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177 Human Rights Research Topics: Bright Ideas List 2023

Do you have a college research project or thesis on human rights and have been wondering how to prepare a good paper? You need a number of things, such as good research, analytical, and writing skills. However, the first step is getting the right topic. This is very challenging for most students, but we are here to help. This post provides a 177 human rights topics list that you can count on for the best grade. We will also tell you how to craft a great university human rights dissertation.

A Brief about Human Rights

Human rights are the basic freedoms and rights that belong to all persons in the globe, starting from birth to death. These rights apply irrespective of where you are, personal beliefs, or the way you decide to live your life. They cannot be taken away but can be restricted in some cases, such as if you break the law.

The basic rights are anchored on shared values, such as dignity, fairness, equality, independence, and respect. They are all protected by law. Because of their wide applications in areas such as the justice system and employment-related topics, you can expect to get many related school assignments and projects on it.

How to Write a Good Human Rights Thesis or Dissertation

Before we can look at the best human rights thesis topics, let’s look at the best process of writing it. This can be divided into six main steps:

• Identify the study topic in line with your class teacher/professor’s recommendations. You can use our list of basic human rights topics that comes shortly after this guide.
• Research the topic well to ensure it has ample resources. Then, identify the main points that will be covered during the study. It will be good to think about the entire dissertation right from the start because all parts are interconnected.
• Develop a thesis statement. This is very important because it will be tested after analyzing the results.
• Develop a good structure for the thesis. This is the outline that will guide you on what to include at what point. Carefully look at the current recommendation from your school. One of the best outlines you might want to consider include:

Introduction Literature review Methodology Results Analysis and discussion Conclusion Bibliography

• Prepare the first draft.
• Write the final draft by redefining the first draft. At this point, it will be a good idea to consider editing services from experts.

Next, we will highlight the main topics that you should consider in human rights. However, we’d like to remind that you can only pay for thesis and not waste your time over a tone of assignments.

Top Human Rights Research Topics

• How does social discrimination impact people living with HIV/AIDS?
• Same-sex marriage: Why is it more social compared to religious significance?
• A review of international reaction to sweatshops in Asian countries.
• A closer look at the flaws of morals for kids raised in the US compared to those brought up in Japan.
• A comprehensive review of the employment problem arising from the surge of the immigrant population.
• Human rights violations in a country of choice: How has it impacted its image?
• War against terrorism: How is it impacting human rights?
• Should prisoners retain their voting rights?
• Should the US cut trade ties with countries that grossly violate human rights?
• Universal human rights: Are they achievable in the modern world?
• Is there a point where human rights can be justified in the interest of national security?
• Use of cameras in public places: Do they violate human rights?
• Non-governmental organizations’ operations: Are they strong enough to help protect human rights?
• Promotion of human rights: Should it be the first priority for every government?
• Capitalistic systems: Do they defend or violate human rights?
• Comparing the policies for human rights protection of the United States and India.
• A review of human rights violations during the 2021 US army withdrawal from Afghanistan.
• Should the US be held accountable for the nuclear bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945?
• Human rights in the US and Latin America: A comparison.
• Compare two historical human rights portraits in the 20 th century.

Argumentative Human Rights Topics

• Is violation of human rights allowed during times of war?
• Circumcision of infants: Does it violate their human rights?
• Should women and men have varying rights?
• What is the link between human rights and traditions?
• Capital punishment: Should it be considered a violation of human rights?
• Right for freedom to education: Should it be made available for all?
• Social media networking services: Should they guarantee privacy for all the clients.
• Is the US policy on immigration discriminatory?
• Interest of states: Should it take precedence over an individual’s human rights?
• Developed countries have a duty to promote human rights in the developing states.
• Pet ownership should be considered a universal human right.
• Childhood concept differs from one culture to another: Should the notion of child labor also vary?
• What are inappropriate ways of fighting for human rights?
• Development of a country: Does it depend on the country’s defense of human rights?
• From a human rights perspective, which is the most important amendment to the US constitution?
• Comparing Apartheid and Holocaust: Has justice been done for the victims.
• Human rights in the 21 st century: Is the globe doing enough to address the crisis in the Tigray Region of Ethiopia and Afghanistan?
• What are the most important lessons on human rights from World War II?
• Human rights violations in West Bank: Has the globe done enough?

International Human Rights Topics

• What does the distribution of the COVID-19 vaccines tell us about human rights internationally?
• A review of cases of human rights in the United States between the 1950 and 2000.
• Analyze the impacts of discrimination based on color and race.
• A thematic review of modern human rights movements.
• Trace the evolution of human rights starting from the ancient times to the age of globalization.
• What is the relationship between human rights and peace in a country? A case study of the Netherlands.
• Disability in the UK is under attack: Discuss.
• Who should people running away from human rights violations turn to?
• Is it appropriate to deny human rights on the basis of religion and gender?
• Violation of human rights in North Korea: How is the developed world preparing to tackle it?
• Violation of human rights in Venezuela: Should the United States get involved?
• The right to stay silent in a court of law: How is this likely to affect the accused person?
• What are the best remedies for addressing violations of women’s rights in the Middle East?
• Will the world ever get to a point where people will live without worrying about human rights violations?
• What makes it so difficult to introduce gun control in the United States?
• Who should be held responsible for cases of mass shootings in schools?

Controversial Human Rights Topics

• What are the similarities and differences between human and civil rights?
• Evaluate the violation of human rights in Syria in the 21 st century.
• Police-related human rights violation: How can we prevent it?
• Should prisoners have a right to vote?
• Assisted euthanasia is a violation of human rights: Discuss.
• Should persons who try to take their own lives be charged in a court of law?
• What is the best way to punish states for violating human rights?
• Countries arming themselves with nuclear weapons are readying to violate human rights.
• How effective are laws on domestic violence in the UK?
• All cases of human abuses in history should be tried and concluded.
• Is the UN doing enough to protect human rights?
• Holocaust: Is it possible for the world to heal completely?
• Do you think that the Rwanda Genocide could have been avoided?
• It is time to act: How do you think the global community should handle the problem of immigrants trying to cross from Africa into Europe?
• The hidden danger of not addressing bullying in school.
• Is disciplining a child a violation of human rights?
• Are correctional facilities doing enough to correct the behavior of inmates?
• Is imprisonment enough to punish murder criminals?
• Making a case for life imprisonment and the death penalty for murder criminals.
• Is abortion a violation of human rights?

