Research Forums and Opportunities

CSHR Conferences and Projects

University Seminars

From the time of its founding in 1978 upon the initiative of the Center for the Study of Human Rights, the University Seminar on Human Rights has welcomed diverse participants from academia, intergovernmental and nongovernmental organizations, and policy-making circles. The nature of the seminar enables participants to examine human rights from an interdisciplinary perspective, transcending departmental boundaries. Moreover, the Human Rights Seminar is conceived of as a laboratory for exploring new approaches to problems in human rights.

Over the years, CSHR has been involved not only as initiator of the seminars, but also as a source of outreach to potential speakers and members, and to graduate students, among whom the seminars have benefited from the dedicated work of a succession of gifted rapporteurs.

Over time, the seminars pondered topics which later came into central focus as human rights issues, such as when, in the 1980s, the international law and organization specialist Philip Alston drew attention to the need for a human rights component in the work of the World Bank, before this became a widely recognized issue. In recent years the seminars have adopted annual themes, listed below.

In 1999, the University Seminar on Sexuality, Gender, Health, and Human Rights was founded. This seminar addresses and encourages interdisciplinary dialogue and work regarding the relationship among sexuality, gender, health, and human rights, both in domestic and international contexts.

The University Seminar on Human Rights University Seminars Office website hosts additional seminar information, including seminar schedules.

University Seminar on Human Rights Themes & Chairs

2006-2007 — Diversity and Human Rights
Chairs: Peter Juviler, George Andreopoulos, and Zehra Arat

2005-2006 — The United Nations at 60: Human Rights Achievements and Challenges
Chairs: Peter Juviler, George Andreopoulos, and Zehra Arat

2004-2005 — Human Rights in the United States: Issues and Responses
Chairs: Peter Juviler, George Andreopoulos, and Zehra Arat

2003-2004 — Globalization--the Debate
Chairs: Peter Juviler, George Andreopoulos, and Zehra Arat

2001-2002 — Non-State Actors and Human Rights
Chairs: Peter Juviler and George Andreopoulos

2000-2001 — Non-State Actors and Human Rights
Chairs: Peter Juviler and George Andreopoulos

1999-2000 — Sexuality and Social Justice
Chairs: Peter Juviler, George Andreopoulos, and Stephen Marks

1998-1999 — Themes Associated with the Fiftieth Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
Co-Chairs: George Andreopoulos, Peter Juviler, and Stephen Marks

1997-1998 — Business, Globalization, and Human Rights
Co-Chairs: Peter Juviler and Elliot Schrage

1996-1997 — Religion and Human Rights
Chair: Peter Juviler

1995-1996 — General Human Rights Questions
Co-Chairs: Thomas Pogge and Bonnie Kent

1994-1995 — Labor Rights and Human Rights
Chair: Sumner Rosen

1993-1994 — New Approaches to International Human Rights
Chair: J. Paul Martin

1992-1993 — Human Rights in Relation to Political Transition
CO-Chairs: J. Paul Martin and B. G. Ramcharan

1991-1992 — Theoretical Problems in Human Rights
Chair: B. G. Ramcharan

1990-1991 — Human Rights and Religion
Chair: William Wipfler and J. Paul Martin

1989-1990 — Aids and Human Rights
Chair: J. Paul Martin

1988-1989 — Human Welfare and Human Rights: The Overseas and Domestic Policies of the US
Co-chairs: Mitchell Ginsberg and Peter Juviler

1987-1988 — Human Rights and US Foreign Policy
1986-1987 — Comparative National Protection of Rights
1985-1986 — Race, Ethnicity, and Rights
1984-1985 — Human Rights and Development
1983-1984 — Health and Welfare: Women, Children, and the Family
1982-1983 — National, Comparative, and International Perspectives

1981-1982 — International Politics and Human Rights
Chair: Arthur Danto

1980-1981 — Women and Rights
Chair: Arthur Danto

1979-1980 — Limitations on Rights
Chair: Arthur Danto

1978-1979 — The Concept of Human Rights; Cultural Diversity and Human Rights
Chair: Louis Henkin

1978 — Conception and Meaning of "Core" Human Rights
Chair: Louis Henkin