Global Ethics and Human Rights

In today's world national states and the human population are increasingly interdependent and interconnected. The globalisation process has implications for human identity and human relations in several different ways. Accordingly, global ethics and human rights are important to think through and address the ethical challenges produced or intensified by globalisation. This interdisciplinary course provides knowledge in ethical competence in relation to human rights and ethical dilemmas in the context of globalisation and human welfare. The course examines welfare rights as a component of human rights using a mixture of normative, theoretical and empirical tools. The course includes knowledge of human rights, global ethics and social welfare. UN sustainable development goals, in addition to migration and borders of human mobility, will be addressed. Questions about ethical responsibility and different ethical principles and dilemmas are analysed and discussed.

The course is a subject area course for programmes within the study area social sciences. Check the programme description for each study programme for information about requirements.

Knowledge

Tthe candidate has knowledge:

• of theories of global ethics and globalisation
• of UN's sustainable development goals
• about human rights principles, relevant code of ethics and international instuitions
• about human rights in a legal perspective
• of the impact of human rights on social welfare and social justice
• about the issues and dilemmas related to human rights and global ethics

Skills

The candidate can:

• analyse and discuss human rights and ethical dilemmas in relation to poverty and social exclusion, racism, migration, gender, children and sustainable development
• identify personal and professional values, ethics and dilemmas.

General competence

The candidate can:

• understand the meaning of human rights
• analyse the role of global ethics and human rights in issues related to human welfare.
• communicate the subject matter both in writing and orally

The course is organized into lectures, seminars and group work. Students are expected to play an active role by taking part in dialogue in seminars and group work.