International Human Rights University of Galway

Overview

The LLM in International Human Rights at University of Galway  will be of interest to students and practitioners from a range of different fields such as law, social policy, political science, public administration and development.  While the programme’s emphasis is on the law and policy of human rights, suitably qualified candidates from non-law backgrounds are strongly encouraged to apply.

Careers

The programme equips students to pursue careers with international organisations, United Nations (UN) bodies, international NGOs, in international or national legal practice, and policy, advocacy or research work.  Students may also decide to work in government, diplomacy or international affairs. The programme will also provide a foundation for further studies through the structured PhD in human rights offered by the Irish Centre for Human Rights.

Students who have undertaken and successfully completed the programme tend to fall into one of four categories:

• those who work within UN or UN affiliated organisations

• those who work in NGOs and quasi NGOs--both human rights and development

• those who work in academic institutions or pursue of PhD/JD

• those who work in diplomatic or government based work (in human rights divisions of the Dept of Foreign Affairs, for example).  

Underneath these umbrella categories, students have pursued work in the ICC, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, ICRC, the UN system (Geneva and NYC), local based NGOs, trade and health organisations, domestic law firm work that draws on international legal mechanisms, and research based work in University research centres, to name but a few. The main and sub categories are by no means exhaustive, but give a flavor of the different fields that students have pursued.