https://studiegids.vu.nl/en/courses/2025-2026/R_THRGAfter following this course students are expected to be able to:know the legal basis of rights protection in international, regional, and EU law be familiar with the procedures for protection of individual and group rights in international, regional, and EU law. critically reflect on the differences between global and regional systems of human rights protection, drawing on scholarly literature. know the law concerning selected human rights in detail. research questions of substantive and procedural human rights law in the scholarship, and express analytic and critical perspectives on these in writing and verbally. Students will be able to reflect on the changing character of territorial borders and territorial space in human rights law as a result of globalization; Students will be able to analyse the role and responsibilities of non-state actors, such as NGO’s, local government and corporations in transnational human rights law; Student will be able to contribute to the public and academic debate regarding altering conceptions of justice and justification in law and politics as a result of globalization, mostly visible in contemporary human rights law.This course complements (but does not overlap with) the course on Human Rights Protection in Europe. That course covers the European Convention of Human Rights, whereas this one will cover the transnational human rights framework. As such it will focus on the differences, similarities and interactions between human rights law from different legal orders, such as established by the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the American Convention on Human Rights, the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights, the European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU, and the European Social Charter. The course uses thematic areas of transnational legal regulation to study substantive aspects of contemporary human rights law, such as scope, enforcement, individual complaint procedures, the question of extraterritorial obligations by states, the increasing emphasis on socio-economic rights in international human rights, the responsibility of non-state actors such as cities and multinational corporations for safeguarding human rights, and the judicialisation of political claims by civil society actors that seek to engage legal institutions in order to bring about social change. The thematic areas that are used to analyse developments in transnational human rights law are (amongst others): Corporate Accountability for Human Rights Violations Social Justice and Global Inequality Transnational Regulation of Migration Transnational Criminal Law Health and Human Rights Climate change and human rightsThe class will be taught in seminars, for which students will be expected to prepare, and in which they will be expected to actively participate in discussion.Written assignments/paperTo be announced on CANVASLLM students, exchange and other students (other masters and faculties). Courses from a master at the faculty can only be taken as a secondary course if you have a diploma that gives access to the relevant master/ specialization and if you are enrolled in a master.Basic knowledge of legal regulation and public international law.