Emerging from the ashes of World War II and the Holocaust, human rights have become a central concern for states, citizens, international organizations, and advocacy networks in the world today. The MA in Human Rights is designed to provide students with a critical, interdisciplinary and systematic understanding of human rights issues within a global context. Students engage with unresolved practical, theoretical and philosophical issues and questions concerning human rights, such as the universality of human rights, whose responsibility it is to protect human rights, and whether human rights conventions, laws, and regimes are effective. This MA programme provides a powerful tool with which to examine key international practices from a human rights perspective, including development, intervention, refugees, and war. Students gain an understanding of the role of the state, non-state, and supra-state actors in the diffusion of international human rights norms as well as examine the key legal instruments of the human rights regime. Case
studies of the human rights practices of different actors enable students to engage with some of the most pressing human rights issues of our time.

Programme structure

Full-time students complete the MA in Human Rights over twelve months, part-time students typically over two years but flexible arrangements are also possible. The programme comprises 6 taught modules – 4 compulsory and 2 optional – followed by a dissertation. Modules are based on lectures, seminars and individual work and are
each worth 20 credits [10 ECTS]. The dissertation is a 12,000-word piece of supervised individual research worth 60 credits [30 ECTS]. Assessment is mainly by coursework, typically two essays of different lengths, supplemented in some courses by an examination and/or a seminar presentation.