The Europa-Institut, as the editor of this edition, is the second oldest institution of its kind in Europe. More than 5.000 students from all over the world have been educated in the fields of European and International Law at the Europa-Institut since its foundation in 1951. Each year students from over 30 countries enrol in the one-year postgraduate master programme “European and International Law” to study the legal, political, economic and cultural foundations of the European Union as well as various areas of public international law. The programme is characterized by five modules which provide students with greater freedom of choice with regard to the courses they wish to attend and which also allow for a high degree of specialization. The five modules are European Integration, European Economic Law, Foreign Trade and Investment, International Dispute Resolution and European and International Protection of Human Rights. The programme can be completed entirely in English, entirely in German or through a combination of the two languages and results in the attainment of the title “Master of Laws (LL.M.)”. We decided to assemble our own collection series combining key documents for each respective field of the LL.M. programme after recognizing that existing collections do not comply with the specific requirements necessary for the successful performance of our students. In attempting to fill these gaps, we began with volume I covering the module “International Dispute Resolution”, followed by volume II covering the module “European Law”, volume III covering the module “International and European Trade Law”, volume IV covering “Public International Law”, volume V covering “International Human Rights Law” and volume VI covering “European Law” with a special focus on South Eastern Europe. The specialization “European and International Protection of Human Rights” familiarizes students with the main features and developments in human rights protection in inter - national treaties and other documents on the global as well as regional (mainly European) level and their respective interrelations. The study unit focuses on the relationship between the European Union and the European Convention on Human Rights as well as on the practice of the treaty- and Charter-based bodies of the United Nations, the European Court of Justice, the European Court of Human Rights and the Council of Europe. Moreover, the practical application of human rights law is of particular relevance and interest. Thus, the offered courses cover both closed and pending cases addressing current issues as well as more general questions such as those relating to the rights of individuals vis-à-vis the European Union and the questions of how and whether the accession of the European Union to the European Convention on Human Rights can be finalized. Preface 5 The first edition of this volume already presented a comprehensive and unique selection of the essential treaties, protocols and other documents on the protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms on the global as well as regional level. With this second edition we have extended the content by including the UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime with its Protocols as well as the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages, the Convention on Cybercrime with Additional Protocol, the Council of Europe Conventions on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings, on the Protection of Children against Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse, on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence and against Trafficking in Human Organs. The current volume is a comprehensive yet handy collection of the most relevant international documents divided in universal as well as regional instruments (Europe, America, Africa and Asia) and arranged in chronological order. It is addressed not only to the students in our LL.M. programme but to universities in general, practitioners, policy makers and international lawyers.weiterlesen