There are no set texts for the unit. However, most topics include required readings that draw on two books in particular, both of which are available online through the USyd Library:

 

• David Kinley, Civilising Globalisation: Human Rights and the Global Economy (Cambridge University Press, 2009).
• David Kinley, Necessary Evil: How to Fix Finance by Saving Human Rights (Oxford University Press, 2018). 

 

As a matter of fact, both books are products of this very unit and more generally my teaching of global economy and human rights-related courses in various formats over the past 21 years. In effect, therefore, the two texts are representations both of the development of my teaching in this and other units over time and the collective contributions of the students who have gone before you. 

 

In addition, there are a host of other readings (both ‘Essential’ and ‘Further’) noted under the Topic descriptions below. All readings will be accessible either through Canvas eReserve or directly through hyperlinked URLs, or both.

 

Students are expected to read the texts assigned for each class and to reflect upon their reading prior to class, in order to maximise the opportunities for discussion and critical engagement in class. Though the readings have been carefully curated they are nonetheless substantial, so it is imperative that students dedicate sufficient time to get through all (or nearly all) before classes. The bottom line is that doing the readings is crucial to learning the subject and to getting the most out of the four days you spend in class.

 

The unit will be taught in an interactive, seminar-style format, including group work and Q&A sessions, in which students are expected to be active participants. It is to this end that the 25% class participation component of the assessment regime is directed.

 

  Lecture schedule and reading list

 

This unit of study comprises 9 topics spread over the 10 weeks in which the unit of study is taught.
 
NB. The three reading weeks for this unit of study are: week 5 (30 March & 1 April); week 12 (25 & 27 May); and week 13 (1 & 3 June). There will be no lectures in these weeks.

 

The topics and semester weeks are as follows:

Topic 1 (Week 1) – The global economy and human rights (2 & 4 March)

 

In the opening sessions we broach the questions of where, when and how, human rights and the global economy intersect, as well as addressing scepticism (on both sides) that the two subjects are not (or should not be) closely related. It is through the prism of these broad conceptual challenges that we view here (and later under the topics to follow) the particular interactions between development and human rights. Surprisingly, we find that development and human rights were and are still not the close bedfellows one might imagine. Why this is so and whether and how their relationship is maturing will also be a focus in this topic.    

 

Essential Reading

 

Civilising Globalisation – Chapter 1

 

Necessary Evil - Introduction

 

Kristoffer Marslev & Hans-Otto Sano, The Economy of Human Rights Exploring Potential Linkages Between Human Rights and Economic Development (2016), Danish Institute of Human Rights.

 

Jack Donnelly, Universal Human Rights (3rd ed., 2013), chapter 2 (pp. 24-39).

 

Barry Knight, Rethinking Poverty: What makes a Good Society? (2017), chapter 4 (pp.89-114).

 

CESCR General Comment #3: The Nature of States Parties Obligations (14 December 1990)

 

Extracts from CESCR General Comments 12, 13 & 14

 

Paul Romer, “The Dismal Kingdom: Do Economists have too much Power?”, Review Essay, Foreign Affairs (March/April 2020), pp. 150-7.

 

Max Walden, “Half a billion people could be pushed into poverty by coronavirus economic fallout, study finds,” ABC News (9 April 2020)

 

John Cassidy, “Piketty’s Inequality Story in Six Charts”, New Yorker (26 March 2014).

 

 

Further Reading

 

UN Independent Expert on Foreign Debt and Human Rights, Guiding principles on human rights impact assessments of economic reforms (19 Dec 2018)

 

UN Special Rapporteur on adequate housing and human rights, The human rights implications of the financialization of housing, A/HRC/34/51 (18 Jan 2017)

Leif Wenar, “Responsibility and Severe Poverty” in Thomas Pogge (ed) Freedom from Poverty as a Human Right (2007), chapter 10 (pp.255-74).

 

 

Topic 2 (Week 2) – Global finance, development and human rights (9 & 11 March)

 

Finance is the lifeblood of all economic activities, and yet financial actors are often somewhat removed from direct relations with the formulation of development policy, let alone the needs of human rights holders. This relational distance in practice has led to a yawning gap in understanding of how development, human rights and finance intersect, and, just as crucially, has allowed the languages of all three often speak across, rather than with, each other.  Following the GFC of 2007/8, this dissonance has obtained even greater significance.  Under this topic we consider the dimensions of the gap in understanding, its consequences in practice and what might be done about it.

