SDG Detail

LAWPUBL 428 : Rights and Freedoms

Undergraduate course

Project description

This course is about human rights protection in New Zealand from a theoretical, doctrinal, and comparative perspective. It focuses on rights and freedoms in the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990 other than those relating specifically to criminal procedure (the subject of a different course). The course looks at rights protection from a theoretical perspective and through a series of problems and case studies arising out of particular human rights controversies. The discussions will start by examining the theoretical foundations of human rights protection and then draw on case studies and controversies from both New Zealand and other jurisdictions. We look particularly at the rights to liberty and bodily security, freedoms of expression and religion and other democratic rights including voting, and rights to culture and against discrimination. The countries we are especially interested in for comparative purposes are: New Zealand, Canada, United States, and the United Kingdom. We look also at cases from Australia, India, South Africa, and the European Court of Human Rights under the ECHR (by which the UK is bound and which is of direct effect in UK law by virtue of the Human Rights Act 1998 (UK)). A feature of the course is classroom discussion of the readings.

Year 2021

Location New Zealand

Organization University of Auckland

Project aims

Project outcome

By the end of this course, students will be able to: Identify and evaluate underlying theoretical justifications for human rights protection (Capability 1.1, 1.2, 2.1, 2.2, 2.3 and 3.1) Articulate and apply key legal principles and concepts that relate to the protection of human rights to reach reasoned solutions and make reasoned recommendations. (Capability 2.1, 2.2, 4.1, 6.1 and 6.2) Demonstrate effective written communication skills in answering questions about human rights law (Capability 4.1, 4.2 and 5.1) Critically evaluate arguments made by judges and scholars in the field of human rights (Capability 4.1, 4.2, 5.1, 5.2, 6.2 and 6.3)