Applying Institutions Human Rights Discussion Activity

This in-class or online discussion for upper-level students in an International Relations course helps students apply important concepts in human rights, international law, and international institutions. Students begin by watching a brief United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) video explaining what UNHCR does, and then visiting the UNHCR website to find a region or nation-state where there is active humanitarian assistance. Students identify IGOs and NGOs, and evaluate the degree of multilevel governance, R2P, and differentiate the legal status of refugees, internally displaced persons, stateless peoples, migrants, or asylum seekers. They conclude with a brief summary of how the view of the role of the UNHCR in humanitarian assistance would differ among the liberal institutionalist, realist, radical, feminist and constructivist perspectives.