Human Rights Discussion Topics

• What is your view on the famous revolt of the Cockroach People?
• Discuss the outcomes of the LGBT movements in the 20 th century.
• A deeper look into civil rights movements from Malcolm X point of view.
• Interaction between Japan and China during WWII: How did it impact human rights issues in the two states?
• Discuss the biggest human rights violations in South Africa after Apartheid.
• UN Refugee program: How does it help enhance refugees’ welfare across the globe?
• French Revolution and human rights: A thematic review.
• Human rights in medieval Europe.
• Human Rights Act in New Zealand in 1993: What is its significance?
• Which human rights did women across the globe find hard to access in the 20 th century?
• Police brutality in Brazil: Are the efforts taken by the government enough?
• Discuss transgender rights in Europe.
• A review of transgender human rights issues in the United States.
• Disability rights in the UK.
• Comparing disability policies in the US and India.
• Racial profiling by police.
• What are the roots of racism in the United States?
• Review the Trail of Broken Treaties.
• A deeper look at the Chattel Slavery in the Colonial America.
• Review the African-American male experience.
• Reviewing the history of the Bill of Rights in the United States.
• Analyzing the American Indian Movement: How does it compare with other human rights movements?
• Human rights in modern cinema: How are whites and people of color-treated?

Interesting Civil Rights Topics

• Black Power Movement: How did it impact the Black Lives Matter in 2020 and 2021?
• Are the 20 th Century civil rights movements sustainable?
• Comparing women rights movements in 2020 and the 20 th century.
• How did Martin Luther influence the civil rights approaches that came after him?
• Comparing the scientific Revolution, Reformation and Renaissance movements’ impacts on western thought.
• Protestant Reformation: Discuss how Catholic Church’s corruption and crusaders of war contributed towards its formation.
• A closer look at the human rights movements during the Industrial Revolution of between 1760 and 1840.
• How did the teachings of the American Revolution help the secession movement and Civil War?
• How did Teddy Roosevelt impact the progressive movement?
• The impact of communism impacts world history.
• The location of a civil movement is the most important thing in its success: Discuss.
• What made people start nationalist movement in Prussia?
• Discuss the results of anti-nationalist movements in New York.
• Female and Islam oppression on the globe.
• Reinventing a revolution: A closer look at the Zapatista Movement.
• What is the link between music, protest, and justice?
• Confederate Flag: Is it a symbol of oppression?
• Review the voting rights of 1965.
• The West Memphis Three.

Special Human Rights Debate Topics

• Women rights in the first half and second half 20 th century.
• Legalization of same sex marriage and its impact on global fights for human rights.
• Human rights movements in the US and their impact on federal policies.
• International human rights movements: How has it influenced the UK judicial policies?
• Responsibility to protect: How is it related to the issue of human rights?
• Suffrage rights in ancient Greek: A holistic review.
• Human rights presentation in the philosophy of enlightenment.
• Human rights violations during the First World War.
• What are lessons did we learn from Hitler and Holocaust during WWII.
• These five reasons are the main causes of human rights violations in the 21 st century.
• The main causes of gender disparity in the US.
• Comparing the state of human rights in the UK and Qatar.
• Do you think the bible violates human rights?
• Environmental racism: What are the main effects?
• The importance of the judiciary in protecting human rights.
• Women rights in the Roman Empire.
• Segregation is a violation of human rights.
• Discussing critical human rights issues in India.

Unique Human Rights Topics for Research

• The collapse of the Soviet Union and Rise of Communism in Russia.
• Comparing the Pan-African movement to the 20 th -century cultural nationalism of Latin America.
• A review of the Hong Kong Umbrella Movement’s goals and methods.
• Abolition of death penalty: Why it is a major human rights issue.
• Popularity of social media and its impact on human rights. A closer review of Arab countries in North Africa.
• International Calvinism: What was the impact on European Culture?
• Why do other countries not intervene in North Korea where massive abuses of human rights have been reported?
• A statistical review of human trafficking in the 20 th century.
• How can a person as an individual help to promote human rights?
• Utilitarianism contravenes human rights.
• Human rights institutions and their efforts in protecting human rights in Africa.
• Military actions to protect human rights: Does it make sense?
• Black Lives Matter Movement protests: What does the movement say about human rights today?
• Does the UK constitution comprehensively cover the issue of human rights?
• Global manufacturing: How has it impacted the rights of workers?
• Has the International Labor Organization done enough to protect the plight of workers on the globe?
• How does poverty impact human rights in developing countries?

PhD Topics in Human Rights

• A review of the parts of the globe with the worst cases of human rights violation.
• How does the internet promote human trafficking? A thematic review.
• A comprehensive review of factors that impact the outcome of different trials in a court of law.
• Legitimate forms of the death penalty.
• What factors prevent people from getting justice? A literature review.
• A comprehensive review of the impacts of legalizing drug use.
• What factors prevent equal representation of women in top leadership roles in the developing world?
• What are the major problems faced by LGBT couples? Propose possible solutions.
• Racial profiling by police: A case study of Mexico.
• A comparative review of human rights policies of three countries of your choice in Europe.

Other Human Rights Research Paper Topics

• LGBT relationships: Why are they disallowed in some countries?
• Comparing the rights of pets to human rights?
• A review of human rights violations during quarantines caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
• A review of the fundamental principle of the EU Commission of Human Rights.
• Human rights violations in Taiwan.
• What is the link between ecological problems and human rights problems?
• Evaluate the most frequently violated human right in your workplace.
• What is the UK policy on refugees?
• A closer review of transgender rights in Europe.
• Discuss physical abuses in marriage in the UK.
• Evaluate the amendment of laws in France to suit LGBT relationships.
• Prisoners of war: Do they deserve human rights protection?
• Discuss the strategies used by the two countries with the best human rights records.
• Comparing the human rights institutions in Africa to those in Asia.
• Violation of human rights in Crimea in 2014: Were the remedies enough?

