LLM International Human Rights

This module introduces you to the history, theory and practice of international human rights law, through the critical lens of postcolonial, feminist, and queer perspectives.

You’ll explore important critical work on the history, theory and development of human rights, identifying, and critiquing, the limits of international human rights law. While focussing on human rights, this module will also help you better understand approaches to criminal justice in this area. You’ll be grounded in the fundamentals, learning about the instruments and institutions that make up the international system of human rights protection, such as the UN Human Rights Council.

Through a range of activities, from law clinics to undertaking research, you’ll compare and contrast the differences in human rights systems from around the world. You’ll learn from Goldsmiths’ academics and expert guest lecturers, and collaborate with some of the best legal institutions and practices that London has to offer.

Taking a critical approach to learning, you’ll examine the ways in which feminist, queer, trade unionist, anti-racist and environmental movements have creatively used human rights law. You’ll also be empowered to challenge the global rise of ‘strongman politics,’ as well as of nationalist, populist and authoritarian ideals, identifying threats to the modern architecture of international human rights.

This module introduces you to advanced themes and contemporary debates in International Human Rights Law. You’ll closely examine and critically appraise the ways in which individual human rights provisions are protected by international law instruments and institutions.

You’ll explore some of the most cutting-edge human rights debates of our time, from climate justice to hate speech and AI-based predictive policing. Discussions and debates throughout the module will show the far-reaching impact of human rights on areas such as criminal justice, sport and gender identity.

Learning in this module is active. You’ll have the opportunity to learn from expert guest speakers, visit leading human rights NGOs and gain practical experience through Law Clinics. We’ll encourage you to adopt an inclusive approach to international human rights law, with a focus on diverse and traditionally marginalised perspectives.

Your dissertation will be a structured piece of writing, supported by the sustained investigation of international human rights. As well as delving in-depth into a specific topic, your dissertation will help you develop essential skills for a career in law. It can also provide a route into PhD study.  Your dissertation will be detailed work offering an original perspective to the field of international human rights.

You’ll work closely with your dissertation supervisor, who will have expertise in your particular area of research. Your supervisor will provide guidance and support throughout your dissertation, from drafting your proposal to conducting your research.

You have the freedom to shape your own research focus and may wish to investigate anything from national law to international legal perspectives.

The UK’s foremost civil liberties organisation, Liberty, joins forces with Goldsmiths to deliver this cutting-edge module that will give you an insider’s view of the work of human rights NGOs, and the multiple ways they are fighting for the protection of freedom, equality and justice.

The module centres on fundamental human rights such as free speech, the right to protest, privacy and family life, gender and racial equality, the right to life, and protection from violence. It also extends its analysis to crucial human rights concerns in the operation of the criminal justice system – for example, in relation to stop and search, discriminatory outcomes of the ‘joint enterprise’ doctrine, the excessive policing of protests, the use by the police of stereotypically racist watchlists of people designated as potential members of a gang, or the risks for human freedom intrinsic in the use AI-based facial recognition in policing.

You will be taught by NGO experts who will introduce you to case studies from their practice. In this way you’ll get to discuss topics such as: government plans to reform the Human Rights Act; legislative reforms that attack the right to protest; surveillance en masse by the intelligence services, leading to major NGO-led litigation at the European Court of Human Rights; attacks on migrants’ rights; and grassroots campaigns for police accountability and, in some cases, abolition.

Traditionally, terrorism is thought of as a public problem that the state responds to using its public-facing laws and policies. But what about the often neglected private realm of the home and family? To what extent, and in what ways, have counter-terrorism measures intervened in and regulated domestic life and familial relationships? How have they impacted the right to a private and family life? How has this impacted the rights of children? And to what extent is the increasing regulation of the family within the context of counter-terrorism and national security a gendered and racialised phenomenon? 

This module explores these urgent legal and political questions by drawing on critical terrorism studies, critical approaches to family law and policy, critical race theory, and feminist legal theory. In doing so, it offers a unique approach to the study of counter-terrorism and human rights, disrupting the prevailing public/private binary to give attention to – and in fact centre – the private regulation of the family and family life in the name of national security.

The module also includes a practical dimension. You will get to engage in primary legal research, retrieving case-law from various disparate databases, collecting information by sending Freedom of Information requests to public bodies, analysing data and trends, and conducting interviews with practitioners.

This module will present you with a 360-degree view of the criminal justice process, taking a multidimensional perspective to explore synergies between domestic, transnational and international systems.

