CENTER FOR HOLISTIC INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS LAW PRAXIS

NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF THE UNION OF MYANMAR
BURMESE AMERICAN COMMUNITY INSTITUTE
CENTER FOR HOLISTIC INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS LAW PRAXIS
Academic Year Fall 2022–Spring 2023
Director: Perfecto Caparas
Email: info@umyanmar.org

Goals

The Center for Holistic Human Rights Praxis shall educate, train, nurture, and develop leaders, professionals, and specialists in the following:

  • International Human Rights Law
  • International Humanitarian Law
  • International Criminal Law
  • International Environmental Law
  • Holistic Human Rights Leadership and Praxis
  • Holistic Human Rights-Based Approach
  • United Nations Human Rights Reporting and Advocacy
  • Human Right to Privacy, Safety, and Security in Digital Age
  • Human Rights Violations Investigation, Documentation, Evidence–Gathering, Analysis, Writing, and Reporting
  • Contemporary Issues and Challenges relating to International Environmental, Humanitarian, Criminal, and Human Rights Law
  • Country–Specific Issues in International Environmental, Criminal, Humanitarian, and Human Rights Law

Methodology

The Center shall adopt multidisciplinary, dialogical, participatory, experiential, and critical pedagogical approaches and methodologies to teaching and training human rights leaders, professionals, and promoters.

Certificate Programs

The Center shall offer the following certificate programs:

  • Certificate in International Human Rights Law
  • Certificate in International Humanitarian Law
  • Certificate in International Criminal Law
  • Certificate in International Environmental Law
  • Certificate in Holistic Human Rights Praxis and Leadership

Common Courses

When appropriate and on a case-to-case basis, subject to the approval of faculty and the Center, the following and any other courses may be credited towards earning the Certificate in International Human Rights Law, Certificate in International Humanitarian Law, Certificate in International Criminal Law, Certificate in International Environmental Law, and Certificate in Holistic Human Rights Praxis and Leadership:

  • Fundamentals of International Human Rights Law Research, Writing, and Analysis – 1-2 credits
  • International Human Rights Law – 3 credits
  • International Humanitarian Law – 3 credits
  • International Criminal Law – 3 credits
  • International Environmental Law – 3 credits
  • Holistic Human Rights – 3 credits
  • Holistic Human Rights Praxis and Leadership – 3 credits

CERTIFICATE IN INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS LAW

This program offers the following courses:

  • Fundamentals of International Human Rights Law Research, Writing, and Analysis – 1-2 credits
  • Various online sources of international human rights law
    • Primary and secondary sources
    • Online research tools and methodologies
  • International Human Rights Law – 3 credits
  • United Nations Charter, human rights treaties and various human rights instruments
    • Treaty ratification process
    • Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties
  • Human Right to Health – 3 credits
  • Contemporary and country-specific issues and challenges relating to the right to health, access to medicine, healthcare, and humanitarian aid
  • United Nations Human Rights Treaty Bodies, Individual Complaint Mechanisms, and Jurisprudence – 3 credits
  • Various UN human rights treaty-based bodies, their respective functions
    • General comments promulgated by UN human rights treaty bodies
    • UN human rights optional protocols and individual complaint mechanisms
  • United Nations Human Rights Council and Special Procedures – 3 credits
  • UN Human Rights Council:
  • Mandate and Membership
    • Complaint Procedure
    • Universal Periodic Review
    • Special Procedures
  • Independent human rights experts and their respective thematic and country mandates
    • Communications procedure
  • United Nations Human Rights Alternative and Shadow Reporting – 3 credits
  • Distinction between alternative and shadow reporting
    • UN human rights treaty bodies state periodic review, civil society organizations’ alternative and/or shadow reporting
    • Procedure and dynamics of UN shadow and/or alternative reporting
    • Researching, evidence- and information-gathering, analysis, writing, and reporting
  • Regional Human Rights Bodies, Mechanisms and Jurisprudence – 3 credits
  • African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights
    • African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights
    • ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights
    • European Court of Human Rights
    • Inter-American Commission on Human Rights
    • Inter-American Court of Human Rights
  • National Human Rights Institutions – 3 credits
  • Rule of law, democratic governance, and accountability
    • 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development: Principle of Equality and Nondiscrimination
    • Paris Principles
    • National Human Rights Institutions: History, Principles, Roles, and Responsibilities
    • Commission on Human Rights
    • Ombudsperson (Ombudsman/Ombudswoman)
    • Challenges and Role in Transitional Justice
  • The Right to Access Remedies for Human Rights Violations and the Right to Freedom of Association, Speech, and Assembly: Contemporary Issues and Challenges – 3 credits
  • Universal Declaration of Human Rights
    • International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
    • UN human rights treaty bodies’ jurisprudence (general comments)
  • The Role of Civil Society Organizations in Promoting the Rule of International Human Rights Law – 3 credits

CERTIFICATE IN INTERNATIONAL HUMANITARIAN LAW

This program offers the following courses:

  • International Humanitarian Law – 3 credits
  • Geneva Conventions and the Law of Armed Conflict
  • International armed conflict
    • Internal armed conflict
  • Contemporary and country-specific challenges and issues
  • International Humanitarian Aid: Contemporary Issues and Challenges – 3 credits
  • State and non-actors’ roles and responsibilities
    • International Committee of the Red Cross
  • Investigating and Prosecuting War Crimes: Issues and Challenges – 3 credits
  • History
    • Legal precedents
    • International Criminal Court: Office of the Prosecutor
  • Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court – 3 credits

(See description under Certificate in International Criminal Law)

  • Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar – 3 credits
  • Mandate and History
    • Issues and challenges

CERTIFICATE IN INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL LAW

This program offers the following courses:

  • International Criminal Law – 3 credits
  • History and evolution of international criminal law
    • United Nations Security Council
  • Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court – 3 credits
  • Definitions and elements of crime
    • “Core crimes” under international law
  • Genocide
    • War crimes
    • Crimes against humanity
  • International Criminal Court
    • ICC Office of the Prosecutor
  • Investigating and Prosecuting Crimes against Humanity: Issues and Challenges – 3 credits
  • International Criminal Court: The Office of the Prosecutor
  • Investigating and Prosecuting War Crimes: Issues and Challenges – 3 credits
  • United Nations Security Council, Ad Hoc International Criminal Courts and Jurisprudence – 3 credits
  • International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia
    • International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda
    • United Nations International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals
  • Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar – 3 credits
  • History
    • Mandate
    • Issues and challenges

CERTIFICATE IN INTERNATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL LAW

This program offers the following courses:

  • International Environmental Law – 3 credits
  • History, evolution, and development of international environmental law
    • Challenges and Issues
  • Integrating International Human Rights Law and Sustainable Development Goals – 3 credits
  • Towards a synthesis of SDG and UN human rights treaty provisions
  • Country–Specific Issues in International Human Rights Law and Sustainable Development Goals – 3 credits
  • Environmental issues and challenges facing Myanmar
    • Initiatives and undertakings by civil society organizations
  • Civil Society Organizations and International Environmental Law – 3 credits
  • History and role of civil society organizations in environmental protection
    • CSO advocacy actions

CERTIFICATE IN HOLISTIC HUMAN RIGHTS PRAXIS AND LEADERSHIP

This program offers the following courses:

  • Holistic Human Rights – 3 credits
  • Definition
    • Concepts, principles, and synthesis of international human rights law, international humanitarian law, international criminal law, and international environmental law with metaquantum physics, quantum physics, social sciences and various disciplines
  • Spiritualized International Human Rights Developmental Law (SIHRD Law) Quantum Praxis: Principles and Methodologies for Holistic Human Rights Promotion – 3 credits
  • Holistic Human Rights Praxis
    • Holistic Human Rights-Based Approach
    • Paulo Freire’s banking concept of education, critical pedagogy, and dialogical approaches
    • N.F.S. Grundtvig’s folk school
    • Jose Diokno’s Revolution through Law
    • India’s Public Interest Litigation or Social Action Litigation
    • Mahatma Gandhi’s ahimsa, civil disobedience, and active nonviolence
    • Metalegal Tactics and Remedies
    • Human Rights and Paralegal Education
    • Investigative Human Rights Journalism
    • Promoting a Human Rights-Oriented Philanthropy
  • Holistic Human Rights Leadership and Praxis – 3 credits
  • Holistic Human Rights Leadership and Praxis: A Way of Being and Becoming
    • Challenges of overcoming the “mirroring–the–enemy phenomenon” (Paulo Freire)
    • Master Choa Kok Sui’s Principles of Character–Building: Cultivating Five Virtues towards Holistic Human Rights Leadership and Praxis: Significance and Correlation to Human Rights Tenets, Ethics, and Principles
    • Master Choa Kok Sui’s Meditation on Twin Hearts, Pranic Healing, and Arhatic Yoga: Central Role in Balanced and Mature Human Rights Leaders
    • Human Rights Visioning and Thought Form-Building
  • Human Rights Seminar: Country-Specific Human Rights Issues and Challenges – 3 credits
  • Multi-sectoral and multidisciplinary perspectives on various human rights issues and challenges facing Myanmar
  • Human Rights, Spirituality, Quantum Physics, and Metaquantum Physics – 3 credits
  • Interconnections between human rights, spirituality, quantum physics, and metaquantum physics
  • Issues and Challenges towards Envisioning a Federal Democratic Union of Myanmar: An International Environmental, Humanitarian, Criminal, Human Rights Law and Transitional Justice Perspective – 3 credits
  • Critiques the various issues and challenges confronting Myanmar,  the Burmese diaspora, state actors and non-state actors
    • Questions involving gender, equality and nondiscrimination, ethnic, language, armed conflict, health, education, humanitarian aid, etc. issues
  • The Right to Development – 3 credits
  • UN Human Rights Council Working Group on the Right to Developmental
    • Revised Draft Convention on the Right to Development, with commentaries
    • Significance and Strengths of the Draft Convention
    • Issues and Challenges of the Draft Convention
  • Human Rights Research – 2–3 credits
  • A student or group of students may propose and work on a research project as may be approved by the faculty
  • Human Rights Externship – 2-3 credits
  • Qualified students may be approved by faculty to avail of experiential learning opportunities
    • Qualified students may be approved by faculty to work on a specific project under faculty supervision and/or human rights professionals
    • Regular student reports need to be submitted on a weekly basis or as may needed and/or required by the faculty

About NUUM
The National University of the Union of Myanmar – Global Campus (NUUM) was established in July 2021 under the auspices of the Burmese American Community Institute in consultation with its partners and stakeholders, especially with diverse groups of people in Myanmar. It currently offers 11 certificate programs to Myanmar students through online courses taught by instructors from Myanmar as well as friends of Myanmar from around the globe. In addition to providing teaching, learning opportunities and training, NUUM contributes to reform efforts and building systems for future democratic institutions, serves as a hub for academic research, scholarship, and intellectual inquiry, and generates ideas for innovations and policy debate, in support of democracy in Myanmar.

About BACI
The Burmese American Community Institute is a non-profit organization founded in 2011 that provides educational and vocational support to the Burmese community in greater Indianapolis. The BACI supports community members regionally, nationally, and globally through strategic partnerships and advocacy. Since its inception, the BACI has assisted over 17,000 individuals.