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196 Human Rights Essay Topics & Examples

Human rights, the foundational pillars of a just society, go far beyond governments and cultures. In this collection of human rights research topics, explore the multifaceted dimensions of human rights, from historical struggles to contemporary debates. Try to understand the profound impact of human rights on societies and the pursuit of a better future.

⚖️ TOP 7 Human Rights Topics

🏆 best human rights essay topics, 🎓 interesting human rights research topics, 👍 human rights essay examples, 🔥 hot human rights topics to write about, 💡 simple titles for a human rights essay, 📌 easy human rights topics, ❓ more human rights topics for research paper.

• Human Rights Violation in the World
• Human Rights: Historical and Conceptual Evolution
• Human Rights Role in International Relations
• Feminist Movement: Women’s Rights Are Human Rights
• Human Rights and Feminist Perspectives in Social Work
• The Nature of Human Rights
• Slavery and Human Rights Violation
• Universal Conception of Human Rights and Its Challenges Human rights are intercontinental customs, which dictate and determine how different countries handle their citizens and residents.
• Having Children as a Human Right The massive significance of parenthood as a concept raises the question of whether people should be entitled to have children as a part of their basic set of rights.
• Role of Civil Society in Realization of Human Rights This essay discusses how civil bodies interact with the state to guarantee fundamental rights and freedoms in socio-political and economic facades.
• Privacy as a Basic Human Right Privacy is significant since it helps individuals feel safe on a public platform and about the information they do not want to share with others.
• Business Practices and Human Rights Human rights refer to the fundamental rights of every human being, irrespective of race, sex, religion, political affiliation, social standing or any other feature.
• Government Responsibility Regarding Human Rights This paper discusses the primary responsibility of governments in promoting and protecting human rights and outlines legal instruments and conventions that governments use.
• Are Human Rights Universal? The author argues that the concept of “human rights” serves as an instrument of political propaganda, and not a legal mechanism for protecting the well-being of people.
• Human Rights in Sociology and Philosophy The concept of human rights is among the most popular issues throughout the world in contemporary society today.
• The Issue of Human Rights Violation This paper states that human rights violation remains a significant issue. Aligning them with the current forms of human mistreatment is necessary.
• Human Rights: Social Relations and State and Citizens Relations Human rights play a crucial role in social relations and relations between the state and citizens. In the integral approach human rights are not made subservient to any ideology.
• Slavery as a Human Rights Issue The paper argues slavery in underdeveloped countries, especially Africa, continues to be a pressing and contemporary problem.
• Freedom of Speech: The Basic Human Right Freedom of speech allows everyone to receive and impart information. People and communities should articulate their thoughts and ideas without fear of any form of intimidation.
• The Universality of Human Rights “Human rights are “universal” rights in the sense that they are held “universally” by all human beings”. This report discusses the universality of human rights.
• Human Rights and International Trade Human rights in international trade precipitated the formation of the World Trade Organization (WTO) which caters to the welfare of the workers and other interest groups.
• Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Crises This paper gives a detailed analysis of The Universal Declaration of Human Rights from different perspectives.
• The Universal Declaration of Human Rights: Constructivists’ Views Constructivists’ views better than other approaches explain why such an initiative as the development of the declaration of universal human rights was even possible.
• History, Oppression and Human Rights Violation in India The caste system is not entirely eliminated and still exists in modern-day India expressed in property ownership and governance.
• Human Rights from a Historical Perspective Recognizing the value of human rights guarantees that arbitrariness will not be tolerated and that democracy exists in society.
• Human Rights Related to Immigration The essay discusses human rights related to immigration and analyzes if there are any ways to improve the situation of migrants.
• Human Rights Under Russian Leadership Human rights are among the essential norms which standardize human behavior and are protected by local and international laws.
• Responsibility of Mltinational Corporations in the Field of Human Rights Multinational corporations in the field of Human Rights have great power, force, potency, or effect in the entities of the current world order.
• Medicine and Public Health, Ethics and Human Rights Nowadays one can observe the tense connection between public health, medicine, human rights, and ethics; it can be explained by a number of medical challenges, etc.
• Human Rights Violations in Hong Kong The article is about the arrest of district councilor Cheng Lai-king on March 26, 2020, after being accused of seditious intent.
• Confucianism and Human Rights Development The work highlights the main ideas of Confucianism, describes how it has changed over time under the influence of Western culture and what impact it has on our lives.
• Human Rights Violation During Hong Kong Protests This paper discusses the violation of human rights as applied to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and applied to the context of the Hong Kong protests in 2019.
• Human Rights in Contemporary World In this paper discusses an example of human rights abuse in contemporary world. The human rights abuse selected shows a clear conflict between universalism and cultural relativism.
• Human Rights in Brunei: Impact of Cultural Practices Human rights and culture contradict because of their origins, and for a country like Brunei, Islamic culture will undoubtedly affect the rights of women and LGBT+ people.
• Healthcare as a Basic Human Right The right to have unlimited access to healthcare services is linked inseparably to the right to live, which is why accessibility to healthcare must be regarded as a human right.
• Human Rights and Freedom in Modern Society
• Citizen Journalism Protects Human Rights
• Human Development and Human Rights: South African Country Study
• The Black Lives Matter’s Fight for Human Rights in America
• The Black Lives Matter and Philosophies of Henry Shue and Thomas Pogge on Human Rights
• The Different Human Rights Violation in China
• The Bottled Water Industry and the Violation of Human Rights on a Global
• Government Reforms and Basic Human Rights
• The Death Penalty and Violations of Human Rights
• The Challenges and Struggles of Viola Desmond to Fight for Equal Human Rights
• Exploring the Relationship Between Military Spending & Human Rights Performance in South Asia
• How Effective Does the Human Rights Act 1998 Promotes
• Examining Coca Cola Human Rights Violations in Colombia
• The International Courts and Tribunals’ Success in Upholding Human Rights
• The Similarities and Differences in the Level of Development, Human Rights Protection, and Environmental Conditions Between the North and South
• Civil and Human Rights: Excessive Use of Force
• The History and Role of the Human Rights Watch, a Nonprofit Human Rights Organization
• Humanitarian Intervention and Human Rights Violationss
• Human Rights and Justice: Forms and Mechanisms of Oppression
• The Violation and Protection of Human Rights in Society
• The 1807 Abolition Bill: Continuing Human Rights Struggle A research question concerns the effectiveness of the 1807 Bill in the fight against slavery and its contribution to the further fight against the issue.
• Human Rights Violations and Prosecutions of Perpetrators This paper discusses the challenges associated with human rights violations regarding international programs and the conditions under which prosecution is not effective.
• The Right to Healthcare as a Basic Human Right This paper argues for the implementation of a universal healthcare system in the United States and emphasizes that healthcare is a basic human right.
• Human Rights and Discrimination Discrimination is against human rights and should be condemned because it has negative effects such as reduced productivity, feelings of anger, and anxiety.
