Domesticating International Human Rights Law

International human rights law norms and mechanisms are predicated on the idea that they will bring about sustainable change at home, at the national level. The international mechanisms for the promotion, protection and respect of human rights are there to lend impetus and accountability until such a time that these legal standards are adequately protected domestically. Though international and regional mechanisms will always hold utility, one may expect that their need and workload should diminish over time as the burden shifts to national implementation and, indeed, human rights becoming embedded domestically. The means by which such shifts have and may occur, however, is the subject of a growing literature which we will seek to interrogate in this course.

In the first section we will examine various theories, models and means of bringing about human rights change before turning to the second section and exploring the domestication of human rights law. The course will not consider the impact of regional human rights systems on domestication, the domestication of international criminal law or the application of international human rights standards extraterritorially, as these are topics that are explored elsewhere in the programme.

Tutor: Prof Ghanea or Prof Shaheed