As the syllabus indicates, 04/16 is your day of independent study to select a topic for your final paper and prepare an outline that you will share with me here, revise it and then present for 2/3 minutes in the next class. The syllabus gives the following options. However, you are free to select a topic of your own choice (from the class topics) that entails research and using at least 3 references.
Please use the class time today and prepare an outline and upload it by midnight on 04/16:
Submit your topic idea, outline and annotated bibliography (at least 3 sources).
Your outline should be at least one page long and must start with the topic/idea/question/hypothesis
In your outline, indicate how you will divide your paper and what sections/sub headings will be there with a few bullet points after you have done research
If using a case study/example then indicate that in the outline.
Also at least 3 sources/references and I encoruage you to indicate more through research. This is why I hope that the class time today can be utilized.
I have given some suggestions in the syllabus and also posted on announcements but please do not feel bound by those ideas. They are suggestions.
Feel free to use some of the material in the reading assignments for class and our discussions, but additional research will definitely be needed.
You can refer to this link for some guidance but you need not follow everything in this style as this is perhaps more applicable to longer papers: https://writers-house.com/blog/step-step-guide-writing-annotated-outline/
Option 1) Who is a refugee and what are his or her rights under international law? What is the principle of non-refoulement.
Convention relating to the Status of Refugees (1951) (arts. 1(A)(2), 1(F), and 33) (http://www.unhcr.org/3b66c2aa10.html)
Protocol relating to the Status of Refugees (1967) (preamble, art. 1) (http://www.unhcr.org/3b66c2aa10.html, scroll down)
Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (art. 3) (http://www1.umn.edu/humanrts/instree/h2catoc.htm)
Samantha Power, A Problem from Hell, (excerpts)
Human Rights Watch, The Pinochet Precedent (http://www.hrw.org/legacy/campaigns/chile98/precedent.htm#What%20Other%20Prosecutions)
Option 2) What is the responsibility to protect doctrine (R2P). Analyze its details and apply to a situation where R2P was invoked.
The Responsibility to Protect: Report of the International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty (2011) http://responsibilitytoprotect.org/ICISS%20Report.pdf
Option 3) Examine how human rights were violated during the “War on Terror”
UN Convention against Torture
(http://www.hrweb.org/legal/cat.html)
Alan Dershowitz, “Want to torture? Get a warrant,” San Francisco Chronicle, January 22, 2002 (http://articles.sfgate.com/2002-01-22/opinion/17527284_1_physical-pressure-torture-terrorist)
https://www.hrw.org/report/2007/02/26/ghost-prisoner/two-years-secret-cia-detention (summary) (http://www.hrw.org/en/reports/2007/02/26/ghost-prisoner)
Human Rights Watch, Getting Away with Torture: The Bush Administration and Mistreatment of Detainees(https://www.hrw.org/report/2011/07/12/getting-away-torture/bush-administration-and-mistreatment-detainees) (summary)
Option 4) Discuss the international rights framework for child rights. Select a cases where the basic tenets were effectively applied and where they were not.
Readings
“Toxic Toil: Child Labor and Mercury Exposure in Tanzania’s Small-Scale Gold Mines,” (summary) (https://www.hrw.org/report/2013/08/28/toxic-toil/child-labor-and-mercury-exposure-tanzanias-small-scale-gold-mines)
Tanzania: Hazardous Life of Child Gold Miners: Government, World Bank, Donors Should Address Child Labor in Mines (https://www.hrw.org/news/2013/08/28/tanzania-hazardous-life-child-gold-miners)
A Poisonous Mix: Child Labor, Mercury, and Artisanal Gold Mining in Mali (summary) (https://www.hrw.org/report/2011/12/06/poisonous-mix/child-labor-mercury-and-artisanal-gold-mining-mali)
Child Labor in the tobacco Industry https://www.theatlantic.com/family/archive/2018/06/child-labor-tobacco/562964/
Option 5) Human Rights & Corruption
What is corruption? Where does corruption take place? Defining corruption, governance, accountability, and transparency; categorizing corruption: petty, grand, public, private, political. Defining human rights. Basic corruption and human rights terms.
Readings
International Council on Human Rights Policy and Transparency International (2009). Corruption and Human Rights: Making the Connection. Geneva, Switzerland
Universal Declaration of Human Rights (https://www.ohchr.org/en/udhr/documents/udhr_translations/eng.pdf)
The Charter of the United Nations (preamble and articles 1, 2(1), 2(4) and 2(7)) (http://www.un.org/en/documents/charter/)
Aryeh Neier, The International Human Rights Movement: A History (Princeton University Press, 2012) (“Neier”), Ch. 3 (“What Are Rights?”)
Option 6) Create your own topic/question and write a research paper with case studies/examples.