• Recognition of Human Rights for LGBT Individuals The paper discusses the importance of studying the issue of LGBTQ people discrimination, including its causes, harmful effects, and current state.
• American Freedom and Human Rights American spirit consists of a dream of innocence and freedom. It is every American’s duty to create justice, and every person has the power to do so.
• The Fundamental Human Rights Speech Human rights, in plain terms, are the entitlement to the fundamental rights that are given to every individual. We are given these rights, which we retain until we die.
• Human Rights and Public’s Right to Know The issue of sharing every kind of information with members of the public remains sensitive and capable of affecting the interests of both citizens and governments.
• Violations of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in China China has a long history of suppressing authors and freedom of speech. Liu Xiaobo is a literary critic, known for their participation in the social and political spheres.
• Social Inequality and Human Rights in the Modern World This paper theorize civil rights to be the basis of developing the main social fields of education, healthcare, and career opportunities.
• Bartolome De Las Casas and Human Rights in the Age of Exploration Bartolome De Las Casas was a pivotal factor in the emergence of what is currently termed human rights principles, as shown by his deeds and ideas.
• Human Rights in China and the USA Every country has a different attitude toward human rights. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the problem of human rights in China and the USA.
• The Abortion Issue Regarding Human Rights This article raises the question of how people should determine what rights should be guaranteed by the constitution and what rights are core rights from birth.
• Black Sports Activism: Olympic Project for Human Rights Black activism has been fundamental in reducing institutional racism and the mistreatment of African-Americans’ rights in the larger society.
• Human Rights and Labor Laws Violations in Foreign Countries This discussion explores the situation in Chile and China, where workers have experienced labor laws and human rights violations in recent times.
• Indigenous People and Human Rights This work examines what rights a person has in the process of acculturation, how acculturation affects the indigenous people of many countries, its tendencies in the modern world.
• Human Rights and the Burqa Ban in France This paper expounding on how the affected French citizens may go about opposing the ‘burqa ban’ in the court of law.
• A Form of Discrimination and Human Rights Violations Based on the relevance of the problem, models and methods of assistance to victims of domestic violence have been developed.
• The Universal Declaration of Human Rights The current paper reflects these rights to understand their impact on ending atrocities of unpleasant events that occurred in the past, such as war.
• Prisoners’ Human Rights Protection For the protection of human rights in prisons, it is important to examine the existing practices and incorporate the knowledge about the methods of promoting social justice.
• Human Rights as an Essential Part of the Societal Structure Human rights are vital to any social structure as they create guidelines for the people based on their needs and desires.
• Human Rights in Brown v. Board of Education Case The Brown v. Board of Education case was a fundamental court decision since it secured the rights of millions of children but also the rights of the African American population.
• Human Subjects Protection: International and Regional Human Rights Standards Any clinical expertise must be integrated with the best possible scientific evidence. Otherwise, it is impossible to provide patients with all the needed options.
• The Issues of Public Health, Ethics, and Human Rights Human awareness of medical care limits, the recognition of societal structure influence, etc. provide a wide link between healthy vision and ethical norms perception.
• The Human Right to Equality and Racial Issues in the US This paper examines the issue of the human right to equality and non-discrimination, which is in question in the United States.
• UK Anti-Terrorism Strategy and the Human Rights Implications on its Implementation The prevention of terrorism has been given a higher priority, and the new legislation has drawn on new instruments equivalent to the European levels.
• The Convention for Safeguarding the Human Rights and Fundamental Freedom of the EU Citizens The convention for safeguarding the Human rights and fundamental freedom of the EU citizens were drawn up by the European Council on November 4th, 1950, and enforced in 1953.
• Human Rights Cities: Mountain View This blog post describes the records and the solutions of Mountain View city’s compliances to the global universal rights of an individual.
• Human Rights Violation in Ethiopia The purpose of this paper is to draw the public’s attention to the terrifying events that are happening in Ethiopia and demand justice and freedom for the Oromo people.
• Affordable Care Act as a Fundamental Human Right Healthcare should be recognized as a fundamental human right, which can be based on a new Medicare for All program to be cost-effective and affordable.
• Declaration of Human Rights Influence on Government In this article, the author examines the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and its impact on the governments.
• Human Rights and the Rwandan Genocide In the first half of 1994, Rwanda lost approximately 800,000 citizens due to tribal clashes that led to what is referred to now as the Rwandan Genocide.
• Civil Rights Movement and Actual State of Human Rights Ending racial discrimination and equalization of rights between the variety of ethnic groups found on the territory of the United States is a struggle with a long history.
• Immigrants Human Rights Violation in the United States The research question addresses the need to halt family separations at the border by launching long-term cooperation with other states, such as Mexico.
• Ethical Cases: Human Rights To Decide on One’s Life From medical ethics, care providers must follow the principles of autonomy and beneficence, but they are opposed to each other in these ethical cases.
• The Mutual Relationship Between the Fields of Human Rights and Environmental Protection
• The Relationship Between Intellectual Property and Human Rights International Law
• The Constitution and the Declaration of Human Rights
• The Concepts and Significance of Human Rights in Society
• Children, Guantanamo Bay and the Violation of Human Rights
• Civil Liberties and Violations of Human Rights
• The Reason Why Countries Signed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
• Human Rights and Latin American Indigenous Women
• How the Death Penalty Is Against Our Human Rights
• The Criminal Defence and Human Rights Lawyer
• Effective Practices for Infusing Human Rights
• How Being Homeless Affects an Individual’s Human Rights
• Gay Marriage: The Recognition of Equal Human Rights
• The Black Codes: Limiting Basic Human Rights and Civil Liberties of Blacks
• Human Rights and International Investment Law
• Exponential Innovation and Human Rights: Implications for Science and Technology Diplomacy
• The World Struggle for Human Rights and the Rights of Self
• Child Soldiers Are Abused and Deprived of Human Rights
• Business and Human Rights: The Evolving International Agenda
• Development and Human Rights as Addressed by Bolivian President Evo Morales
• Human Rights and Gender Issues: “The Love Suicides at Amijima” & “Tale of Kieu” Comparing “The Love Suicides at Amijima” and “Tale of Kieu”, while representing different time periods, addresses the same problem of human rights and gender inequalities.
• Human Trafficking: International Human Rights International human rights law defines human trafficking as the violation of an individual’s right to liberty through appropriation of their legal personality, labor and humanity.
• UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights The U.N. Guiding Principles are a necessary but still insufficiently effective tool to protect human rights from large business structures.
• Global Human Rights Progress and the Role of National Cultural Value Systems This paper aims to investigate arguments in favor and against the claim that there has been progressing in developing global human rights over the last twenty years.
• Human Trafficking as Violation of Human Rights Human trafficking is a heinous issue that is very serious and dangerous for our society. It is widely known that human trafficking has become an expanding issue across the world.
• Sudan, Oil, War, and Human Rights This paper aims to address the main issues for why despite the end of the formal conflict in Sudan; global human rights actors have remained unable to stop the war-like patterns.
