LLM/PGDip/PGCert International Minority Rights Law

Course content

What will you study on the LLM/PGDip/PCert International Minority Rights Law? Structure

Full-time LLM (1 year, 180 credits)

• Four core plus two optional modules are completed over terms one and two, with a Dissertation period in term three.

Part-time LLM (2 years, 180 credits)

• Four core plus two optional modules are completed over four taught terms, plus a Dissertation period
• Two modules in term one, two modules in term two, and two modules in the first term of the following academic year.

PG Diploma (1 year, 120 credits)

• Four core plus two optional modules completed over four taught terms
• Two modules in term one, two modules in term two, and two modules in the first term of the following academic year.

For all pathways, attendance may be required during the day and/or evening, depending on your choice of modules.

Modules

Each module is typically worth 20 credits, except the Dissertation, Work Integrated Learning and Practicum in International Organisations modules which are worth 60 credits each. The Work Integrated Learning and Practicum in International Organisations may be chosen to replace the Dissertation with prior agreement.

Additional optional modules available in International Politics, Criminology and Sociology

In addition to the Law modules listed below, students can study one of the following modules from International Politics, Criminology and Sociology either in term one or two.

Term one: Environmental Law and Governance; Migration Theories and Approaches.

Term two: Politics of Globalisation; Migration Politics and Policies.

Not all of the modules listed will be available in any one year. Module availability is dependent on staffing and the number of students wishing to take each module.

You can find more information about this course in the programme specification. Optional modules are not offered on every course. If we have insufficient numbers of students interested in an optional module, or there are staffing changes which affect the teaching, it may not be offered. If an optional module will not run, we will advise you after the module selection period when numbers are confirmed, or at the earliest time that the programme team make the decision not to run the module, and help you choose an alternative module.

This module equips you with essential research skills necessary to complete a masters of law successfully, including the technical and conventional systems governing academic writing and the principles and practice followed in legal reasoning.

This module enables you to understand, analyse and comment upon the international law framework on minority rights and indigenous peoples under the United Nations, American, European, African and Asian systems, assessing their efficacy in dealing with violations.

This module aims to provide you with a critical exploration of the key institutions and frameworks that govern human rights at the international level and of the international policy context that promotes sustainable development, to examine how the two do, or do not, interact. It problematises the notion of rights as competing, contested and co-opted, and questions their ability to function in crisis situations.

This module provides you with an in-depth understanding of the international human rights law framework under the United Nation organisations and ability to assess its efficacy engaging the complementary American, African and Asian regional systems of promotion and protection of human rights worldwide.

The Dissertation module is taught in term two, and assessed by a 15,000-18,000 dissertation. You'll be asked to demonstrate expert-level knowledge and advanced-level legal research skills by writing a dissertation paper, supported by a supervisor, on a topic you propose and which is approved by the module leader, Dr Lughaidh Kerin.

Eligible LLM students can replace this module with the Work Integrated Learning or Practicum in International Organisations module with prior approval.

In this module you'll be able to to undertake work experience in an international organisation for 12 weeks. Examples of organisations where students from Middlesex have completed their placement include the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, and the Building and Woodworkers International global union federation, as well as a range of NGOs and other UN agencies in Geneva.

You'll be required to keep a diary of your work documenting the acquisition of transferable skills, plus produce an original 4,000-word academic paper which indicates you understand the organisation where your placement took place.

The module aims to enable you to apply theoretical knowledge and research to anticipate and respond to challenges in a selected workplace experience. You can undertake this workplace experience as an internship that you negotiate yourself or in your current workplace or an existing voluntary role. It also aims to help you foster sustainable long term learning by requiring that you take responsibility for your own learning, design and negotiate learning goals and make informed judgments about your performance across the programme of study. The module will ask you to engage as active subjects in the assessment process, thus enhancing your capacity for transformative learning. By selecting a topic of interest grounded in your workplace experience you’ll be expected to demonstrate reflexivity, self-regulation and self-assessment in your journey towards personal and professional development.

