CONTEMPORARY ISSUES OF HUMAN RIGHTS AND SECURITY

Course outline prepared by Dr.SAM

Course Description

Human Rights are of tremendous significance in the contemporary world. The module deals with the  contemporary idea of human rights include:  human rights and development,  Climate change and disaster-induced cross-border displacement, Business and Human Rights, Minorities, Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity, Protection from Corruption, and so on. The module reflects upon the key driving forces for contemporary human rights and security concerns, particular attention will be given to the natural and man-made disasters,  gender based violence, trafficking and forceful disappearance which affects the human security. Further, the module will look into Transnational Criminal Network and assess the Various Techniques and Methods for Analyzing Insurgency, Guerilla Warfare and terrorism in the field to analyze and develop a better understanding and critique the African problems in these areas. 

Course Objectives

·         To provide the students with a basic understanding of contemporary Human rights and security issues especially on the human security

·         To develop a balanced understanding on the key driving forces for contemporary Human rights and security concerns, and combating Transnational Criminal Networks, Insurgency, Guerrilla Warfare, and Terrorism

 Course Contents

 Unit one - Contemporary Human Rights Issues:

·         Human rights and development with relationship to security

·         Human rights, climate change and disaster-induced cross-border displacement

·         Business and Human Rights

·         Human rights of Minorities and Indigenous people

·         Discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity

·         Corruption and Human Rights: Designing Effective Interventions

·         Coherence on International Policy Making on Preventing Violent Extremism, Radicalization,     Intolerance, and Incitement

 Unit Two - Human Rights and Human Security:

·         From National/Traditional security to Human Security

·         Human Security Threats 

·         Human Security Emphasizes Triangular Relationship With Freedom, ie. Freedom From Fear (Security), Freedom From Want (Livelihood/Development), And Freedom To Live In Dignity (Human Rights).

·         Human Security relationship with Development, Environment, Gender and humanitarian intervention

·         Trends in human security: The Arab Spring Case; State- based armed conflict & non-state armed conflict; Interstate war between Ethiopia and Eretria

 

Unit Three - Key Driving Forces for Human Rights and Security Concerns:

 

·         Natural and Man-Made Disasters;

·         Conflicts and Internal Violence;

·         Gender based violence

·         Massive Displacements;

·         Health Related Risks;

·         Sudden Economic and Financial Downturns;

·         Human Trafficking

·         Disappearance

Unit Four - Transnational Criminal Networks

·         Transnational organized crime (TOC):  money laundering; human smuggling; cyber crime / warfare; and trafficking of humans, drugs, weapons, kidnapping, people smuggling, endangered species, body parts, or nuclear material

·         International Enforcement Agencies: United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime, Interpol, Europol

·         Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering

·         Their Role in Contemporary International and Human Security

 

Unit Five - Insurgency, Guerrilla Warfare, and Terrorism

·         Nature, Strategies, and Mechanics of Insurgency especially in Africa,

·         Guerrilla Warfare and Terrorism, the Spectrum Of Conflict, 

·         Various Techniques and Methods for Analyzing Insurgency, Guerilla Warfare and terrorism

·         Human rights violations and abuses against civilians 

          Islamic Fundamentalism  Its Threats To Human Rights And Security

          HEZBOLLAH; HAMAS; AL-QAEDA; JANJAWEED ; Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS)

           Terrorism in Horn of Africa

 

 

 

 

References:

 

African Union Non-Aggression Common Defense Pact, 2005. Online Available at

http://www.africa- union.org/root/au/documents/treaties/text/Non%20Aggression%20Common%20Defence%20Pact.pdf (Retrieved on January 25, 2013)

 Alkire, Sabina. 2003. A Conceptual Framework for Human Security. Centre for Research on Inequality, Human Security and Ethnicity, CRISE Queen Elizabeth House, University of Oxford. Working Paper 2.

 America's Climate Choices: Panel on Advancing the Science of Climate Change, National Research Council (2010). ""Chapter 16. National and Human Security".". Advancing the Science of Climate Change. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. p. 389

Commission on Human Security, 2003.Human Security Now: Protecting and Empowering People. New York.

 Human Security at the UN. September 2012, Briefing on the Report of the Secretary-General on Human Security. A/66/763

 Human Security Center, August 2005. Human Security Report: War and the Peace in 21st Century, The University of British Columbia, Canada.

 Human Security Reports. Online Available at http://www.hsrgroup.org/human-security-reports/human-security-report.asp

 James R. Lewis, Carl Skutsch, (eds.,)  “The Human Rights Encyclopedia,” Armonk, Sharpe Reference, New York, c 2001.

Langley, Winston. E, Encyclopedia of Human Rights Issues Since 1945, Greenwood Press, Westport, Conn., 1999.

Maddex Robert L., (ed.,) International Encyclopedia of Human Rights: Freedoms, Abuses, and Remedies, CQ Press, Washington, 2000.

Ogata, Sadako and Amartya Sen. 2001.Independent Commission on Human Security. UNDP

Organization of American States. October 2003. Declaration on Security in the Americas.Online Available at http://www.oas.org/documents/eng/DeclaracionSecurity_102803.asp (Retrieved on January 24, 2013)

Sucharitkul, Sompong. "The Concept of Human Rights in International Law.". International Sustainable Development Law. 1. Vol. I - The Nature and Sources Of International Development Law, pp. 4–5.

Thomas Risse, Stephen C. Ropp, Kathryn Sikkink, The Power Of Human Rights: International Norms And Domestic Change, Cambridge University Press, New York, 1999.