• Human Rights Problem of Domestic Help in El Salvador The condition of human rights in El Salvador concerning the domestic helps has been steadily deteriorating over the years
• Human Rights Conservation and the War on Terror Public Safety is the concept of governmental organizations concerned with protecting their citizens from all kinds of threats.
• Cultural Relativism, Universal Jurisdiction and Human Rights The Human Rights area of different countries has its own peculiar features and structure. Human Rights are the result of people’s fight for independence.
• Modern World Politics and the Cause of Human Rights Human rights, democracy and terrorism act as a triangle which bounds modern world politics to a certain limitation.
• Circumcision as a Human Rights Issue in the US Circumcision can be considered one of the disputable practices that are still used on infants because of outdated believes and issues.
• Remote Sensing to Monitor Human Rights Violations The use of modern technologies provides multiple options for various agencies that assess situations regarding human rights and their violations.
• Circumcision: Ethical Dilemma and Human Rights Circumcision is a complex phenomenon that can result in ethical dilemmas. To put it simply, circumcision consists of surgical operations on female and male genitals.
• Donald Trump’s Policies of Poverty and Human Rights One of the events related to an acute social issue of poverty in the United States involves the U.N. report on extreme U.S. poverty and human rights in the context of Donald Trump’s policies.
• Same-Sex Marriages and Human Rights Many people acknowledge that same-sex marriage is something that should be analyzed using this law. This discussion gives my personal perspective of this issue.
• Human Rights, Globalization and Economic Development Based on Bryzk’s definition of globalization, it is clear that a globalized world makes it easy to have a free flow of information and ideas across the border.
• Universal Human Rights in Political Ideologies The major contention of Communitarian with the ideologies of Universalism can be traced to the major element that each ideology advocates.
• Human Rights in Israel-Gaza and West Bank Regions The conflict in the Gaza region was a violation of human rights because the sovereignty of the state was not respected by foreign powers.
• Human Rights Advocates vs. Terrorism Victims In this study, we seek to find out the implication of terrorism on human rights and the impact of terrorism on global security.
• High-Resolution Satellite Imagery and Human Rights The focus of this assignment is the use of high-resolution satellite imagery for detecting mass graves in Sheberghan, an area in Afghanistan.
• Childhood Obesity Study, Ethics, and Human Rights The present paper discusses ethical considerations and plans in the protection of human rights in the childhood obesity issue, possible limitations, and implications of the study.
• Networked Society: Connectivity as a Human Right The media text focuses on the collaborative aspect of the internet in which people are able to add their own ideas, assumptions and create their own content for public viewing.
• W. Kymlicka on Human Rights and Culture Protection Every society has a distinct culture that differentiates it from others and members of the society can interact freely even if they are from different cultural backgrounds.
• Canada’s Commitment to Human Rights Principles Human rights refer to those aspects that uphold the outmost virtues of humankind. This paper is an evaluation of Canada’s commitment to human rights principles.
• Islamic State and Values of Human Rights This paper gives a reflection and analysis of Islamic culture using the ideas gained from the movie “Islam in America”.
• Violation of the Human Right to Life: Death Penalty The problem of the death penalty cannot be separated from the general concept of human rights as it violates the paramount right of a human to life.
• Heart Failure Study and Human Rights Protection The present paper discusses ethical considerations and plans in the protection of human rights during the study on congestive heart failure (CHF) patients post-discharge.
• Canadian Studies: Sexuality and Human Rights The history of Canada cannot be imagined without a chapter of same-sex struggle that, in many ways, defined the development of ethical principles of the country.
• Human Rights and Ethnic Groups in American History The paper argues that the United States protects human rights and minority ethnic groups. It discusses American history, its political, economic, and civil rights aspects.
• The Human Rights Act as a Protection Tool in the UK The HRA (Human Rights Act) was introduced in the UK in 1998 as a means of implementing an internal judicial method of addressing human rights concerns.
• Universal Human Rights and Cultural Values The universality of human rights is a question for debate because of the impact of cultures on people’s acceptation and interpretation of these rights.
• Discrimination and Human Rights Laws The paper discusses solutions of closing the gap between the reality of ongoing oppression and discrimination and the promises held out by our human rights laws.
• Circumcision: Medical, Ethical and Human Rights Issues Human genitals is a matter that is to be treated with utmost care. Genital mutilations are mainly referred to as “a cultural practice”.
• The Gay Human Rights: Harvey Milk Contributions Harvey Milk and his contribution in the struggle to preserve gay human rights are discussed from a theoretical perspective. This paper provides an in-depth understanding of gay human rights.
• Human Rights in United Arab Emirates The constitution of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) officially recognizes different rights and freedoms which its citizens and foreigners are entitled to.
• Understanding Human Rights: Labor Rights in a Globalizing World and Gender Rights Labour rights are human rights which encompass “the right to collective bargaining; the elimination of forced and slave labour.
• Human Rights and Development: The Antithesis of Armed Conflicts and War
• The Coca-Cola Company’s Abuse of Its Employees Through the Violation of the Code of Human Rights
• How Has the Human Rights Act Affected Parliamentary Supremacy
• Community Service Can Restore Social Justice and Uphold Human Rights
• Human Rights Act and Parliamentary Sovereignty
• Human Rights and Freedom of Expression and Opinion
• Human Rights and Criminal Justice in the United Kingdom
• How Far Has the Government Gone to Compromise Our Basic Human Rights
• Does Mental Health Treatment Infringe Human Rights?
• The Link Between Corruption and Human Rights Violations
• Are New Democracies Better Human Rights Compliers
• Connection Between Democracy and Human Rights
• Ethical and Philosophical Nature of Human Rights
• The Connection Between Torture and Sin as a Theological Theme in the Conference Torture, Human Rights, War on Terror
• The Pros and Cons of the Declaration of Human Rights
• China Internet Censorship Against Human Rights
• Human Rights and Civil Liberties in Canada
• Examining the Links Between Human Rights and Different Models of Disability in Education
• How Does Being Homeless Affect an Individual‘s Human Rights?
• How Far Has the Government Gone to Compromise Our Basic Human Rights?
• Are Security and Human Rights Mutually Exclusive?
• Are Human Rights Issues Valid?
• How Has Globalization Impacted Human Rights?
• How Can Community Service Improve Human Rights and Our Society as a Whole?
• How Did the Development of Human Rights Affect the Caste System in India?
• Are Human Rights Practices Improving?
• Are Human Rights Innate and Universal?
• Are Human Rights “Subversive to the Current” Society of States?
• How Does Human Rights Affect Multi-National Companies on Their Marketing Strategies?
• Does the Canadian Charter Effectively Protect Our Human Rights?
• Are Bangladeshi Women Enjoying Human Rights Properly?
• Are Human Rights Infringed in Treatments for Mental Health?
• Does Terrorism Threaten Human Rights?
• Are Human Rights Truly Universal?
• Are Human Rights Universal and Does It Matter?
• Does the Human Rights Act Protect Civil Liberties?
• Does the Terrorism Act Infringe Upon Our Human Rights?
• Are Human Rights Human?
• How Effectively Does the Human Rights Act 1998 Promote?
• Are Rich Nations Violating the Human Rights of the World’s Poor?
• Are Human Rights Universal Philosophy?
• Are Human Rights and Economic Well-Being Substitutes?
• Are Human Rights Protected?
• Are New Democracies Better Human Rights Compliers?
• Does the Human Rights Act 1998 Promote or Hinder Democracy?
• Are Worker Rights Human Rights?
• Does the WTO Violate Human Rights?

