INTRODUCTION TO HUMAN RIGHTS RESEARCH & WRITING
Course Description and Syllabus
Fall 2008
Prof. Sean O’Brien
Course Description:
This course is an introduction to the methods and skills required for efficient research in the multidisciplinary field of international human rights law. In addition to teaching the technical competencies required for research, the course will focus on the substance and style of scholarly writing. This focus will prepare each student for the Master’s Thesis to be written during the spring semester.
Required Texts*
The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation (Columbia Law Review Ass’n et al. eds., 18th ed. 2005)
Internet-based course resources:
United Nation’s Human Rights Research Guide
ASIL Guide to Electronic Resources for International Law
The Rights International Research Guide for International Human Rights Lawyers
Course Attendance and Evaluation
Your performance in this course will be evaluated and graded based upon your attendance, class participation and written assignments. The content of these assignments will be described at a later date. Course attendance is required and absences must be explained to me in person, by phone (1-8544) or by email ().
Floating Session #1 (date and time to be announced later): Tour of the Kresge Law Library, Notre Dame Law School. This session will focus on the international law and
human rights related research resources available in the law school library.
Floating Session #2 (date and time to be announced later): Students will receive training by representatives of both the Westlaw and Lexis legal research companies.
PART I: RESEARCH
Session 1 (Monday, ): Course introduction, Honor Code, The Bluebook, and sources of international law. This session will address the unique rules that govern academic life in the law school, which are collectively known as the “Honor Code.” We will also discuss the role of precedent in the common law system and how that role relates to citations in academic work. Finally, we will discuss the various sources of international law detailed in Article 38 of the Statute of the International Court of Justice, which will provide the framework for the research portion of this course.
Please look at these links briefly on the internet, paying special attention to the
Notre Dame Honor Code:
Ø Notre Dame Law School Honor Code
Ø Article 38, Statute of the International Court of Justice
Ø Article 53, Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties
Session 2 ( ): Hard Law/Soft Law; Teachings of Publicists (Article 38.1.d). This session will focus on methods for the retrieval of books and law review articles in the law school.
Please look at these links briefly on the internet:
Ø Law School Library Home Page
o LINK
o HeinOnline
o LegalTrac
Article 38.es of Law)
AND WRITING
Session 3 ( ): International Conventions (Article 38.1.a). This session will focus on how to research both bilateral and multilateral international treaties.
Please look at these links briefly on the internet:
Ø Charter of the United Nations (Article 102)
Ø Regulations to Give Effect to Article 102 of the Charter of the UN
Ø UN Power Point Presentation on Treaty Research
Ø UN Treaty Collection (requires password)
The session will also focus on how to research the human rights bodies that derive their authority from the Charter of the United Nations, known as the charter-based bodies.
Please look at these links briefly on the internet:
Ø Overview of charter-based bodies
Ø Commission on Human Rights
Ø Special Procedures of the Commission on Human Rights
Ø Subcommission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights
Session 4 ( ): International Conventions (Article 38.1.a) and Judicial Decisions (Article 38.1.d). This session will focus on how to research the workings of human rights bodies that are created by treaties other that the UN Charter, known as the seven treaty-based bodies. We will also learn how to access the published works of these bodies, which both interpret and monitor the implementation of international human rights conventions.
Please look at these links briefly on the internet:
Ø Treaty Body Database
Ø Human Rights Committee
Ø Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
Ø Committee Against Torture
Ø Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
Ø Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination
Ø Committee on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families
Ø Committee on the Rights of the Child
Session 5 ( ): Judicial Decisions (Article 38.1.d). This session will focus on research methods for a variety of human rights protection bodies.
Please look at these links briefly on the internet:
Ø African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights
Ø European Court of Human Rights
Ø Inter-American Commission on Human Rights
Ø Inter-American Court of Human Rights
Ø International Labour Organization
Ø International Court of Justice
Ø The Special Court for Sierra Leone
Ø ICTY
Ø ICTR
Ø ICC
Session 6 ( ): Customary Law (Article 38.1.b) and General Principles of Law (Article 38.1.c)
****Your first assignment, described in the “Evaluation” section above, should be turned in during this class.****
Reading:
Ø Restatement (Third) of Foreign Relations
Ø “Traditional and Modern Approaches to Customary International Law: A Reconciliation”
Session 7 ( ): Citation formats
PART II: WRITING
FALL BREAK
2