Subjects 2009
Human Rights Issues in Asia 732712
- Credited Courses: Graduate Diploma in Asian Law 726; Graduate Diploma in Asian Law 726; Graduate Diploma in Human Rights Law 636; Graduate Diploma in Human Rights Law 636; Graduate Diploma in International Law 323; Graduate Diploma in International Law 323; Graduate Diploma in Legal Studies L08; Graduate Diploma in Transnational Law 333; Master of Laws (LLM) 502; Master of Laws (LLM) 502; Master of Public and International Law 511; Master of Public and International Law 511
Note
Students who have completed National Human Rights Institutions or Constitutionalism in Asian Societies may not undertake this subject.
Objectives
A student who has successfully completed this subject should:
- Have developed a critical understanding of the theoretical and practical challenges involved in studying Asian legal systems
- Be able to evaluate critically arguments about the tensions between culture, development and human rights in diverse Asian contexts
- Have developed a critical understanding of the interplay of international human rights norms with human rights priorities and values in selected Asian societies
- Have developed a critical understanding of the domestic mechanisms for the protection of human rights in selected Asian states, and be able to evaluate them
- Have developed a critical appreciation of current human rights concerns in selected Asian states
- Be able to critically evaluate how civil society organisations mobilise to advance human rights.
Syllabus
This subject requires students to appreciate the diverse understandings of ‘human rights’ in the Asian region, and to evaluate the interaction of international human rights norms and institutions with domestic (state and civil society) rights priorities and values. States chosen for close analysis may include East Timor, India, Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore. Other Asian jurisdictions may be examined.
Principal topics will include:
- Regional participation in international human rights instruments and institutions
- Cultural relativism and ‘universal’ rights discourses
- Domestic institutions for the protection and promotion of rights, particularly the courts and national human rights institutions
- Civil society organisations and popular mobilisation for human rights
- Select issues as case studies, including, but not confined to:
- Women’s rights
- Civil and political rights such as free speech, freedom of belief and due process rights
- Social and economic rights such as the right to water
- Environmental rights
- Indigenous and minority cultural rights.
