Welcome to Week 1

Welcome to Course 2 in which we examine the question of how well international human rights law serves marginalised groups of people.

This week our big question is, how are universality claims challenged by the person of the woman? To do this, we consider how well human rights law serves women. It may seem strange to think of women as marginalised, especially if you live in a modern Western democracy. However, as we shall see, women the world over face particular challenges on account of their gender. Specifically, millions of women face violence simply because they are women and many states fail to provide adequate protection or to equip a justice system capable of punishing their assailants.

In this video clip, you will be introduced to two women, Josephine from Uganda, and Francesca from Italy. Keep their experiences in mind as you progress through the week.

By the end of this week you should be able to:

• identify why it is important for human law to address women’s rights as a specific category
• identify international norms relating to women’s human rights
• understand the significance of violence against women as a form of discrimination against women
• identify violence against women as a barrier to other human rights