 

Essential reading:

 

Necessary Evil – Chapter 1

 

World Bank, Global Findex Report 2017 on financial inclusion, see “Overview” (pp.1-13).

 

Mary Dowell-Jones, “Financial Institutions and Human Rights”, (2013) 3 Human Rights Law Review, N.B. Focus on pp.423–57  

 

Brookings Blog: Mobile Money: A Technological Game Changer for Tackling Global Poverty? – 3 minute video

 

David Kinley, “The Politics of Human Rights and Finance”, in the Campbell & Bourne (eds), Political and Legal Approaches to Human Rights (2018), chap.10 (pp.155-67).

 

Susan Karamanian, “Human Rights Dimensions of Investment Law” in Erika DeWit & Jure Vidmar (eds.), Hierarchy in International Law: The Place of Human Rights  (OUP, 2012); especially 239-50 and 268-71

 

UN  OHCHR, Human rights impact must be addressed in vulture fund litigation – UN experts, Press Release (December 2014)  

 

CEO of BlackRock, Larry Fink’s letter to CEOs 2018

 

David Kinley, ‘Can booming social bond market really turn finance to the good side?’ Reuters, (June 2018)

 

Hanna Ziady, “ This bond market took off in 2020. And it's all for a good cause” , CNN Business (20 December 2020)

 

 

Further Reading:

 

Amnesty International, Wrong Prescription: The impact of austerity measures on the right to health in Spain (2018), Chap. 2 (pp.19-37)

 

Business for Social Responsibility, 10 human rights priorities for the financial sector (2018)

 

Introduction to the Banking and Finance Oath (7 min video)

 

Center of Concern (2011) A Bottom-Up Approach to Righting Financial Regulation: Why is a Human Rights Approach Needed in Financial Regulation?

 

Olivier de Schutter, Food Commodities Speculation and Food Price Crises (Sept 2010)

 

Tax Justice Network (Germany Branch) Tax and Human Rights. Policy Brief #8 (Feb 2013)

  David Kinley , From Wall Street to Main Street to No Street, money talks. Can we make it listen? Human rights may be the answer , Open Democracy (16 Dec 2018)

 

 

Topic 3 (Week 3) – Public sector development and human rights (16 & 18 March)

 

Public aid (or Official Development Assistance (ODA)) has dominated the development scene since WWII.  But how significant and effective is it? In terms of human rights – which rights are constituents of development and which are the products of development? And what is the significance of this distinction? What roles can and do the discourse and mechanics of international human rights law play in the field of development?  What is the ‘rights way to development’?  Is human rights conditionality a ‘Trojan Horse’ of western cultural imperialism?  And, what are, or should be, the human rights responsibilities of such organizations as national aid agencies, the World Bank (and the regional aid banks), the IMF and UN satellite organizations such as UNDP?  Under this topic heading we seek to address these searching questions.

 

Essential reading

 

Civilising Globalisation – Chapter 3

 

Necessary Evil, pp.133–47

 

• Theory:

 

Rhoda Howard, “The Full Belly Thesis: Should Economic Rights take Priority over Civil and Political Rights?”  (1983) 5 Human Rights Quarterly 467–90

 

Amartya Sen, Development as Freedom (1999), pp.133–4

 

UNDP, Human Development Report 2000, Chapter 1 “Human Rights and Human Development”

 

Benoit Mayer, “Development is No Excuse for Human Rights Abuses: Framing the Responsibility of International Development Agencies”, Trade, Law and Development (2014) Vol.5:2, 286-343.

