Prof Christine Chinkin

This course is available on the MSc in Human Rights, Master of Laws and Master of Laws (extended part-time study). This course is available with permission as an outside option to students on other programmes where regulations permit.

This course will be relevant to the following LLM specialisms: Human Rights; Public International Law.

This course is capped at 30 students. Students must apply through Graduate Course Choice on LSEforYou.

The course provides an introduction to the concept of women's human rights and the international legal protections of such rights. It is located within the framework of international law and feminist legal theories. The international legal instruments for the guarantee of women's civil and political and economic and social rights will be examined for students to acquire knowledge and understanding of the basic texts and the international monitoring mechanisms. Detailed attention will be accorded to the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, 1979 and the work of the Committee on Elimination of Discrimination against Women. Topics include: • Introductory: the United Nations Gender Architecture • Sex and gender; feminist theories of equality and difference • International instruments for the guarantee of women's rights • Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, 1979: History, Substance and Reservations • Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, 1979: the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women • Economic, Social and Cultural Rights • Universality and Cultural Relativism • Beyond the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women: Global Conferences; Regional Protections • Combating Violence against Women (1) • Combating Violence against Women (II)

20 hours of seminars in the LT. 2 hours of seminars in the ST.

Student participation will be expected. Students are also encouraged to draw upon and share relevant experiences.

All students are expected to produce one 2,000 word formative essay during the course.

M. Freeman, C. Chinkin and B. Rudolf, The UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women A Commentary (Oxford, OUP, 2012)

H. Charlesworth and C. Chinkin, The Boundaries of International Law: A Feminist Analysis (Manchester University Press, 2000), especially chapter 7.

H. Schopp-Schilling (ed), Circle of Empowerment (2007)

F. Banda, Women, Law and Human Rights An African Perspective (Hart, 2005)

Karen Knop (ed.), Gender and Human Rights (OUP, 2004)

D. Buss and A. Manji (eds), International Law Modern Feminist Approaches (Hart Publishing, 2005)

R. Cook (ed.), Human Rights of Women. National and International Perspectives (University of Pennsylvania Press 1994)

A. Edwards, Violence against Women under International Human Rights Law (2011)

Catharine McKinnon, Are Women Human? (2006)

Exam (100%, duration: 2 hours, reading time: 15 minutes) in the main exam period.