Course Descriptions

• Human Rights Advocacy Workshop (May 12 - 16)
• Introduction to Human Rights Methodology (May 12 - 15)
• Managing Human Rights NGOs (May 19 - 23) Course Cancelled
• What Every Advocate Should Know About Researching Reports (May 24 - 25)
• Representation of Disadvantaged Groups in Conflict Scenarios (May 27 - 31)
• Standard Setting & Corporate Codes of Conduct (June 1 - June 2) Course Cancelled
• Human Rights and US Foreign Policy (Distance Learning: May 26 - June 28)

Human Rights Advocacy Workshop (2 credit hours)

Instructor: Julie Mertus
May 12– May 16, 9:00 A.M. – 5:00 P.M.
This course examines the various aspects of human rights advocacy, from reporting and fact-finding to litigating and lobbying. Considerable attention is paid to conducting human rights field work: how to gather and analyze data, how to stay secure and ethical when working in contentious situation and extracting information from vulnerable informants. In addition, the course considers when and how to create legislative advocacy efforts, how and when to use litigation strategies, and the decision to turn to support from international, regional and national human rights mechanisms. A series of guest lecturers from Washington DC-area human rights organization ensures that the course is cutting-edge and broad in scope. Daily role plays and simulations promote highly interactive teaching and learning. NOTE: This course does not repeat either the undergraduate or graduate introduction to human rights course taught during the regular school term, and students who have taken these courses are most welcome! This course is scheduled so that it does not conflict with Human Rights Methodology, taught in the evenings.

Introduction to Human Rights Methodology (1 credit hour)

Instructor: Bonnie Docherty
May 12– May 15, 6:00 P.M. – 9:45 P.M.
Human rights investigations and the success or failure of measures to promote human rights require a careful approach to gathering information. This course will provide students with practical skills for conducting human rights research. For example, it will teach students about project development, interviewing, use of documentary and physical evidence, and legal analysis. It will also provide an introduction to advocacy strategies, such as press release writing and report briefings. Course was previously listed as "Field Research, Interview & Archival Research."

Managing Human Rights NGOs (2 credit hours)

Instructors: Joseph Eldridge and Robert Tomasko
May 19– May 23, 9:00 A.M. – 5:00 P.M.*
The purpose of this course is to give participants hands-on exposure to the challenges of running a non-governmental or activist organization. It will focus on developing basic skills needed to organize an effective NGO “from the ground up.” Equal emphasis throughout the course will be given to practicalities of management that keep an organization afloat, and the dynamics of leadership that move it forward. Topics to be covered will range from nuts-and-bolts issues such as goal setting, fund raising, strategic planning and organization design, to the more mindset-oriented skills of motivating, momentum-building, using power, and winning hearts-and-minds. The course will be team-taught by instructors with extensive experience in both nonprofit and private sector management, and they will draw from the best practices of both realms.

Special attention will be given to the ways NGOs conduct effective advocacy and activism, and several human rights-oriented case studies will be used to give participants practice applying these concepts to current hot issues.

The course is intended for students who plan on, or are considering, a career in nonprofit service-providing or advocacy organizations. For students who may have previously had internships or fulltime employment with such groups, this course will help them distill, learn from, and share these experiences.

*Please take note of the recent date change. This course was listed for a short time with dates of May 20 - May 23, and has recently been changed back to the original dates of May 19 - May 23.

What Every Advocate Should Know About Researching Reports (1 credit hour)

Instructor: Jennifer Rasmussen
May 24– May 25, 9:00 A.M. – 5:00 P.M.
Credible research is paramount to effective advocacy.  This course will provide students with an overview of the process of investigating and writing human rights reports from start to finish.  In particular, the course will survey how to: know when to write a report; put together an argument, identify and build trust with interviewees; persuade an audience; and ensure that a report has impact and longevity.  Additionally, the course will address how non-clinicians can use respectful methodology to respond to survivors of trauma.  Resource materials, in-class exercises, and small group work will ensure an interactive learning experience.

Representation of Disadvantaged Groups in Conflict Scenarios (2 credit hours)

Instructor: Katherine Guernsey and Janet E. Lord
May 27 – May 31, 9:00 A.M. – 5:00 P.M.
This class addresses the human rights conditions of marginalized and at-risk groups (such as women, people with disabilities, children, ethnic groups and others) during situations of conflict.  It examines violations of human rights experienced by such groups, and explores practical steps that can be taken by different stakeholders to prevent, monitor and respond to such human rights violations. Class is highly interactive and participatory.

Standard Setting & Corporate Codes of Conduct (1 credit hour)

Instructor: Jennifer Rasmussen
June 1 - June 2, 9:00 A.M. – 5:00 P.M.
"This advanced seminar considers how human rights activists conduct research and evidence-based advocacy to support the new standards." Examples of recent developments include in the course are the Yogayakarta principles (LGBTI rights & the Brazil resolution at the Council), the new corporate responsibilities the new convention on the rights of the disabled and the one on indigenous rights, and the draft Convention on Racism, Xenophobia and other forms of intolerance in the OAS. Questions considered include: How do activists gather the data they need to support these new hr developments? How do they convince decision makers that this new standard is needed? How do HR activists use research to support broadening of HR claims under treaties using shadow reporting and other research-based and evidence-based advocacy?

Human Rights and US Foreign Policy (3 credit hours)

Instructor: Julie Mertus
** Distance Learning : May 26 - June 28 **
Human rights advocates have reached considerable success in framing policy choices in human rights terms and in influencing the discourse of US foreign policy. The continued presence of human rights as an influential foreign policy theme - even during the most skeptical presidential administrations - can be explained by both the institutionalization of human rights and the centrality of human rights for American identity. However, presidential administrations have not embraced human rights and responded in a consistent manner to human rights concerns. The story of human rights in US foreign policy is one of perpetual tension and resistance, of interpretation and reinterpretation. This course explores the nature of this dynamic process, exposing the way in which it involves both acceptance of and resistance to human rights.