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StudyCorgi. (2021, September 9). 196 Human Rights Essay Topics & Examples. https://studycorgi.com/ideas/human-rights-essay-topics/

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StudyCorgi . "196 Human Rights Essay Topics & Examples." September 9, 2021. https://studycorgi.com/ideas/human-rights-essay-topics/.

StudyCorgi . 2021. "196 Human Rights Essay Topics & Examples." September 9, 2021. https://studycorgi.com/ideas/human-rights-essay-topics/.

These essay examples and topics on Human Rights were carefully selected by the StudyCorgi editorial team. They meet our highest standards in terms of grammar, punctuation, style, and fact accuracy. Please ensure you properly reference the materials if you’re using them to write your assignment.

This essay topic collection was updated on January 21, 2024 .

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This report outlines four strategies to center human rights values within Ukraine's post-conflict digital governance framework as the government of Ukraine and its international partners begin planning for reconstruction.

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100 Best Human Rights Topics For Your Thesis

Human rights topics are among the crucial subjects for academic papers. Human rights are inherent to every human being. That means people shouldn’t be denied their human rights regardless of their sex, nationality, color, language, religion, national or ethnic origin, as well as, other human divisions.

Human and civil rights research topics are can relate to treaties and laws that aim to safeguard natural rights. Natural rights can be described as a concept that addresses life, property, and liberty. As such, human and civil right movement essay topics can be about different issues that affect human beings concerning civil law and their legal protection.

Globally, several frameworks and policies that address human rights at transnational levels have emerged. These have also led to several treaties. Consequently, human rights topics for research paper have attracted interest from students and scholars that are pursuing law and human rights programs. Here is a civil and human rights topics list to consider if you want to write a paper that addresses modern social issues. You can also check out our law thesis topics .

Interesting Human Rights Topics

The popularity of human rights when it comes to research is always growing. That’s because issues that touch on human rights are prevalent in both developing and underdeveloped countries. Even some countries that are considered as the most advanced face human rights issues. Here are some of the most interesting human rights topics for essays and research papers.