 

UN OHCHR, Human Rights in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development

 

Public debt, austerity measures and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, Statement by the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (22 July 2016)

 

Eric Posner, “Should human rights play a role in development?”, World Bank Economic Review (2017), S16–33

 

• Practice:

 

Peter Uvin, Human Rights and Development  (Kumarian Press, 2004), and chapter 3 in the same book (copies to be handed out in class)

 

On Aid’s ‘leaky bucket’, see “Misplaced charity”, The Economist, (11 June 2016)

 

 

Jaclyn Berfond et al, Capacity Building for Government-to-Person Payments: A Path to Women’s Empowerment, Women’s World Banking (2019)

 

UN, Guiding Principles on extreme poverty and human rights, adopted by UN Human Rights Council, (27 Sept 2012)

 

Further reading

 

New Economics Foundation, “How Poor is Poor?: Towards a Rights Based Poverty Line”,  (July, 2010)

 

On transparency and private sector enterprise in developing countries (especially regarding extractive industries – see:

• The Extractive Industries Initiative (EITI)
• Publish What You Pay (PWYP)

 

World Bank website: for Bank Group’s structure and basic facts.

 

Tilburg Guiding Principles on World Bank, International Monetary Fund and Human Rights

 

The Equator Principles  - and for an assessment of the impact of the EPs see: BankTrack, ‘The Outside Job’ 23 October 2011

 

 

Topic 4 (Weeks 4 & 6) – Private sector development and human rights (23 & 25 March; 13 & 15 April).

[NB. Week 5 is a Reading Week]

 

In this topic we assess the human rights and developmental impacts of private sector commerce, including the potential and problems associated with foreign direct investment (FDI). We focus on the role of transnational corporations (TNCs) as the principal agents of global commercial enterprise and key drivers of economic development.  In particular, we will analyse the debate surrounding whether or to what extent human rights obligations ought/can/are placed on TNCs, and we consider what means (legal and otherwise) are being pursued to articulate and enforce those obligations, including by way of states’ extra-territorial obligations.  Important cases from the relatively small but significant body of international and domestic jurisprudence in the area will be discussed in some depth, including cases involving the development implications of economic, social and cultural rights.  There will also be discussion of the growing number of international initiatives in the field, including the UN’s Human Rights Council’s Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, and the prospects for a binding international treaty on the subject

 

Essential reading

 

Civilising Globalisation – Chapter 4

 

Necessary Evil – Chapter 4

 

Week 4 -

 

• Corporations as ‘agents of development’?

 

Australian aid pivots towards the private sector:

 

- Ministerial statement on engaging the private sector in aid and development: Creating Shared Value through partnership (2015)

• Private Sector Engagement in Australia’s Aid Program: Operational Framework (2019)
• DFAT’s  Private Sector Partnerships portal.

 

Take a few moments to look through the World Bank’s Doing Business world rankings.

 

Leif Wenar, Blood Oil: Tyrants, Violence and the Rules that run the World (2016), chapter 11: “Popular resource sovereignty’, (pp.190-207)

 

De Schutter, Schwinnen & Wouters “Introduction: Foreign Direct Investment and Development” in De Schutter, Schwinnen & Wouters (eds) Foreign Direct Investment and Development, (2013), (pp.1-25)

 

• The human rights responsibilities of TNCs in developing countries

 

UN Committee on ESC Rights Concluding Observations in respect of China 2014 (E/C.12/CHN/CO/2).

 

Enough, “Progress and Challenges on Conflict Minerals: Facts on Dodd-Frank 1502” (August 2015)

 

Ana Čertanec “The Connection between Corporate Social Responsibility and Corporate Respect for Human Rights” 10(2) (2019) DANUBE: Law, Economics and Social Issues Review (online).

 

• Case Study – Shell in Nigeria:

 

• Poison Fire video documentary (28 minutes)
• Wiwa v Shell settlement
• John Vidal, “Shell accepts liability for two oil spills in Nigeria”, The Guardian, 3 Aug 2011.
• Bart Meijer, “Widows of hanged Nigeria activists can continue case vs Shell: Dutch court” Reuters (1 May 2019)

 

NB – for other examples and discussions of various types of corporate abuses of human rights, see:  http://www.business-humanrights.org/Categories/Issues/Abuses.

 

Week 6 -

 

• Legal/litigation responses:

 

• Domestic laws

 

Justine Nolan & Martine Boersma, Addressing Modern Slavery (2019), Chapter 4, pp.113-59

 

Vigilanz Kulturen,  The French “Corporate Duty of Vigilance” Law: An Example of Bottom-Up Vigilance? (18 June 2020)

Claire O’Brien, The Home State Duty To Regulate TNCs Abroad (2016), Danish Institute of Human Rights.