Modern trends in UK criminal law and criminal justice thinking will be explored, from excessive criminalisation to the use of algorithm-based predictive policing, and from ‘digital strip searches to the use of live facial recognition techniques in policing. Guest lecturers who work for leading criminal justice NGOs in London will provide invaluable insights gathered from experiencing the impact of these policies on the ground.

The module will continuously move from domestic criminal justice to exploring modern developments in comparative and international law. This will empower you to identify and draw upon strengths and weaknesses in different criminal justice systems and concentrate your critical analysis on the need for reform. You will get to engage with the perennially complex issues raised when we are confronted with the conflicting interests of convicting the guilty, empowering the victim and protecting the public, on the one hand, and avoiding devastating miscarriages of justice or irreparable violations of human rights on the other.

In this module, you’ll look at the law from a feminist and queer perspective, critique the legal systems put into place by patriarchal societies, and understand how this relates to human rights and criminal justice. You’ll benefit from access to Goldsmiths’ Centres for Feminist Research and Queer History.

This module covers the mainstream legal progression from human rights to criminal justice, in both domestic and international legal systems through engagement with queer and feminist legal theory.

You’ll explore structures of domination such as capitalism, white supremacy, and patriarchy, which have been historically co-dependent through systems of law and governance.

We’ll ask broader theoretical questions about the relationship between law and patriarchy through classic texts covering topics like feminist and queer legal theory, trans rights and critical race, and postcolonial feminism. You’ll consider the promise of ‘non-reformist reform’, critically examining the mainstream focus on women’s human rights in international law from the 1970s to today.

You’ll also benefit from the expertise of guest lecturers with unique perspectives on subjects like sexual violence and trans rights. Taking part in active learning through workshops, trips and research, you’ll gain the knowledge you need to take the next steps into a career or further study in human rights.

This module will introduce you to contemporary global environmental challenges and how the law responds to them. 

You’ll explore a number of case studies that might include: the challenge of global regulation in response to climate change; tensions and synergies between environmental protection and economic development; the adequacy of human rights as a tool of environmental protection; the tension between sovereignty, equity and common concern in the protection of biodiversity; and the connections between international criminal law, international humanitarian law and the environment, in particular in relation to the crime of ecocide.

To further enrich your learning experience, you’ll go on study visits that may include trips to prominent environmental NGOs such as Greenpeace or Client Earth (a legal environmental charity using the law to fight environmental battles), or London-based UN agencies such as the UN Global Compact Network UK. There will also be guest lectures from key players in this area including environmental law practitioners, academics, policy-makers, UN officials, and NGO activists.

This module gives you the opportunity to put human rights theory into practice, discover human rights career destinations and develop a professional ethos and other transferable skills.

You’ll confront challenging societal issues through supervised legal research and public engagement activity.

 You can choose from one of the following three routes:

• The University of London Refugee Law Clinic (admission is highly competitive)
• The Immigration Law Clinic
• The Counter-Terrorism and Human Rights Law & Policy Clinic

Working in small groups, you’ll learn from Goldsmiths' academics, guest lecturers and industry experts. This module is diverse, and you’ll take part in a range of activities including researching case law and working with NGOs and charities. This practical experience will give you the edge in pursuing a career or PhD study in the field of criminal justice.

This module gives you the opportunity to put human rights theory into practice with a placement lasting a minimum of 14 days. There is a range of human rights placement opportunities notably in legal advice centres, Citizens’ Advice Bureaus, social justice organisations, human rights NGOs, charities and Law Clinics.

As part of this module, you’ll also undertake 10 hours of trial observations and write a reflective journal report, which will be assessed as part of the module. You’ll gain an understanding of potential human rights careers by working with NGOs, charities, law firms and other relevant organisations.

The Law Department and Careers service will support you in securing a placement. From help writing your CV and personal statement, to identifying opportunities, we’ll be with you every step of the way.

This module is for anyone looking to pursue a career or further study in the area of human rights or criminal justice. It’s open to a range of disciplines, not just those studying law.

This pioneering module draws on Goldsmith’s strengths in the areas of technology and creativity, and its heritage of original thinking and innovation. It’s designed for anyone wishing to pursue a career or further study in law and technology, working in areas such as AI bias and algorithmic fairness.

You’ll consider questions about rapidly developing and highly sophisticated technologies. You’ll gain a technological, systemic, ethical and cultural understanding that will help you to keep up to date with new technologies. It will also give you a chance to critique topics like how technology may be a risk to human rights. 

