91430 - Fundamental Rights

Academic Year 2022/2023

  • Teaching Mode: Traditional lectures
  • Campus: Bologna
  • Corso: Second cycle degree programme (LM) in Legal Studies (cod. 9062)

Learning outcomes

At the end of the course unit, students: - possess an in-depth knowledge about the mechanisms designed to protect human rights at the international and supranational levels as well as their mutual interactions and their impact on national legal regimes; - are capable, also by relying on regulatory comparison patterns, to assess the interactions between different national mechanisms designed to protect fundamental rights, against the background of the reference socio-cultural context. - can handle the “case law” of monitoring bodies dealing with international and supranational legal instruments for the protection of human rights and are capable to evaluate the work of NGOs in this field.

Course contents

This course explores major features of human rights' protection and there will be a close examination of selected decisions of international and supranational Courts.

Readings/Bibliography

The students that will NOT attend the lessons shall prepare

J. GERARDS, Fundamental rights, 2023, Cambridge Univ. Press. limited to pages. 1-30; 53-231; 309-423; 422-464; 487-546

OR as alternative

R.K.M. Smith, International Human Rights Law. last ed. Oxford.

The students that WILL ATTEND the lessons shall know the topic analyzed in class and articles and essays that are indicated and available from the web page of the course on virtuale.unibo.it

Moreover, all students are advised to study the program reading also the following text: R. Smith Core Documents on European & International Human Rights 2022-23, Hart, 2022, 8th ed.

Teaching methods

The course will be held both in the form of the traditional oral lecture, and involving students in active participation, especially discussing some leading cases on specific important topics.

During the lesson there will be power-point presentations and the students will be given summaries and case law material.

Assessment methods

Lectures will be held in the spring term 2022/2023, therefore students may take the exam starting from May 2023.

The exam will be held orally. The teacher will ask to each student 3 topics.

The purpose of the oral exam is to verify the student's ability to apply his or her knowledge and to make the necessary logical-deductive connections.

The final grade will be determined taking into account the following elements:

- Preparation on a very limited number of topics covered in the course and analytical skills that emerge only with the help of the teacher, expressed in an overall correct language → 18-19;

- Preparation on a limited number of topics covered in the course and ability to autonomous analysis only on purely executive matters, expression in correct language → 20-24;

- Preparation on a large number of topics covered in the course, ability to make autonomous choices of critical analysis, mastery of specific terminology → 25-29;

- Substantially exhaustive preparation on the topics addressed in the course, ability to make autonomous choices of critical analysis and connection, full mastery of specific terminology and ability to argue and self-reflection → 30-30L.

For attending students, the final grade will take into account also active participation in the classroom and presentation of group work, as indicated on the first day of class.

Teaching tools

All students will be provided with power point presentations and case law material analyzed during the lessons.

Students with a form of disability or specific learning disabilities (DSA) who are requesting academic adjustments or compensatory tools are invited to communicate their needs to the teaching staff in order to properly address them and agree on the appropriate measures with the competent bodies.

Office Hours: the students of the course will have to make an appointment writing an e-mail to caterina.drigo@unibo.it.

They will be received on line, Tuesday from 9.00 to 11.00 a.m. via MS_TEAMS

Office hours

See the website of Caterina Drigo