 

Cees van Dam, “Tort Law and Human Rights: Brothers in Arms on the Role of Tort Law in the Area of Business and Human Rights”. 2 (2011) Journal of European Tort Law (2011), 221-54

 

Anna Grear and Weston Burns, "The Betrayal of Human Rights and the Urgency of Universal Corporate Accountability: Reflections on a Post-Kiobel Lawscape," (2015) 15(1) Human Rights Law Review, 21-44.

 

Adam Liptak, “Supreme Court Seems Ready to Limit Human Rights Suits Against Corporations”, New York Times (1 Dec 2020)

 

W. Baue, “The Implications of the Nike and Kasky Settlement on CSR Reporting” in Social Funds, 18 Sept 2003.

 

• International law

 

Eric de Brabandere, “Human Rights and Transnational Corporations: The Limits of Direct Corporate Responsibility”, (2010) 4(1) Human Rights and International Legal Discourse. 66-88

 

HRs considerations in investment arbitral decisions (ICSID), see:

• Ubaser v Argentina (2016) – rights to water;
• Philip Morris v Uruguay (2016) – right to health

UN Open-ended intergovernmental working group on transnational corporations and other business enterprises with respect to human rights, Revised draft legally binding instrument on business activities and human rights (July 2019)

 

• Corporate responses

 

Menno Kamminga,  “Company Responses to Human Rights Reports: An Empirical Analysis” (2015)

 

Unilever’s Human Rights Progress Report (2017), pp.1-15 (“Our Approach”)

 

Stefanie Khoury & David Whyte, “How human rights law has been used to guarantee corporations a ‘right to profit’”, The Conversation  (16 March 2017)

 

 

• International organisations’ responses

 

Report of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General (SRSG) on the issue of human rights and transnational corporations and other business enterprises, John Ruggie, “Protect, Respect and Remedy: a Framework for Business and Human Rights”,  (7 April 2008).

 

UN SRSG “Guiding Principles for the Implementation of the UN ‘Protect, Respect and Remedy" Framework’” (June 2011).

 

CESCR, General Comment No. 24 on State Obligations under the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in the Context of Business Activities (23 June 2017)

 

 

UN OHCHR, Ensuring that business respects human rights during the Covid-19 crisis and beyond, Statement by the UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights (undated)

 

Further reading (for whole topic)

 

Almut Schilling-Vacaflor, “Putting the French Duty of Vigilance Law in Context: Towards Corporate Accountability for Human Rights Violations in the Global South?” (2020) Human Rights Review 1, 8.

 

Business Leaders Initiative on Human Rights: Policy Reports (x4, issued 2003–2009).  These comprise practical guidance to corporations on the so-called ‘business case for human rights’. 

All are available at www.blihr.org.

 

Jonathan I. Charney, Transnational Corporations and Developing Public International Law, 1983 Duke Law Journal 748-788 (1983); available at: https://scholarship.law.duke.edu/dlj/vol32/iss4/2.  [NB. This is one of the earliest contributions on the matter of whether and how to involve TNCs in negotiations over soft and hard international laws.]

 

John Knox, “Horizontal Human Rights”, 102 (2008) American Journal of Int’l Law 1–49 

 

Radu Mares, “Business and Human Rights After Ruggie: Foundations, the Art of Simplification and the Imperative of Cumulative Progress”, chapter 1 in Radu Mares (ed) The UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights  (2012)

 

EarthRights International, “Doe v. Unocal Case History” (A brief history of the litigation)

 

Maastricht Principles on Extra-territorial Obligations of States in the area of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (2011)

 

David Kinley & Rachel Chambers, “The UN Human Rights Norms for Corporations: The Private Implications of Public International Law” (2006) 6(3) Human Rights Law Review 447

 

 

Topic 5 (Week 7) – International Institutions and Initiatives (20 & 22 April)

 

Here we survey the key international aid and development organisations that (also) promote human rights goals considering especially the problems and possibilities they face in so doing. Our attention will be focussed on the World Bank Group and the UNDP, but the Asian Development Bank, the OECD, bi-lateral aid agencies and major international NGOs will also be referred to. Under this heading we also consider the human rights implications of a number of important global developmental initiatives, such as the so-called ‘Right to Development’ (RTD), the human rights-based approach to development (HRBA), as well as the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) (and their precursors the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)), the privatization of development, and innovative financing for development

