This course will provide a foundation of international human rights law. It is designed for students who have little or no background in international law and/or human rights law.   The goal of the course is to help students understand the fundamental concepts in the subject area to prepare students for upper level academy courses. We will discuss and explore the following topics in pursuit of this goal:

• Fundamentals of public international law
• History and philosophy of international human rights law
• Human rights treaties, customary international law, and jus cogens
• Human rights systems (international and regional)
• Introduction to litigating human rights Claims.