Module overview
Contemporary theories of global justice and international human rights law proceed from an essential common basis, i.e., placing persons in the centre of their focus and regarding them as ultimate units of moral and legal concern.
Does this mean that human rights are the best tool for expressing and realizing the demands of global justice and the latter could be adequately translated into the language of human rights?
The module addresses issues surrounding a complex relationship between human rights and global justice from two perspectives: first, it analyses the role of human rights in embodying and promoting principles of global justice; and second, it explores how contemporary theories and discourses of global justice can contribute to justifying, conceptualizing, and implementing human rights.
The module begins with an advanced introduction into some fundamental aspects concerning global justice and human rights and their interrelation, including normative foundations, principles, major actors, institutional framework, as well as strategies, mechanisms, and practices of realisation.
Following that, the module critically assesses the potential and limitations of human rights in dealing with the most pressing problems of global justice, such as colonialism and unfair domination, racism, gender discrimination, poverty and extreme inequality, unjust wars, climate change, digital divide, etc.
The participants of the module will try to find out whether a (radical) reconstruction of international human rights law is necessary to appropriately respond to the global challenges and meet the needs and expectations of the current and future generations.