Studying at York
Human Rights Defence Clinic - LAW00097M
- Department: The York Law School
- Credit value: 20 credits
- Credit level: M
- Academic year of delivery: 2024-25
Module summary
The Human Rights Defence Clinic provides students with the opportunity to further develop their human rights practitioner’s skills toolkit, while simultaneously exposing them to diverse and concrete applications of the right to defend human rights. Through participation in the Clinic, students will also reflect on the values of solidarity, social justice and equal partnerships by working closely with partners in the UK and internationally (for example, human rights defenders hosted at the Centre for Applied Human Rights, other clinics at other institutions, human rights NGOs, etc).
The Clinic complements the Human Rights Placement module by offering training and engagement with practical skills other than reporting, such as fact-finding, documentation and monitoring, human rights advocacy, communication and social media use, strategic litigation, etc.
Students will work under the supervision of academic staff and will have the opportunity to learn from human rights defenders and practitioners. Clinical projects will vary from year to year, but they may include:
- Designing and maintaining a Citizen Hate Crime Tracker or similar monitoring tools for grassroots human rights organisations;
- Designing dissemination and pedagogical materials around the annual Human Rights Indicators Report published by the Centre for Applied Human Rights and York Human Rights City Network;
- Providing human rights defenders hosted at the Centre for Applied Human Rights with support in their advocacy efforts (for example, by preparing speaking points);
- Prepare amicus curiae briefs to be submitted to regional human rights courts;
- Prepare submissions for international human rights monitoring bodies.
Module will run
| Occurrence | Teaching period |
|---|---|
| A | Semester 2 2024-25 |
Module aims
This module provides students with the opportunity to work collaboratively with human rights organisations and defenders, both at the national and international levels, on a range of diverse applied human rights projects. The Clinic complements the ‘Human Rights Placement’ module by seeking to develop skills such as monitoring, documentation and fact-finding, advocacy, communication, strategic litigation, and more. Students will work on allocated projects and take part in both individual tasks and collective work as part of one or more clinical groups.
Module learning outcomes
By the end of the module, students should be able:
- to demonstrate a clear understanding of the values underpinning clinical human rights education.
- to demonstrate a sound understanding of the constraints on and expectations of a university-based human rights clinical programme.
- to apply the fundamental principles underpinning the skills that human rights practitioners need to have to effectively carry out their work in a range of clinic-related experiences.
- to identify and critically reflect upon the ethical implications of conducting clinical human rights work with an external partner and with beneficiaries.
- to demonstrate the ability to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of different human rights intervention strategies.
- to engage in a critical reflection on the potential or actual impact – in its broader sense – that your clinical project may have or had on project partners and beneficiaries.
Module content
The indicative syllabus for this module will be covered over the course of six sessions, organised as follows:
- One 2-hour plenary: The right to defend human rights
- Two 2-hour thematic workshops (any 2 topics among the following depending on projects):
- International and Regional Human Rights Advocacy
- Human rights fact-finding, documentation and monitoring
- Strategic human rights litigation
- Communication and social media use in human rights advocacy
- Three 2-hour skills sessions:
- Legal skills and writing
- Advocacy skills and writing
- Writing for funding proposals
In addition to the above, the project supervisor may provide additional compulsory material depending on the projects that will be conducted.
Indicative assessment
| Task | % of module mark |
|---|---|
| Essay/coursework | 100 |
Special assessment rules
None
Additional assessment information
Formative assessments: Students will be provided with two opportunities to submit excerpts of their reflective diaries during the module. Light-touch feedback will be provided on the submissions.
Indicative reassessment
| Task | % of module mark |
|---|---|
| Essay/coursework | 100 |
Module feedback
Feedback to students: Students will receive continuous feedback on progress by their project supervisor. Summative assessments will graded with written feedback provided within four weeks from the deadline for submission. Students are invited to discuss their marks and feedback with their project supervisor.
Indicative reading
- Sara Pastor, Alexandra Loaiza, and Enrique Eguren, Critical approach the right to defend human rights (Protection International, 2021) available at .
- Sarah Knuckey, Benjamin Hoffman , Jeremy Perelman , Gulika Reddy, Alejandra Ancheita and Meetali Jain, 'Power in Human Rights Advocate and Rightsholder Relationships: Critiques, Reforms, and Challenges' (2020) 33 Harvard Human Rights Journal 1.
- Daniel Bonilla, 'Legal Clinics in the Global North and South: Between Equality and Subordination - An Essay' (2013) 16 Yale Human Rights & Development Law Journal 1.
- James J. Silk, 'From Empire to Empathy - Clinical Collaborations between the Global North and the Global South - An Essay in Conversation with Daniel Bonilla' (2013) 16 Yale Human Rights & Development Law Journal 41.
- Philip Alston and Sarah Knuckey (eds), The Transformation of Human Rights Fact-Finding (1st edn, Oxford University Press 2016).
- Mark Gevisser, Katie Redford, and Jane Fonda (eds), The Revolution Will Not Be Litigated: How Movements and Law Can Work Together to Win (OR Books, 2023).