Human Rights in the Administration of Justice: A manual and facilitator’s guide on human rights for judges, prosecutors and lawyers

HUMAN RIGHTS IN THE ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE, composed of a Manual and a Facilitator’s Guide, is the result of a joint endeavour of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and the International Bar Association, a key international legal organization with more than 180 member bar associations and law societies. Its objective is to provide a comprehensive core curriculum on international human rights standards for legal professionals. Readers of the Manual (published in 2003) are offered basic information on international human rights law and the jurisprudence of universal and regional bodies and national courts. Each module addresses a specific human rights area. In view of the nature of the legal professions, the Manual should have multiple applications: as training material for collective exercises, as a resource tool for carrying out individual studies, and as a reference source for the interpretation and application of the law.

The Manual is complemented by the Facilitator’s Guide (published in 2011), which aims at assisting training managers and resource persons engaged in organizing workshops or courses – from the planning stage to the stage of final evaluation. For each of the Manual’s modules, the Guide includes suggested training aids such as overheads, exercises, case studies and role plays. It is based on an interactive training methodology which encourages participants to play an active role, contributing their professional expertise to the joint study on how to apply international human rights standards effectively.

Also included as a separate document is Human Rights in the Administration of Justice: A manual on human rights for judges, prosecutors and lawyers – Addendum: Major recent developments (2003-07).  The document serves to update the Manual with changes in the global human rights context between the years 2003-2007.