 

Essential Reading:

 

 

ESCR-net, World Bank, When Will It Be Human Rights First, Articles of Agreement Second? (19 Feb 2013)

 

Galit Sarfaty, Values in Translation: Human Rights and the Culture of the World Bank (Stanford University Press, 2012), Chap 1: “Behind the Curve: Institutional Resistance to Human Rights”, 23–50

  Human Rights Watch, Abuse-Free Development : How the World Bank Should Safeguard Against Human Rights Violations (2013)

 

AusAID (as it was then known) and human rights – see ‘Devpolicyblog’ post (2014)

 

Australian Aid (as it is today) and private sector development – see 2018-19 budget statement, and 2015 Ministerial Statement Creating Shared Value Through Partnership

 

HRBA - Andrea Cornwall and Celestine Nyamu-Musembi, 'Putting the 'Rights-Based Approach' to Development into Perspective' (2004) 25(8) Third World Quarterly 17.

 

The Human Rights Based Approach to Development Cooperation: Towards a Common Understanding Among UN Agencies

 

RTD - Jack Donnelly, 'In Search of the Unicorn: The Jurisprudence and Politics of the Right to Development' (1985) 15 California Western International Law Journal.  https://login.ezproxy1.library.usyd.edu.au/login?qurl=http%3a%2f%2fheinonline.org%2fHOL%2fPage%3fhandle%3dhein.journals%252Fcalwi15%26collection%3dfijournals%26id%3d481

Draft Convention on the Right to Development, UN Human Rights Council, Working Group on the Right to Development (Jan 2020

Danish Institute for Human Rights, Human Rights and the SDGs – read the overview and have a look through the Institute’s  Human Rights Guide to the SDGs to see how it has linked the SDGs to specific HRs instruments.

 

OECD, “Innovative financing for development”, chapter 15 in Development Cooperation Report 2014

                                                                                 

Further reading:

 

UN Declaration on the Right to Development (1986)

 

World Bank website: http://go.worldbank.org/3QT2P1GNH0 for Bank structure and basic facts.

 

Galit Sarfaty, Values in Transition: Human Rights and the Culture of the World Bank (Stanford University Press, 2012), Chap 2: “Behind the Curve: Institutional Resistance to Human Rights”, 23-50

 

MDGs – OHCHR, Human Rights and the MDGs in Practice (2010).

 

Philip Alston, “Ships Passing in the Night: The Current State of Human Rights and Development Debate as Seen through the Lens of the MDGs” (2005) 27(3) Human Rights Quarterly 755 (extracts pp.755–770; 828–9)

 

 

Topic 6 (Week 8) – Development and Law and Justice Reform (27 & 29 April)

 

In this topic we address a particular legal form of development policy – namely, the reform of legal institutions and procedures in developing countries (labelled ‘law and justice reform’) – and consider the many human rights issues that arise therefrom, including how we define ‘law and justice’ informal as well as formal settings that may differ markedly from Western models of justice. We will also reflect on the philosophical and theoretical difficulties of evaluating the efficacy of such reforms. An expert practitioner in the field will be invited as a guest speaker in one of these sessions. 

 

Essential reading:

 

World Justice Project, Rule of Law Index – explore the index through this interactive portal, by comparing countries and analysing indices and reflecting on the reasons for differences.

 

See overview of World Bank’s Justice for the Poor initiative.

 

Sage, Menzies and Woolcock, Taking the Rules of the Game Seriously: Mainstreaming Justice in Development The World Bank’s Justice for the Poor Program, (2009)

 

Andrea Woodhouse, Village Justice in Indonesia: Case Studies (2004), Summary.

 

Livingston Armytage, Reforming Justice: a journey to fairness in Asia, (2014), Chapter 2.

 

David Kinley, “Bendable Rules: The Development Implications of Human Rights Pluralism”, in Tamanaha, Sage & Woolcock (eds) Legal Pluralism and Development: Scholars and Practitioners in Dialogue (2012), pp.50-65.

 

Federal Court of Australia, International Programs portal.

 

Robert Rotberg, “Truth Commissions and the Provision of Truth, Justice, and Reconciliation” in Rotberg & Thompson (eds) Truth v. Justice: The Morality of Truth Commissions (2000), chapter1, (pp.1-21).

