Thank you for your interest in Catholic University’s International Human Rights Summer Law Program in Rome, Italy! The Program is offered in even years and will take place again in Summer 2026.

Students participating in the International Human Rights Summer Law Program earn four credits over a concentrated three-week program of study. Students select two two-credit courses from a menu of courses that focuses on different aspects of human rights law. Peruse the course offerings from Summer 2024. Students may anticipate new courses will be developed for Summer 2026. Check the website often for updates.

Art, Cultural Property and Human Rights (2 cr.) – This course is a survey course that explores art and cultural heritage from the perspective of human rights. We will examine the extent of human rights protection in international treaties and national laws (focusing in particular on American, European, and Italian law) for cultural heritage, artistic productions, and participation in cultural life. We will learn about the complex, multilayered regime of public and private regulation of art and cultural heritage, as well as the tensions between interests of the many public and private stakeholders, including nation-states, museums, art dealers, artists, and the general public. Some of the issues that we will study include artist’s rights in visual art, including copyright, moral rights, and droit de suite; international movement of art and antiquities and the illicit international trade in art; ownership of native cultural objects, including indigenous rights and group rights in cultural resources; repatriation of cultural objects; plundering and destruction of works of art in times of war and military conflict; and government censorship of art and support of art. Students will not only discuss theoretical issues, but will also have many opportunities to explore the cultural heritage of the “Eternal City” and Vatican City. Professor Fischer.

Athens, Rome, and Washington: Human Rights in the Administrative State (2 cr.) - In the United States, modern disputes relating to human rights often take place through the development and application of administrative law. This course will therefore use administrative law as an entry point to engage with philosophical foundations for human rights, and will consider how those foundations inform our understanding of how human rights may be supported or undermined by various aspects of administrative law. A central focus of the course will be on virtue ethics, including works offered by Aristotle and St. Thomas Aquinas. In addition to engaging with thinkers from Athens and Rome, students will take intellectual pit stops in Germany (e.g., Kant) and England (e.g., Bentham and Mill) in order to better compare and contrast virtue ethics with its deontological and consequentialist counterparts. Students will be required to write a final paper and make one or more presentations relating to the assigned readings. Professor Squitieri.

Immigration and Human Rights Seminar (2 cr.) - This seminar will examine the ways in which International Human Rights Law as well as U.S. Immigration Law offer protection to individuals whose civil, political, economic, or social rights have been violated in their home countries. We will focus on asylum, remedies for unaccompanied minors, temporary protected status, and international human rights treaty protections. Students will read case studies and participate in practice-oriented exercises to develop a real world understanding of the way in which lawyers pursue domestic and international remedies for victims of human rights abuses. We will also explore the impact, from a human rights perspective, of recent proposals to reform U.S. immigration policy. Professor Brustin.