New Minor in Human Rights

This fall, the WSD Handa Center for Human Rights and International Justice launched a new minor in human rights.

Providing a structure to the diverse academic offerings related to human rights at Stanford, the new minor encourages students from any major to understand how human rights are interconnected across seemingly disparate disciplines.

“There’s an extraordinary amount of interest among undergraduates, graduate students and faculty in thinking about different dimensions of human rights, whether it’s in the context of issues of legal accountability, the history of the human rights architecture, human rights in political thought [or] the trauma of human rights [in the medical field],” Stanford Global Studies Director Jeremy Weinstein told the Stanford Daily.

Students will benefit from the robust offerings of the Handa Center, including events, research, and mentorship from experienced human rights scholars and practitioners. The center's staff will work closely with students to design a tailored human rights curriculum while also offering support on internship and fellowship placements, connections to relevant on-campus resources and career counseling.

“The Handa Center has been instrumental in helping me fill a perceived gap in my Stanford academic experience,” says Christina Schiciano (’17). “Through the Human Rights Minor, I’ll be able to pursue my interest in topics like labor trafficking and gender-based violence in greater depth, while also learning the ethical and theoretical foundations of the field.”

Julian Bava (’18), who completed an internship funded by the Handa center last summer at an international criminal law firm in The Hague, told the Daily that “while most people do gravitate towards subjects such as CS or other STEM fields, this minor will appeal to more than just your typical political science or international relations major because it is a purposely interdisciplinary minor. [It] lets a CS major come in [who has] a passion for changing the world and changing lives.”

“We’re really excited,” says Penelope Van Tuyl, who is the associate director of the Handa Center and the instructor for the minor’s gateway course, HumRts101: Cross-Disciplinary Perspectives on Human Rights Theory and Practice. “We’ve already had some students declaring the minor. We’re looking forward to meeting new students. We’re excited to use this minor as a way to grow the human rights community at Stanford.”

For additional information on requirements and how to declare, visit the Handa Center website.

Read the Stanford Daily article about the new minor.