 

Human Rights Watch, No law, no justice, no state for victims: The culture of impunity in post-conflict Nepal (Nov, 2020)

 

 

Messick, ‘Judicial Reform and Economic Development: a survey of the issues,’ The World Bank Research Observer, (1999) vol. 14, no. 1, pp. 117-136

 

Unsworth, ‘What’s Politics Got to do with It? Why donors find it so hard to come to terms with politics, and why this matters’, Journal of International Development, (2009) vol. 21(6,) pp. 883-894.

 

OECD, Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness: Ownership, Harmonisation, Alignment, Results and Mutual Accountability (pp.1–10)

 

Further reading:

 

Armytage, Reforming Justice: a journey to fairness in Asia, (2014), Chapter 6.

 

Jensen & Heller (eds)  Beyond Common Knowledge: Empirical Approaches to the Rule of Law,(2003), chapter 11

 

Sen, A 2009, The Idea of Justice, Penguin, London; Chapters 17 and 18

 

  

Topic 7 (Week 9) – Trade, development and human rights (4 & 6 May)

 

Trade is crucial for development. This much is recognised in the Marrakesh Agreement that established the WTO, even if the actual practice of international trade law does not bear it out. Trade and human rights on the other hand are often assumed to be separate enterprises; that is, the concerns and goals of one are not related to those of the other. Still further, the modes of operation of the two are often distinct and distant – despite them both sharing an interest in globalization. But is this stance sustainable? We address this question in this topic as well as considering what are the reasons for and against interlinking trade, development and human rights and what role can or should trade organs play in sustainable economic development and human rights protection? In these lectures we look not only at the GATT regime, but also that relating to intellectual property (TRIPS) and special programs that are aimed at aiding developing countries such as the WTO’s ‘Aid for Trade’ initiative and the ‘Globalised System of Preferences’.

 

Essential Reading

 

Civilising Globalisation, Chapter 2

 

Brent Radcliffe, How Economic Sanctions Work (2016); Investopedia

The WTO today – WTO report draws attention to impact of COVID-19 trade disruptions on women (5 August 2020)

 

WTO, Aid for Trade at a Glance 2019: Economic Diversification and Empowerment, see chapters 1 and 2.

 

Australian Government, Overview of Australia’s Aid for Trade 2020-21 portal.

General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (1947), especially Articles I, XVIII, XIX, XX & XXI

 

Rachel Harris and Gillian Moon, “GATT Article XX and Human Rights: What do we Know from the First 20 years?” (2015) 16  Melbourne Journal of International Law, NB read only pp.431-58 & 474-82.  

 

Sarah Joseph, Blame it on the WTO: A Human Rights Critique (OUP, 2011), Chapter 2: ‘The Relationship between the WTO and International Human Rights Law’

 

“Global Trade after the Failure of the Doha Round’, New York Times  (1 Jan, 2016).

 

Doha Declaration on the TRIPS Agreement and Public Health (2001).

 

Rudolph Peritz, “Trips and Developing Countries: Introduction”, in Ghidini et al (eds) Trips and Developing Countries (2014), 1-10.

 

Relevant WTO jurisprudence:

 

See a 1995-2018 compendium of one-page WTO case summaries.This compendium provides very brief summaries of a number of leading cases decided under the WTO’s Dispute Settlement Mechanism’s Panels and Appellate Bodies. Some of these disputes are relevant to human rights concerns, especially the following:

• US – Gasoline DS2 (1996),
• EC – Hormones DS26 (1998).
• US – Shrimp DS58 (1998), p.27; and see subsequently in this case US – Shrimp DS58 (2001),
• EC – Asbestos DS135 (2001),
• Brazil – Retreaded Tyres DS332 (2006),

On EC v US/Canada & Argentina WTO GMO case (and it’s inconclusive findings), see here (ASIL)

 

On Australia’s WTO cigarette plain packaging litigation DS467 (re: alleged breaches of both TRIPS and TBT Agreements):

• Summaries of final decision in June 2018 available here (WTO) and here (ABC News).
• Full Panels’ Reports (all 888 pages of them!) available here [For reference only]

On the Trans-Pacific Partnership:   - John Sifton, Sure, TPP Is ‘Win-Win’… Unless You Care About Human Rights The Diplomat (12 May 2015).

