Introduction

The law faculties at UCLouvain (Saint-Louis - Bruxelles and Louvain-la-Neuve) and Université de Namur offer a joint advanced master's degree in human rights.

In addition to its primarily legal scope, this advanced master's degree was also developed in an interdisciplinary perspective. It aims to provide students with specialised knowledge in the field of human rights, at both domestic and international level. In its legal aspects, this advanced master's degree deals with the human rights provisions guaranteed not only by international jurisdictions and institutions but also by state laws.

In its interdisciplinary aspects, this master's degree aims to provide students with knowledge from other fields of the humanities (history, philosophy, sociology) in order to better understand and implement this protection of human rights.

Classes are taught in French, which is also the language of most course materials. A strong command of this language is therefore required. Passive knowledge of English is also necessary in order to be able to read certain related documents.

Programme governance and administration

The advisory council of the advanced master's degree is composed of all those involved in teaching the programme. The board is made up of professors Olivier De Schutter (UCLouvain Saint-Louis - Bruxelles), Cécile de Terwangne (UNamur) and Jogchum Vrielink (UCLouvain Saint-Louis - Bruxelles) (chairman of the advanced master's degree), and acts as an admissions committee.

The programme’s administration is handled by Martin Laes (UCLouvain Saint-Louis - Bruxelles).

Your profile

The programme is aimed at anyone who wishes to receive specialised instruction in the field of human rights, as well as legal practitioners, lawyers, magistrates, members of non-governmental organisations and national and international civil servants. The link between theory and practice in the defence of human rights – which inspired the programme's implementation and organisation – is evident in the make-up of the target audience.

Your programme

Schedules are designed to allow people with active professional lives to participate. To this end, courses are held several evenings a week (5.30 - 8.30 pm) as well as a few Saturday mornings at the Saint-Louis Bruxelles campus.