The Bophal disaster, the tragedy of the Niger Delta and the collapse of the Rana Plaza factory are all examples of what appears to be systematic corporate human rights abuses which are not being adequately prevented or remedied. This module enables you to understand how the sub-discipline business and human rights challenges State-centred architecture of international human rights law and delves into the responsibility of non-state actors such as multinational corporations in the area of human rights. It also challenges the idea that only individuals can commit international crimes such as genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes looking into corporate criminal and civil liability for human rights violations

This module equips you with critical understanding of the major theories concerning the nature of corporations, their role and function in society, the concerns surrounding corporate governance and corporate responsibility, and the laws and practices governing directorial conduct and company operation in selected countries.

You'll gain a comprehensive understanding of the common law and statutory principles governing the termination of contracts of employment in the UK.

Gain an advanced knowledge and understanding of the European Union's policy and legislative making processes, and the mechanism and tools by which the European Union seeks to promote participatory democracy. Attractive to students interested in making an impact on the contemporary and controversial policy and legislative issues governed by the EU.

An in-depth look at a range of contemporary issues of EU Law and governance enabling you to critically analyse and evaluate the European Union's institutional structures and methods of integration as well as their underlying tensions.

This module engages students with the legal, political and philosophical perspectives of the legal frameworks, institutions and remedies available to protect fundamental rights in Europe, both under the European Convention on Human Rights and the European Union Charter of Fundamental Rights.

Acquire detailed and wide-ranging knowledge of EU laws on free movement of persons, immigration, asylum and border management, and learn how these laws are implemented in practice.

Enables you to analyse, critically evaluate and provide authoritative commentary on how international law impacts international relations and contemporary concerns such as globalisation, the use of armed force, terrorism, poverty, governance and the regulation of ownership over territory.

Focus on contractual employment relationships and the practical impact of the statutory rights on the operation of employment relationships in the UK.

Equips you with systematic understanding of the relevant national and international regimes governing intellectual property focusing on English and EU law including case law, as well as the measures specified by the agreements on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs) and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).

You will gain the knowledge necessary to deal with contemporary and emerging challenges in the practise and management of transnational commercial disputes with a focus on the increasing use of arbitration for expediency and cost savings by medium and large-scale enterprises operating in multiple jurisdictions.

Gain advanced knowledge of the laws restricting the means and methods of warfare and protecting the victims of armed conflicts

Equips you with detailed knowledge and understanding of English and international normative frameworks regulating the carriage of goods by sea and the laws governing maritime causalities and their aftermath, such as collision, oil pollution, salvage and general average.

You'll develop an understanding of the international body of law prohibiting international crimes viewed as atrocities (genocide, crimes against humanity, aggression and war crimes) and to make perpetrators criminally accountable for their perpetration under national and international jurisdictions.

Get advanced conceptual insights into the legal, political and structural issues that underpin dispute resolution within international organisations through a thematic focus on issues such as labour, trade, title to territory and international peace and security. You will learn to think strategically about different means of settlement of disputes and their applicability to existing or potential conflicts.

In this part of the course you will gain an understanding of the different legal approaches to protecting whistleblowers and the theories used to explain why some people choose to whistleblow while others remain silent.

This module is designed to provide you with a thorough understanding of global trade regimes through an overview of globalisation and contemporary international economic relations; the regulation of international trade by the WTO; and the relationship between international trade, harmonisation of the law and trade-related issues.

Helps you to understand, analyse and assess the relevant regulations at national and European level governing discrimination as well as the practical, historical, social, economic, ethical and philosophical context in which these operate.

This module presumes familiarity with the principles of contract law and extends these into the international arena in the field of international sale of goods. It deals with the English law governing trade in wet and dry commodities and international law, principally the United Nations Convention on the International Sale of Goods. It aims to enhance your ability to tackle the practical, policy and economic implications of legal regimes enabling trade and transactions between parties divided by or purposely straddling legal and geographic boundaries

Understand and analyse contemporary issues, legal problems and emergent changes to legislation governing the conduct of trade, business and financial services.

This module engages students with the legal, political and philosophical perspectives of the legal frameworks, institutions and remedies available to protect fundamental rights in Europe, both under the European Convention on Human Rights and the European Union Charter of Fundamental Rights.

You can find more information about this course in the programme specification. Optional modules are not offered on every course. If we have insufficient numbers of students interested in an optional module, or there are staffing changes which affect the teaching, it may not be offered. If an optional module will not run, we will advise you after the module selection period when numbers are confirmed, or at the earliest time that the programme team make the decision not to run the module, and help you choose an alternative module.