Foundations of Human Rights Law
The five examinable topics from Lecture 10, written in the FRAME → EXPLAIN → CRITIQUE → EVALUATE → CONCLUDE structure the lecturer expects. Each topic note covers the law, the leading cases, the theorists you must engage with (Dembour, Okafor, Moyn, Mutua, Salomon, Ruggie, Deva, O'Connell), and quoted academic positions you can lift directly into an answer.
How the exam works
Format: open book; 2 hours; 50% of the final grade.
Structure: answer one question from a choice of five. Each question is a statement or provocation followed by "discuss".
What examiners reward (Slide 12): structured thinking, critical analysis, evidence-based arguments. Description without critique loses marks; "sitting on the fence" loses marks. The lecturer expects you to adopt a position and justify it.
The five examinable topics map exactly to Lectures 3, 5, 7, 8 and 9 — see the cards below.
The Five Examinable Topics
The UN System
Charter and treaty bodies, UPR, Special Procedures, individual communications. Strengths, structural limits, "monitoring not enforcement" — Alston, Albanese, Mutua.
Lecture 3 · UN System 02 · L5The African System
The Banjul Charter's distinctive integration of CPRs, SERs and peoples' rights. SERAC v Nigeria, Ogiek v Kenya, Endorois. Okafor, Mutua, Viljoen.
Lecture 5 · African System 03 · L7The Right to Housing
Article 11(1) ICESCR, General Comment 4's seven elements, progressive realisation, Ben Djazia, López Albán, Grootboom. Hohmann, Kenna, O'Connell.
Lecture 7 · Right to Housing 04 · L8Inequality & Human Rights
Can the human rights framework address structural inequality? Salomon, Marks, Moyn, Pogge, Fredman. The Alston "neoliberal" reports. The "rights are not enough" debate.
Lecture 8 · Inequality (theme) 05 · L9Human Rights and Corporations
UN Global Compact, the rejected 2003 Norms, Ruggie's UNGPs (Three Pillars). Kiobel, Vedanta, Okpabi, Nevsun. The binding treaty negotiations. Deva, Bakan.
Lecture 9 · Corporations