International Protection of Human Rights

Profession

A lawyer in the field of international protection of human rights is a specialist dealing with promotion and protection of human rights and freedoms. Such a specialist is in demand in national legislative and executive authorities (parliaments, ministries, departments), structures of international organisations (UN, UNESCO, WHO, etc.), non-governmental organisations, diplomatic institutions, universities, transnational corporations, human rights organisations, etc.

Educational Process

The unique character of the interuniversity Master’s programme International Protection of Human Rights is connected with the fact that since 2009 it has been implemented on the basis of a Consortium of the leading Russian universities with the support of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation. The Consortium includes the following partners: Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia (RUDN), Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO), Russian State University for the Humanities (RSUH), Kazan Federal University (KFU), Perm State National Research University, Voronezh State University (VSU), The First President of Russia Boris Yeltsin Ural Federal University, Humanities University (Yekaterinburg) and Ural State Law University.
At the first stage of development, RUDN acted as a coordinating university for the joint implementation of the Master’s programme. Today, the programme supervision is provided by the RUDN Scientific Institute on Globalization and Human Rights.
The programme has been accredited by the Foundation for International Business Administration Accreditation (FIBAA, Austria).
The programme is based on practice-oriented courses, the vast majority of which were developed by the RUDN in cooperation with the UN OHCHR.
Master’s students have the opportunity to gain up-to-date knowledge through the involvement of the best Russian scholars and practitioners, including UN experts. The programme’s teaching staff unites the professors of the RUDN Department of International Law, who graduated from the foreign universities or did internship programmes in the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (Switzerland), the Council of Europe (France), Harvard University (the USA), the University of Amsterdam (Netherlands), Lund University (Sweden), the European Interuniversity Center for Human Rights and Democratization (Italy), etc. The Consortium's professors actively participate in academic mobility programmes and deliver lectures at the Consortium's universities as guest lecturers in Russian and English.
Every year, the Consortium invites up to 8-12 foreign experts on human rights of the UN system, as well as professors from member universities of the Venice Consortium (EUIC), who deliver lectures in English as part of the courses included in the Master’s programme.
On the basis of the RUDN Department of International Law, with the support of the UN OHCHR, the Interuniversity Resource Center for Human Rights was established. The Center is the main platform for practical classes and a library representing a unique collection of literature including all branches of international law in Russian, English and French. The Resource Center also serves as a venue for round table discussions and trainings, online broadcasts of lectures by the visiting professors at partner universities of the Consortium.
Master’s students have the opportunity to defend their Master’s thesis under the double academic supervision (RUDN and one of the universities of the Venice Consortium). During the course of study master’s students are actively involved in the summer school programmes, organized annually on the basis of partner universities of the Consortium.

Practice

The Department of International Law of the Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia provides internship on the basis of the department itself, and support students when applying for internships at foreign universities, international organizations and companies. The Department has a number of signed agreements with international organizations, ministries and departments, such as Intersputnik International Organization for Space Communications, Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation, Association of Indigenous Peoples of the North, Siberia and Far East of the Russian Federation, Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (Representation in the Russian Federation), Regional Delegation of the International Committee of the Red Cross in the Russian Federation, Belarus and Moldova , Office of the Commissioner for Human Rights in the Russian Federation, Russian Red Cross, St. Petersburg Research Center for Environmental Safety of the Russian Academy of Sciences, International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Society , Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation, Federal Institute of Mediation.

Career

The graduates who have mastered the programme hold positions in the Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, the UN human rights treaty bodies, IAEA, UNAIDS, FAO, UNESCO, national parliaments, ministries, departments, permanent missions at international organizations, legal associations, international law firms, transnational corporations, the European Telecommunications Satellite Organization (EUTELSAT), etc.