Note: This course is also offered as part of the Professional Development Diploma on Sustainable Development and Human Rights.
Course Description
The certificate course offered by the Human Rights Center of the University for Peace explores the connections between the environment, development, and human rights. It examines how these connections can help in protecting both the environment and human rights. The course takes an interdisciplinary approach and emphasizes the educational, legal, and social aspects of this relationship. It addresses the structural inequalities inherent in international environmental law, the issue of climate change and its legal framework derived from the UNFCCC and the Paris Agreement, various human rights-based environmental approaches, and the precarious position of small island development states through the lens of dispute settlement and loss and damage.
The course is based on dynamic pedagogy, which includes reading materials, video clips, case studies, and interactive webinars with the instructor.
Course outline
- Week 1: Introduction to Environment, Development, and Human Rights Linkages
- Week 2: Legal Approaches: Concepts, Mechanisms and Implementation
- Week 3: Ozone & Climate change regime
- Week 4: The quest of small island states: dispute settlement mechanisms
- Week 5: International environmental law and human rights – UN system
- Week 6: International environmental law and human rights – regional human rights mechanisms
Who Should Apply
The course is intended for staff members of civil society organizations and (inter)governmental organizations involved in environmental protection, climate change mitigation and adaptation, policy-making on environmental issues, development work, human rights, humanitarian work, health, etc. Candidates should have a good written command of English and be highly competent and comfortable with computers and Internet use.
About the Instructor
Dr.Marjolein Schaap (Netherlands) is a professor in the Department of International Law at the University for Peace where she teaches International Environmental Law and International Human Rights Law, among other courses. She obtained her LL.B. (2008), LL.M (2009), and Ph.D. in international public law (2020) from the Erasmus School of Law, Erasmus University Rotterdam, the Netherlands. She held a lecturer position at the Department of international law at the Erasmus School of Law (2009-2013) and a Ph.D. position from 2014-2018. She assisted the EU Policy & Outreach Partnership in the USA (based in Washington D.C, USA) in the organization of events and outreach thereof in the South Florida region (2018-2019). Further, Marjolein was an adjunct lecturer at the University of Curacao from 2019-2021, where she taught Regional Human Rights Law.
Marjolein’s principal areas of research and study are the law of international institutions, human rights law, and global governance. Her research addresses accountability and transparency issues of public authorities, whether they operate at the national or international level. Marjolein was a visiting researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law (Heidelberg, Germany) in 2013 and 2014. In addition, Marjolein served as a reviewer for the Oxford Journal of Transitional Justice (2010-2014), as a member of the editorial board of the School of Human Rights Research newsletter (2012-2016), as a reviewer for the International Journal of Rule of Law, Transitional Justice and Human Rights (2018), and as a rapporteur for the Comparative Covid-19 Project managed by the Young Scholar Initiative of the Institute for New Economic Thinking (2020-2021). She is a rapporteur for Oxford Database for International Organizations (OXIO).
Course Fee
For Certificate: Fee for taking this course is USD 600. UPEACE students and almuni enrolling for the Certificate course are entitled to 30% discount on the fee.
For Auditing: It is also possible to audit the course, in which case, participants will not receive a certificate. Auditors, however, will have access to all course material, be able to participate in the synchronous webinar sessions, and be able to monitor the online discussions of participants. The fee for auditing the course is USD 200.
For Certificate and 2 Academic Credits: Participants are also able to take the course for two academic credits offered by UPEACE. The cost of taking the course for 2 academic credits is USD 1100.
Application Procedure
To apply, please fill up the enrolment form. Applicants will be contacted within three working days of the application. The diploma is limited to 25 participants.
Payment
Payments may be made either by credit card or by wire transfer. Payment by wire transfer usually takes three to four business days to be deposited in our account. Payment by credit card is instant.
If you wish to make the payment by credit card, please go to https://payments.upeace.org/hrc/
Payments by wire transfer must be made to the following bank account:
Universidad para la Paz
Banco Nacional de Costa Rica
Bank account number:100-02-099-600195-4
Swift Code: BNCRCRSJ and IBAN: CR57015109910026001958
Avenidas 1 y 3, Calle 4
San José, Costa Rica