- Tridivesh Singh Maini, The TPP in the post-COVID World Modern Diplomacy  (18 May 2020)

 

Further Reading:

 

The ‘Aid for Trade’ Initiative – see (former WTO DG) Pascal Lamy podcast

 

James Harrison, The Human Rights Impact of the World Trade Organisation (Hart, 2007), chapter 10.

 

E-U. Petersmann, “Human Rights and International Trade Law: Defining and Connecting the Two Fields” in Cottier et al, Human Rights and International Trade (2005), pp. 29 – 68.

 

Lakshmi Puri, “Towards a New Trade ‘Marshall Plan’ for Least Developed Countries”(UNCTAD, 2005).

 

 

Topic 8 (Week 10) – The importance of governance for the fulfilment of development and human rights goals (11 & 13 May)

 

This topic has both retrospective and prospective dimensions to it. Its focus is on the roles played and to be played by the notions of good governance and the rule of law in promoting development. In particular, we focus on how governance impacts social, political and economic stability in countries (especially developing countries) in ways that secure the better protection of human rights.  Consideration is given to the view that as lynchpins between human rights and the global economy, the twin notions of good governance and the rule of law serve as a vehicles into which actors in both fields can invest and profit from. A number of specific institutional and country case studies will be discussed in these sessions.

 

Essential Reading

Necessary Evil, Chapter 6.

UNESCAP, What is Good Governance?

For a brief overview of relevant UN initiatives:  The Rule of Law and Human Rights.

 

UN Commission on Human Rights, “The Role of Good Governance in the Promotion of Human Rights”, Resolution 2003/65 (24 April 2003).

 

Meetika Srivastava, “Good Governance - Concept, Meaning and Features: A Detailed Study” (2010)

 

Hurst Hannum, Rescuing Human Rights (2019), Chapter 3: “The importance of governments, for better or worse” (pp.26-43)

Timothy Garton-Ash, “Come on, India! Show us that freedom can outdo tyranny: How can such poverty, corruption and inequality endure in the world's largest, most diverse democracy?” Guardian, 13 Jan 2013.

Anne Peters, Corruption as a violation of international human rights 29(4) (2019) European Journal of International Law 1251; NB. pp.1251-67 only

China Power, How does corruption hinder China’s development? (2020)

 

Daniel Kaufmann, “Human Rights and Governance: The Empirical Challenge” in Philip Alston & Mary Robinson (eds) Human Rights and Development: Towards Mutual Reinforcement (2005), pp. 352-402.

 

Further Reading:

 

Olivier de Schutter “TNCs as Instruments of Human Development” in Alston & Robinson (eds) Human Rights and Development (OUP, 2005), pp.403-445.

 

David Kinley, “Human Rights, Globalization and the Rule of Law: Friends, Foe or Family?”  (2002-03) 7 University of California, Los Angeles, Journal of International Law and Foreign Affairs 239

 

Commission on Legal Empowerment of the Poor, Making the Law Work for Everyone: Volume 1, (UNDP & Commission on Legal Empowerment of the Poor: New York, 2008).

 

Daniel Brinks and Varun Gauri, The Law’s Majestic Equality? The Distributive Impact of Litigating Social and Economic Rights, World Bank Policy Research Working Paper, 5999 (2012).

 

 

Topic 9 (Week 11) – Review and reflection: future prospects for the relationships between development, law and human rights (18 & 20 May).

[NB. Weeks 12 & 13 are Reading Weeks]

 

This topic comprises one or more in-class, small group exercises (depending on final enrolment number), to be handed out in the first session (18 May). That session will be devoted to group discussion and preparation. The second session (20 May) will be dedicated to individual/group presentations. These presentations will constitute part of the ‘class participation’ mark for the unit of study. There are not prescribed readings for this topic, rather the exercise will draw from the substance of the previous 8 topics. So, it is strongly suggested that the reading preparation for this week be catch-up on all those materials that you have previously not read or read only briefly in the preceding weeks.!

WORD COUNT PENALTY

 A piece of assessment which exceeds the prescribed word limit will attract a penalty of 10% of the total marks available for the piece of assessment for every 100 words, or part thereof, over the limit.