Human Rights: Overview

The UDHR was the first human rights treaty in the world and is the foundation upon which other human rights treaties are built. Learn more about it here.

The University of Minnesota Human Rights Library has posted a list of all human rights treaties. You can find them here.

The UNCRC Is the most ratified human rights treaty in the history of the world. All UN member countries have ratified it except one – the USA. Learn about what the UNCRC is and why the world thinks it is of utmost importance.

Thank you, University of Minnesota Human Rights Library, for putting together lists of all the human rights treaties in one location! Find them here!

Do you want to know what human rights treaties your country has ratified, or what other countries have done? You can find out here.

Here is a list of what human rights treaties have been ratified by the USA

The University of Connecticut has put together a variety of syllabi on dozens of different types of human rights courses. Professors have shared what books and readings they use, films, assignments, and other information that will help other teachers to develop high-quality human rights education courses.

Here is an entire course on human rights that anyone can take for free. It is pretty detailed. How cool is that to get an entire course with lots of detailed topics – for free!!!

Here are a set of lesson plans from the University of Connecticut that you can consider using in your class.

“Project: Global Inform” (PGI) is a peace education project where students use media to spread awareness about human rights violations. Project Inform came out of the idea that educators too often “teach” students about genocide and human rights violations, but never “do” anything about it. This project’s main objective is to create awareness about current human rights violations. Which human rights violations, and what specific actions should be taken are both the focus and questions of the student’s research.

Here are some of the HRE materials created by Amnesty International.

Here is a 114 page guide that is designed to help schools you work with to become designated as rights friendly schools.

This 141 page toolkit, that is available in different languages, provides superb assistance for anyone attempting to implement comprehensive human rights education.

Here is a 136 page curriculum guide for teaching human rights to students, that will hopefully lead to greater peace in the world

Here are some HRE training materials designed for use with middle and secondary age students, but they can be modified for use with other age groups.

Here is a link that will take you to the HREUSA.org site and the guide they have created to assist schools at all levels to integrate human rights education into the curriculum.

This website has a wide variety of information on different issues in human rights that is extremely valuable. Take a look at their many different training materials.

Here is a power point someone created that puts human rights into 5 categories. It’s useful to introducing the UDHR and HRE to people who aren’t familiar with it.

If you don’t know about the Media Education Foundation films, you should. They cover a wide range of contemporary topics with a human rights spin to them.

This organization has produced videos to help teach others about human rights and their importance.

The UN is the world’s primary human rights organization.

UNICEF is the premier human rights organization for children and young people. They have a ton of resources and valuable information on their website.

Human Rights Watch is a nonprofit, nongovernmental human rights organization made up of roughly 400 staff members around the globe. Its staff consists of human rights professionals including country experts, lawyers, journalists, and academics of diverse backgrounds and nationalities. Established in 1978, Human Rights Watch is known for its accurate fact-finding, impartial reporting, effective use of media, and targeted advocacy, often in partnership with local human rights groups. Each year, Human Rights Watch publishes more than 100 reports and briefings on human rights conditions in some 90 countries, generating extensive coverage in local and international media.

Here is a list of many HRE organizations. We will be adding to it all the time, so send us information of groups you think should be included.

Amnesty International is a global movement of millions of people demanding human rights for all people – no matter who they are or where they are. They report that they are the world’s largest grassroots human rights organization.

Learn more about becoming part of a network of college and university human rights leaders.

Columbia University sponsors a variety of programs for students in higher education so they can specialize in human rights research and advocacy.

The Institute is a learning organization dedicated to identifying, developing and disseminating knowledge on effective development practice. As a leader in the study and practice of community-based development, the Coady Institute provides relevant programs that help others make a positive difference in their own communities.

This organization has a set of international learning projects for students to become more aware about human rights issues.

FIDH (International Federation for Human Rights) is an international human rights NGO federating 184 organizations from 112 countries. Since 1922, FIDH has been defending all civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights as set out in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Equitas believes in a best-practices approach and has made available these resources so that you can evaluate your HRE efforts.

HUMAN RIGHTS EDUCATION INDICATOR FRAMEWORK This 32 page guide provides key indicators to monitor and assess the implementation of human rights education and training

Every June Equitas runs an intensive month-long training program in Montreal to help people learn more about human rights and how to implement them and educate others about them.

The International Institute for Child Rights and Development (IICRD) is a unique hybrid organization: part non-governmental organization (NGO), part academic institution, located in Victoria, British Columbia (BC), focused on social innovation with and for children and youth. For the past 20 years, IICRD has been a bridge building organization working with a wide variety of partners in participatory, applied research, professional education, and community capacity building initiatives. Our programs and projects catalyze change, transformation, and healing for the most vulnerable young people in our society, in Canada and in over 30 countries around the world.