• Causes of gender-based disparity in payment in the U.S
• Major problems and their solutions in LGBT marriage regulations
• How does child labor affect the psychology of healthy adults?
• What are the major LGBT community rights in the U.S?
• Are women intellectually inferior?
• What are the legal rights of Canadian servants?
• Can child labor cause post-traumatic stress disorder?
• What are the common causes of physical abuse among married couples in the U.S?
• Discuss labor right issues in the UAE
• Child labor history
• How does male leadership differ from female leadership?
• What hinders the equal representation of females in leadership roles?
• Should minorities be allowed to pray at their workplaces?
• Discuss women rights in African
• Discuss racial discrimination in the UAE
• Do social media play a role in women empowerment?
• What are the best ways to address body shaming issues?
• Do parents have an ethical basis for using force when disciplining children?
• Do the native people have rights at the time of immigrants’ influx?
• What’s the civil rights future in the U.S?

These are some of the best human rights essay topics for students at different academic levels. However, writing solid papers on these topics requires extensive research to gather the relevant and latest information.

Argumentative Human Rights Research Topics

If you want to argue out a point that relates to human rights, consider a topic in this category. Here are some of the best argumentative human rights research paper topics.

• Cutting the genitals of male infants is a violation of human rights
• Is the state allowed to violate human rights at the time of war in the interest of a nation?
• When should the rights of men and women differ?
• Are human rights dependent on situations?
• Can the same standards of human rights be achieved globally?
• Should specific traditions define human rights?
• Should all people have an equal right to free education?
• Should the state’s interests take priority of individual rights?
• Do social media networks guarantee privacy right?
• Is immigration restriction in the U.S a violation of human rights?
• Does democracy work as the best system for protecting human rights?
• Is pet ownership an example of human rights?
• Are developed countries responsible for the promotion of human rights across the world?
• How good is global trade when it comes to the promotion of labor rights?
• Which is the best political regime for protecting human rights?
• Is life imprisonment a violation of human rights?
• Is torture justifiable?
• Capitalistic system- Does it violate or defend human rights?
• Is the installation of surveillance cameras in public places a violation of human rights?
• Should voting right be extended to prisoners?

This category can also include some of the best animal rights topics. For instance, a topic that addresses pet ownership as a form of human rights can also address animal rights. Nevertheless, extensive research is required to write a solid paper on any of these human rights paper topics.

Analytical Human Rights Essay Topics

Perhaps, you want to write an analytical essay about a topic on human rights. In that case, consider a topic in this list of human rights essay topics.

• Which are the most violated human rights at workplaces and why?
• What is the connection between ecological problems and human rights?
• Analyze the European Commission of Human Rights’ organizational structure
• Analyze the effectiveness of the European Court of Human Rights
• Analyze the human rights violation in the adult film industry
• Analyze the purpose and principles of the European Convention on Human Rights
• How can human rights violations by the police be prevented?
• Analyze the violation of the rights of children in Taiwan
• How can the international community fine a state that violates basic human rights?
• Analyze the violation of human rights in Belarus

This is a great category to consider when looking for civil rights movement research topics. Information for writing papers and essays about these topics is also easy to find on the internet. That’s because several media outlets have written and published news articles on some of these civil rights topics online.

Compare and Contrast Civil Rights Movement Topics

Maybe you want to write a human rights thematic essay in which you compare and contrast different issues or concepts. In that case, consider the following topics.

• Compare and contrast the Human Rights Act (1998) and the Equality Act (2010)
• Compare and contrast pet rights and human rights
• Compare and contrast human rights and civil rights movements
• Compare and contrast slavery and serfdom- How are these phenomena a violation of human rights?
• Compare and contrast the rights of women during the 20th century
• Compare and contrast the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) and the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen (1789)
• Compare and contrast the Human Rights Model and the Freedom Model
• Compare and contrast the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and how Islam views human rights
• Compare and contrast human rights violation in the Brave New World novel by Aldous Huxley and 1984 by George Orwell
• How does apartheid compare and contrast with segregation?

This category also has some of the best women’s rights topics that require writers to compare and contrast violations over certain periods. Nevertheless, writing an essay about human rights about any topic in this category requires time and effort. That’s because you have to research and verify the information from different eras.

Historical Human Rights Violation Essay Topics

Some topics on the violation of human rights date back to certain periods in time. If you want to write a human rights violations essay that discusses issues of a specific period, here are some of the topics to consider.

• Discuss the implications of the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882
• The Bill of Rights history
• Historical female and Islam oppression
• Discuss the 1965 voting rights act
• The American Indian Movement
• Which groups of the population had the voting right in ancient Greek Poleis?
• What is the origin of the human rights concept?
• What were the defining factors for human rights in Medieval Europe?
• Which human rights could the 20th-century women not access?
• What was the purpose of the 1993’s Human Rights Act in New Zealand?
• What major human rights did the people fight for at the time of the French Revolution?
• Which human rights did the 1948 declaration make universal?
• How did World War II affect human rights?
• Where did human rights originate from?
• Analyze human rights violation in Crimea in 2014
• Analyze the violation of human rights during the Israeli-Palestinian conflict
• Discuss the representation of human rights in the Enlightenment philosophy
• Discuss the innocence presumption as a major policy in the American judicial system
• Discuss the role of Eleanor Roosevelt in the human rights protection campaign
• What changed how Western civilization views human rights?

Original Civil Rights Essay Topics

Maybe you want to write a civil rights essay on a topic that is completely original. In that case, consider this civil rights topics list.

• Discuss the development of the human rights issue in Hidden Figures
• Define ombudsman concerning human rights
• What is environmental racism?
• Explain why human trafficking continues
• Why are other countries not intervening in the violation of human rights by the North Korean government?
• How is utilitarianism a contravention of the human rights concept?
• Are human rights violated in the bible?
• How are human rights protected in African countries by the human rights institutions?
• Why are LGBT marriages and relationships not allowed in some nations?
• How can individuals participate in human rights protection campaigns?
• Is watching pornography a human right?
• What is the effect of racial discrimination on staff productivity?
• How should bullies be dealt with in school?
• How does obesity affect professional capacity?
• Best ways to fight racism
• What amendments should be made to legalize gay marriages?
• Do immigrate create serious employment issues for a native population?
• Should countries allow child transitioning?
• Discuss the social exclusion of HIV/AIDS patients
• Gay marriages do not have religious significance

Students have many human rights essay topics to choose from. Whether you need equal rights essay or women rights essay topics, you have many options to consider. Our thesis writers can help you choose a topic that you will be comfortable researching and writing about.

