International Governance for Peace and Human Rights

This 6-week course, with two hours of session each week, every Saturday from 3.00 - 5.00 pm CET, aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of international governance and cooperation as it relates to achieving and maintaining peace through a human rights-based approach. The course will explore the role of various international actors, such as governments, intergovernmental organizations, and civil society, in promoting and protecting human rights globally. Participants will examine key principles, frameworks, and mechanisms that guide international governance and cooperation, with a particular focus on the interplay between human rights and peacebuilding efforts. By the end of the course, participants will have gained the knowledge and skills necessary to critically analyze and contribute to the advancement of international governance and cooperation for peace within a human rights framework.

Course Objectives :

• Understand the concepts, principles, and significance of international governance and cooperation for peace through a human rights-based approach.
• Examine the historical development and evolution of international cooperation structures and their relationship to peacebuilding.
• Analyze the role of human rights in promoting peace, justice, and inclusive societies.
• Critically assess the effectiveness of international institutions, mechanisms, and frameworks in upholding human rights and achieving peace.
• Evaluate the challenges and opportunities in implementing a human rights-based approach to peacebuilding.
• Apply theoretical knowledge and analytical skills to real-world case studies and scenarios.
• Develop strategies for advocating and implementing human rights-based approaches to peacebuilding in various contexts.
• Collaborate effectively with diverse stakeholders in international governance and cooperation initiatives for peace.

Tasks :

1. Reading :

Readings for each session provides an interdisciplinary learning process, which is crucial to induce and nurture a culture of unlearning the inefficient mechanisms and systems into analyzing and introducing sustainable and efficient international mechanisms through governance and cooperation for peace through a Human Right Based Approach.

2. Think Tank and Solutions lab :

Students will be divided into groups in the beginning of the course and assigned a topic or issue related to an international institutional process or an international doctrine per group for them to conduct an analysis using a template which shall be provided by the course instructor and engage in a solutions lab finding activity with the whole class for necessary reforms for the protection of Peace through a Human Rights Based Approach. The student groups are expected to analyze case studies and use international human rights frameworks. The topic pool is as follows :

• Peace and Responsibility to Protect : Analysis and Way forward
• Peace through North South Cooperation agencies vs South South Cooperation agencies
• Peace amongst Foreign debt and the role of international institutions such as IMF, World Bank and WTO.
• UN Security Council and other UN special mechanisms for efficient peacemaking