Bachelor of Arts with Human Rights

The Bachelor of Arts with Human Rights is an exciting, four-year interdisciplinary degree programme offered by the College of Arts, Social Sciences, and Celtic Studies in conjunction with the Irish Centre for Human Rights. 

The programme is unique in several respects, chiefly because it is the only undergraduate programme of its kind in the Republic of Ireland that allows undergraduates to specialise in a field that was previously reserved for postgraduate study. 

During the course, students engage with human rights discourse through class-based teaching at the Irish Centre for Human Rights, which is one of the world's premier academic human rights institutions, dedicated to the study and promotion of human rights, international criminal law and international humanitarian law.

Finally, students will have the opportunity to undertake work placement or study abroad. The placement provides a unique opportunity to develop practical skills and experience the reality of a career in the field of human rights. Placements have been secured around the world, from Dublin to London, Genève, Madrid, Mexico, Peru and the Philippines. 

Year 1 

• The First Year modules provide an introduction to human rights and analyse the philosophical basis and historical development of human rights. During the first-year students become acquainted with the normative foundations of International Human Rights and the various international human rights mechanisms of promotion. 

Year 2

• In the second year, students undertake the study of the regional human rights systems, structures and instruments, including the Inter-American, the European, the African and Asian Systems of Human Rights. Other modules will have a more thematic approach providing students with knowledge and understanding of some contemporary human rights issues such as migrants and refugees' rights, LGBTIQ+ rights and women’s rights.  

Year 3

• In the first semester, students have a number of optional modules from which they can choose, including, EU Law, Criminal Law Administrative Law, Health Law and Policy, Irish Legal Systems, Constitutional Law and Legal Methods and Research. 
• In the second semester, students will have the opportunity to either undertake a work placement with a human rights organisation, study abroad or undertake an Applied Human Rights Project.

Year 4

• Students will complete their studies in their two core degree subjects and may, if suitable, incorporate the specialist skills and knowledge they have gained in human rights over the previous three years in their final year projects