LLM in Human Rights

Earn a valuable degree

Combining theoretical and practical perspectives, this program prepares you to make an impact in national, regional and international human rights protection. An internship program with local NGOs, a course at the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg and the Vienna Human Rights Model United Nations Conference offer unique experience-based learning opportunities.

QUICK FACTS

Full-time duration:

1 year

Starting in:

September

Tuition fee:

€13,000 per year  

Location:

Vienna, Austria

Degree:

Dual Austrian and the U.S. degree

The program is designed for students holding a law degree. It aims at training future legal scholars and practitioners in human rights but is also suitable for already established professionals who wish to add a human rights perspective to their work.

From its inception, the main goal of the Human Rights program has been to provide theoretical and practical training for future scholars and professionals in human rights, with special emphasis on the legal aspects of human rights protection. While the program is interdisciplinary in nature, it is strongly focused on comparative legal analysis. Teaching is designed to incorporate both theoretical perspectives and concrete empirical analyses of the most important questions in human rights.  

The program offers practical instruction in the specific legal mechanisms and institutional processes which may be used by national human rights organizations to effectively approach human rights issues that transitional and established democracies might confront.

Select areas of study

International and regional protection of human rights · Equality and non-discrimination · Advocacy and litigation strategies · Civil and political rights in established and emerging democracies

Rigorous and closely monitored coursework provides the tools of analysis, critical reading and writing necessary to enable students to make a significant and lasting contribution both to the rights protection in their home countries and to enforcement of human rights at large.  

Areas of research and teaching cover – among others – constitutional and international mechanisms for the protection of human rights, with particular focus on the Council of Europe and the United Nations, freedom of expression and freedom of religion, human rights and criminal justice, political rights, non-discrimination, minority protection, human rights in Africa, politics and theories of European integration from a human rights perspective.

Courses include:

1. Business and Human Rights

2. Comparative Equality

3. Constitutionalism and Rights in South and South East Asia

4. Critical Race Theory: Race and Law from the United States to Europe

5. European Anti-Discrimination Law

6. Global Law and Religion

7. Human Rights and Criminal Justice

8. Human Rights Legal Research Methodology

9. Illiberal Democracy and the Rule of Law

10. International and European Refugee Law and Policy

11. International Criminal Law and Prosecuting Radical Evil

12. Introduction to the Protection of Human Rights

13. The Law and Politics of Combating Violence Against Women

14. Theories of Human Rights: Intercultural Perspectives

15. The UN Human Rights System

Apply

Admissions requirements:

1. Completed online application form

2. Proof of English proficiency

3. Letters of recommendation

4. CV

5. Bachelor’s degree in law

6. Academic records

7. Academic essay (for the capstone track) or research proposal (for the thesis track)