We take an interdisciplinary approach to teaching, and you’ll learn from tech experts and developers to help you understand the essentials of how technologies work in practice. Legal experts will then help you explore critical questions about how law could or should regulate these technologies.

Through a mixture of trips, guest lectures, and research events, you’ll tackle some of the key debates facing this sector. From the ethics of AI to disruptive technology, find out the impact tech has on today’s society.

This interdisciplinary module is grounded in Goldsmiths’ heritage in the creative arts and lets you explore the relationship between law and art. You’ll collaborate with leading law firms as well as our own Department of Art, which is world-renowned and whose academics and graduates form part of London’s dynamic art world.

We’ll teach you to approach law not simply as a set of rules, but within a wider socio-historical, philosophical and cultural context. We’ll cover the different ways that law, literature, film, and the arts more broadly, overlap with issues of social justice, human rights and commercial law. You’ll examine key legal principles of intellectual property and the ownership of art, with a particular focus on modern and non-conventional forms of creativity.

This module is taught in a varied and active way. You’ll debate topics such as the ownership of the Parthenon Marbles following a trip to the British Museum. You’ll learn from guest lecturers and visit leading law firms, exhibitions, and other relevant organisations to enrich your studies.

In this module, you'll explore the politics of human rights and the challenges of securing rights in the contemporary context. You'll engage critically with theory, drawing on political philosophy, legal theory and international relations approaches to defining and critiquing human rights. You'll also focus on case studies, looking in depth at key contemporary human rights struggles and issues.

You'll begin with an introduction to the state of the debate on human rights politics, then examine the major theories and political concepts underpinning modern understandings of human rights and the political and legal institutions established to promote and protect human rights. You'll also consider the role of human rights actors, including transnational advocacy networks, social movements and NGOs, analysing their approaches and methods. You'll explore intersections between human rights, and the politics of humanitarianism and development where relevant, examining the spectrum of human rights violations and contestations, ranging from civil and political, to social and economic rights.

The module employs a problem-based approach, involving participants in identifying and analysing critical human rights problems through individual research and interactions with practitioners. Students will each produce a research-based essay, which will be developed in stages and with supervision, including through a formative presentation. The module is designed to develop knowledge and understanding of human rights as concept, law and practice and to evaluate the significance and potential of human rights in the context of contemporary politics.

In this module, you’ll focus on how technology has restructured regimes of mobility control and labour, discussing which justice claims can be raised. You’ll explore how digital platforms, databases interoperability, biometric technologies and digital identity systems have been incorporated in mobility governance and labour regimes. You’ll examine literature on justice as well as recent works that have elaborate justice theory in light of the political and economic transformation generated by technology. You’ll engage with current debates about technologies, datafication of mobility and new forms of labour precarity and situates the present context within a longer history of racialised surveillance. The module is highly interdisciplinary. You’ll learn about critical security studies, postcolonial theory, digital labour scholarship and migration literature.  

Learning is structured in three main parts.

• You’ll start with international relations and critical security studies scholarship on digital technologies and mobility governance and it moves on by taking into account feminist and critical race literature on technology. It combines a study about the present context with an historical analysis about the colonial legacies of technology.
• You’ll then focus on how technologies have transformed mobility and migration controls, as well as labour economy, with a specific focus on digital labour. It discusses how technology is used not only for monitoring and tracking individuals and populations but also for obstructing access to welfare system and rights (digital hostile environment).
• You’ll end by investigating what the politics of justice in digitalised societies might look like. It analyses the justice claims that have been laid by social movements to challenge mobility controls and precarity enhanced by technology and discusses how digital technologies are repurposed, appropriated and twisted by both citizens and migrants.

In this module, you'll explore how societies emerging from different types of conflict (such as war, genocide, ethnic violence and grave human rights abuses) engage in the process of coming to terms with their past. You'll examine official mechanisms of ‘transitional justice’ such as trials and truth commissions, as well as cultural forms of remembrance and local community practices.

By exploring the complex relationship between conflict, memory and justice in various cross-cultural settings, you'll gain an understanding of the ways in which such processes can promote or hinder reconciliation and the rebuilding of social and inter-communal ties.

The module will also assess the role of external factors (particularly through the creation of international war crimes tribunals) in terms of how they have affected such internal processes of facing the past. Various case studies, including Germany, Japan, Serbia, South Africa, and Rwanda will inform the theoretical discussions and provide a comparative perspective.