Minor in Human Rights

The Study of Human Rights

What are human rights? How has the concept of human rights evolved? How and why have human rights been violated, both in the United States and abroad? How have people struggled against human rights violations and with what success? What protections against violations of human rights exist, and how can these protections be enhanced and made more effective? These are the kinds of questions that students choosing to minor in Human Rights are encouraged to pursue. In this minor, students receive interdisciplinary instruction in theoretical, comparative, and historical perspectives on human rights through classroom courses, and gain valuable practical experience in the human rights field through a supervised internship.

Director of the Human Rights Minor

photo of Richard Hiskes

Richard Hiskes

Richard P. Hiskes is the senior political theorist in the Department of Political Science at the University of Connecticut. He received his MA (1975) and PhD (1978) in political science at Indiana University, and specializes in modern and contemporary political thought, democratic theory, environmental ethics, and human rights theory.

Throughout his career in numerous books and articles Professor Hiskes has explored many central concepts underlying democratic politics, environmental policymaking and the philosophical foundations of human rights. A conceptual focus running throughout all his works is the ideal of community and how it forms a backdrop to issues within democratic theory, science and technology policy, and human rights. He is the author or co-author of four books that explore these themes: Community Without Coercion: Getting Along in the Minimal State (University of Delaware Press, 1982); Science, Technology and Policy Decisions (with Anne L. Hiskes, Westview, 1986); Direct Democracy and International Politics (with John T. Rourke and C.E. Zirakzadeh, Lynne Rienner Publishers, 1992); and Democracy, Risk, and Community: Technological Hazards and the Evolution of Liberalism (Oxford, 1998).

Professor Hiskes’s current research focuses on environmental human rights and justice across generations. He is preparing a book manuscript on the subject and has several published or forthcoming articles on the topic, including “The Right to a Green Future: Human Rights, Environmentalism, and Intergenerational Justice,” forthcoming in November, 2005 in Human Rights Quarterly; “Environmental Human Rights and Intergenerational Justice,” forthcoming in 2006 in Human Rights Review; and “Environmental Rights, Intergenerational Justice, and Reciprocity with the Future,” Public Affairs Quarterly, July, 2005.

Requirements

The Human Rights Minor is an interdepartmental, interdisciplinary plan of study requiring fifteen credits of course work at the 200-level. Students take six credits from Core Courses in the minor (Group A below); six credits from Electives (Group B) or Core Courses; and three credits of Internship (Group C). More than six credits may not be taken in one department.

Group C internships are with a human rights-related agency, organization, or group. Internship sites can be tailored to fit individual students' interests and goals. The internship enables students to enrich and assess what they have learned in the classroom through practical experience. The final grade for credits earned in Group C will be based on completion of a portfolio in which students synthesize their internship experiences with knowledge gained in the course work they have taken to fulfill the requirements for the Human Rights Minor. The portfolio may consist of an analytical paper or papers, a media production (e.g., photography or video) or some combination of these.

For Further Information

Contact Professor Richard Hiskes, Director of the Minor in Human Rights at 860-486-2536 or by email at richard.hiskes@uconn.edu.

The Human Rights Minor is a program of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.

Recommended Prerequisites

Group A: Core Courses

History

Political Science

Group B: Electives

Anthropology

Economics

English

History

Human Rights

Philosophy

Political Science

Puerto Rican & Latino Studies

Sociology

Women’s Studies

Group C: Internship

Labor Rights Concentration

As globalization becomes ever more dominated by transnational corporations with economies larger than many countries economic rights have become an essential part of our understanding of human rights generally. UConn has a nationally renowned expertise in this field and for the first time in 2006-7, the Human Rights Minor now includes a Labor Rights Concentration. This is a distinct track of courses within the Minor that students can follow if they have a particular interest in global ethics, poverty, and labor rights.

* also count towards the Human Rights Minor.