91430 - Fundamental Rights

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.2023 limited to pages. 1-30; 53-231; 309-423; 442-464; 487-546

AND J. GERARDS, European Convention on Human rights, Cambridge University Press, 2023, limited to pages 1-33; 100-138; 174-210; 241-255

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.

 

Final Dissertations

Dissertations are assigned after one or more interviews aimed at identifying a topic of interest to the student.

For an initial interview to explore possible research topics for the thesis, students are asked to make an appointment by emailing caterina.drigo@unibo.it

Guidelines to which undergraduates are required to adhere both when writing their thesis and when submitting their application:

1. Once the dissertation topic has been approved by the professor, graduating students must periodically inform the supervisor of the progress of the work. The delivery of the thesis is done chapter by chapter, thus avoiding handing over the complete text for correction. Individual parts of the thesis may be sent by e-mail, or delivered in hard copy during office hours by appointment to be arranged in advance. The supervisor will correct the individual chapters of the thesis and provide the student with further indications on the parts of the text to be modified and/or supplemented.

The thesis will then be handed over to the professor with all its corrected parts, for final approval and subsequent delivery to the administrative office.

2. Graduating students are requested not to apply for graduation until they have received express authorisation to do so by e-mail from the professor. Authorisation will only be granted to those who have completed and submitted their thesis to the professor. Applications submitted without this authorisation will be automatically rejected.

3. The submission of any application for the purpose of writing the dissertation abroad must be agreed with the professor.

4. Any request for correlation is only possible if strictly necessary for the purposes of the thesis and must be agreed with the professor.

5. Graduating students are requested to contact the student secretariat for all matters concerning compliance with the graduation deadlines.

In any case,

The dissertation version, approved by the main supervisor, must be uploaded in due time by the candidate on the dedicated website. The dissertation upload can be repeated by the midnight of the deadline’s expiration day (remember: pays attention to the CET hours indicated); the last uploaded file remains valid. The delivery of the final version of dissertation to the main supervisor should take place for final check no later than 30 days before the deadline for the file upload. The candidate is personally in charge of the delivery of the final draft to the administrative bodies of Università di Bologna.

LETTERS OF RECOMMENDATION Prof. Drigo writes letters of recommendation/presentation EXCLUSIVELY for her own graduates. This is because in the recommendation/presentation letters the professor must be able to prove that she is thoroughly familiar with the academic (particularly research) qualities of the student.

Assessment methods

Lectures will be held in the fall term 2024/2025 therefore students may take the exam starting from January 2025.

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