Education

Teaching in the field of human rights

Both the Department of Law and the Department of Political Science offer various courses on the subject of human rights.

Here you will find a selection of the courses offered at CHREN:

M.A. Human Rights

Master’s Programme Human Rights 

The M.A. Human Rights is a postgraduate program designed for professionals with an undergraduate degree and practical experience in relevant fields of employment. Due to its international focus, it is open to applicants from all over the world, in particular professionals working in international organisations and non-governmental organisations, public administrations (at the international, EU, federal, regional and municipal levels), political consulting, the press/media sector, in interest groups and associations, specialist legal firms, companies and research.

A special feature of this degree program is that it is also aimed at people who have been involved in human rights work on a voluntary or part-time basis and wish to gain professional qualifications in order to pursue these activities more extensively. Applicants may therefore also be accepted who are employed in other fields but have practical experience in human rights work outside of their main profession.

The M.A. in Human Rights is offered as a full-time degree program worth 90 ECTS credits over three semesters. In the first semester, all students will enroll in three compulsory modules covering political, philosophical and legal foundations of human rights respectively. In the second semester, students will participate in a compulsory, interdisciplinary module on non-discrimination, a module focusing on practical key skills for human rights graduates and elect four out of a variety of specialised modules. In the final semester, students will be able to choose between two different thesis options. They can either write one long in-depth research thesis or they can combine a shorter thesis with an internship. Students will be counselled on their choice at the end of the second semester.

Detailed information about the program, the application process, and the lecturers can be found on the program’s website.

Human Rights Clinic

Human Rights Clinic

The FAU Human Rights Clinic (HRC) is an interdisciplinary human rights practice project in which students produce an “expert opinion” on a current human rights issue over a period of one year in cooperation with a practice partner from the NGO scene. The HRC is a collaboration of the professorships for Public Law, Migration Law and Human Rights (Prof. Dr. Anuscheh Farahat), International Politics of Human Rights (Prof. Dr. Katrin Kinzelbach) and Public Law, Public International Law and Human Rights (Prof. Dr. Dr. Patricia Wiater).

Practical project 2021/2022: Hosting local Afghan workers while respecting fundamental and human rights

The 2021/22 report has been published in book form by FAU University Press. It is available in full text here (only in German).

After the surprisingly abrupt withdrawal of international troops from Afghanistan in the summer of 2021, the country fell back under Taliban rule with the capture of Kabul on 15 August 2021. Many of the local forces working for the Bundeswehr and other German organisations were not evacuated or were evacuated far too late and were stuck in Afghanistan, where they were threatened and persecuted by the Taliban as “collaborators”. The project of the first cycle of the FAU Human Rights Clinic started in the winter semester 2021/22 under the title “Human Rights Assessment of the Afghanistan Evacuation”. In cooperation with PRO ASYL as a practice partner, the team of five law and political science students is dedicated to the legal and factual issues surrounding the reception of local forces.

In addition to independent research work, the HRC programme includes specific skills workshops with international speakers, in which organisational (“Best Practices in Clinical Work”, “DO’ and DON’Ts in Group Research”), content-related (“Afghanistan – Human Rights, Local Forces, Legal Practice”) and methodological skills are taught (“Skills Workshop – Interviews”). In addition, the students conducted interviews with lawyers, employees of human rights organisations and affected local forces.

The result of the project is the report “Fundamental and human rights-compliant organisation of refugee reception”.

Practical project 2022/2023: Climate change & flight: Protection for climate refugees

The topic of the FAU Human Rights Clinic 2022/23 was Climate Change & Flight: Protection for “Climate Refugees”. In cooperation with the German Institute for Human Rights as a practice partner, the students wrote an expert report on the question of how people fleeing the negative effects of climate change can find protection. What forms of protection already exist in national and international asylum and refugee law? Are these forms of protection sufficient? What innovative approaches could close existing gaps?

The report will soon be published in book form by FAU University Press.

If you have any questions, please contact the coordinator of the Human Rights Clinic, Jonathan Kießling.

Human Rights and Business Clinic

Human Rights and Business Clinic

The FAU Human Rights and Business Clinic (HRB Clinic) brings together students and academics at FAU with partner organizations to work on applied research projects. Led by doctoral researchers of the International Doctorate Programme “Business and Human Rights: Governance Challenges in a Complex World”, the Clinic serves the dual function of helping students harness research skills to deliver timely and impactful projects in partnership with an external organization, and provides academic research capacities to the partner organization. By bringing academia and practice closer together, the Clinic aims to deliver mutually beneficial and impact-oriented research.

Goals

  • Use academic knowledge and expertise to respond to practice-led research.
  • Provide students with professional experience in the field of business and human rights.
  • Develop students’      research,      writing,      advocacy,     and communication skills.
  • Create project-driven connections between academics.
  • Fill research gaps for partner organizations.

About the project

  • The HRB Clinic partners with non-profit entities on practice-driven Human Rights and Business Research projects.
  • The HRB Clinic operates through volunteer efforts, bringing together diverse skills and expertise.
  • University students conduct research projects, under the supervision of doctoral researchers.

The HRB Clinic does not offer litigation advice.

Ongoing Projects

Project 2: “Just Transition Litigation Tracker” with the Business and Human Rights Resource Centre

Coordinators: Bruna Singh, Stephanie Regalia

Project 3:  Project for filing a complaint to the OECD National Contact Point with the UK Barrister Krishnendu Mukherjee (Doughty Street Chambers)

Coordinators: Otgontuya Davaanyam, Eklavya Vasudev

Projects Concluded

 

Project 1: “THE GERMAN SUPPLY CHAIN ACT (LKSG) AND THE HUMAN RIGHTS IMPACTS OF THE STEEL INDUSTRY”

in partnership with the Environment Defender Law Center (EDLC). April 2023 – August 2023

Summary of the project

This report presents the main findings of a comprehensive study on the main human rights impacts of the steel industry and the avenues the German Supply Chain Act (Lieferkettensorgfaltspflichtengesetz (LkSG) or the Act) offers to address these impacts.

Authors

FAU M.A Human Rights students: Mariana Malaquias Guimarães, Đorđe Popović, Köksal Avincan, Alice Kisumba, Sopiko Shaburishvili

Coordinators: Doctoral Candidate Bruna Singh and Doctoral Candidate Stephanie Regalia

Publications:

Human Rights Talks

FAU Human Rights Talks

The “FAU Human Rights Talks” are an innovative teaching format that Professor Wiater has been offering since the 2019 summer semester. In the talks, the participants discuss current issues of fundamental and human rights protection from different perspectives.

Depending on the topic, the Human Rights Talks are held in English or German.

Who can take part?

  • Law students at all stages of their studies
  • Students on the Master’s programme in Human Rights
  • Erasmus students
  • Interested students from other degree programmes

What topics have already been covered?

  • “The forgotten ones: Women’s rights in Afghanistan” (winter semester 2022/2023)
  • “A journey through the world of human rights” (winter semester 2021/2022)
  • “The individual, the society, the people? Diverging concepts of human rights holders in Africa, America and Europe” (winter semester 2020/2021)
  • “Business and Human Rights” (winter semester 2019/2020)
  • “Freedom of the press in Africa, Europe and the Americas” (summer semester 2019

Further information can be found on the homepage of the CHREN member Prof. Dr. Wiater.