying Concepts of International Law
• United Nations Institutions
• International Law and Standards
• Regional Systems for Human Rights
• Social Inclusion

Module 3: International Human Rights Frameworks

• Special Rights for Some
• Convention on the Rights of the Child
• Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women
• International Rights Treaties
• Limitations of Existing Standards

Module 4: Underlying Frameworks for Social Inclusion

• Subject vs Object in Law
• Equality of Opportunity
• Affirmative Action
• Autonomy as Protection
• Lawand Combatting Inequality

Module 5: Contested Rights and the Co-option of the Rights Discourse

• Hierarchy of Rights
• Collective vs. Individual Rights
• Co-option of Rights
• Intellectual Property Rights

Module 6: Gendered Poverty and Inequality

• Poverty and Wellbeing
• Gender Inequality
• Households as Sites of Inequality
• Gendered Experience of Poverty
• Attacking Gender Inequality Within Development

Module 7: Gendered Rights and Violence

• Women’s Rights
• Sexual and Reproductive Rights
• Violence and Legal Frameworks
• Gender in the UN Human Rights Framework
• Root Causes and Lived Realities
• Social Communication for Social Change

Module 8: Social Exclusion: Minorities and Indigenous Peoples

• Minorities and Indigenous Peoples
• Issues Facing Minorities and Indigenous Peoples
• Social Exclusion by Continent
• Overcoming Structural Inequalities
• Combatting Social Exclusion

Module 9: Advocating for the Vulnerable

• Vulnerability and “Natural” Disasters
• Gendered Experiences of Disaster
• Social Protection: Problematizing Conditional Cash Transfers
• Culture v. Rights: The Case of Female Genital Mutilation
• Equalizing the Encounter: Free Prior Informed Consent

Module 10: From Exclusion to Inclusion: Responding to Crisis and Conflict

• Humanitarian Response to Crisis
• “Do No Harm”: The Rise of “New Humanitarianism”
• International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies
• Democratization and Political Participation: The Situation Room
• Responding to Crisis: Mediating for Peace

Module 11: New Directions: Rights and the SDGs

• Sustainable Development and Rights
• A Vision of Rights for the Future
• Pathways to Sustainable Development and Human Rights
• Human Rights and the Economy
• The SDGs and Beyond