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Human Rights Law Research Paper Topics

This page presents a comprehensive guide on human rights law research paper topics tailored for law students assigned with research paper tasks. The page aims to provide comprehensive guidance and resources to students studying law and assigned with research paper tasks in the field of human rights law. It presents a diverse range of research paper topics related to human rights law, covering ten distinct categories, each containing ten topics for exploration. Furthermore, the page includes an in-depth article on human rights law, tips on selecting compelling human rights law research paper topics, and guidelines for writing a successful research paper. The page also highlights the custom writing services offered by iResearchNet, tailored to meet students’ academic needs and requirements in the domain of human rights law.

100 Human Rights Law Research Paper Topics

In the realm of human rights law, the depth and breadth of research topics are vast, reflecting the complexities of the field and its dynamic nature. This comprehensive list of human rights law research paper topics spans ten categories, each presenting ten engaging and thought-provoking subjects for exploration. From international perspectives to domestic applications, these topics cover various dimensions of human rights law, shedding light on critical issues, ongoing challenges, and evolving debates. Whether students are interested in human rights advocacy, humanitarian law, discrimination, or constitutional protections, this list aims to inspire and equip them with the right tools to embark on their research journey.

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• Freedom of Expression and Hate Speech Laws: Striking a Balance
• The Right to Privacy in the Digital Age: Challenges and Protections
• Religious Freedom and the Clash of Beliefs in Pluralistic Societies
• LGBTQ+ Rights and the Pursuit of Equality: Legal Progress and Challenges
• Racial Profiling and Discrimination: Addressing Systemic Biases
• Women’s Rights and Gender Equality: Empowerment and Legal Reforms
• The Rights of Persons with Disabilities: Inclusion and Accessibility
• Juvenile Justice and Youth Rights: Restorative Approaches
• The Right to Education: Ensuring Access and Quality
• Combating Human Trafficking: Legal Frameworks and Anti-Trafficking Efforts
• Universal Human Rights Declarations and International Enforcement
• The Role of Non-Governmental Organizations in Promoting Human Rights
• The United Nations Human Rights Council: Achievements and Limitations
• International Criminal Court and the Pursuit of Accountability for Atrocities
• The Impact of Customary International Law on Human Rights Norms
• Regional Human Rights Systems: Advancing Rights Protection in Specific Areas
• The Intersection of Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law
• Diplomacy and Human Rights: Balancing National Interests and Global Responsibilities
• Economic Sanctions and Human Rights: Assessing Their Effectiveness and Consequences
• The Responsibility to Protect: Sovereignty and Humanitarian Interventions
• Income Inequality and Human Rights: Addressing Economic Disparities
• Access to Healthcare as a Human Right: Equity and Universal Coverage
• Housing Rights and Homelessness: Legal Strategies for Housing Security
• Environmental Justice and Human Rights: Protecting Vulnerable Communities
• Indigenous Rights and Land Restitution: Recognizing Past Injustices
• The Impact of Armed Conflicts on Human Rights and Refugee Crisis
• Discrimination and Marginalization of Minority Groups: Legal Responses
• Labor Rights and Worker Protections: Fair Employment Practices
• Human Rights and Access to Justice: Overcoming Barriers to Legal Remedies
• Rights of Migrants and Refugees: Challenges in Migration Policies
• Capital Punishment and Human Rights: Abolition and Alternatives
• The Right to a Fair Trial: Legal Safeguards and Due Process
• Prison Conditions and Human Rights: Rehabilitation vs. Punishment
• Police Accountability and Use of Force: Balancing Public Safety and Rights
• Juvenile Justice Reform: Rethinking Punishment for Young Offenders
• Human Rights Implications of Cybercrime and Cybersecurity Measures
• Counterterrorism Laws and Civil Liberties: Balancing Security and Rights
• The Rights of Victims and Witness Protection in Criminal Proceedings
• Criminalization of Drug Use and Human Rights: Health Approaches vs. Punitive Measures
• Human Rights and the Right to Legal Representation: Ensuring Access to Counsel
• Reproductive Rights and Women’s Health: Legal Battles and Access to Care
• Mental Health Law and Human Rights: Balancing Autonomy and Protection
• Access to Medicines and Patent Rights: Global Health Equity
• Medical Ethics and Human Rights: Informed Consent and Research Ethics
• LGBTQ+ Health Rights and Healthcare Disparities: Advocacy and Legal Reforms
• Disability Rights and Healthcare Accessibility: Accommodations and Inclusion
• The Right to Die with Dignity: Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia Laws
• Human Rights Implications of COVID-19 Pandemic Response: Balancing Public Health and Liberties
• Substance Use and Harm Reduction: Public Health Approaches and Legal Barriers
• Health Rights of Refugees and Displaced Persons: Challenges in Providing Care
• Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflicts: Legal Frameworks and Challenges
• The Right to Seek Asylum: International Refugee Law and Responsibilities
• War Crimes and International Justice: The Role of International Criminal Tribunals
• Human Rights Implications of Autonomous Weapons and Military Technologies
• The Role of Humanitarian Organizations in Conflict Zones: Safety and Access
• The Responsibility to Protect: Preventing Genocide and Crimes Against Humanity
• Human Rights and Internally Displaced Persons: Legal Recognition and Protections
• The Impact of Armed Conflicts on Children’s Rights: Child Soldiers and Protection Measures
• Gender-Based Violence in Armed Conflicts: Legal Responses and Accountability
• Humanitarian Interventions and the Sovereignty Debate: Balancing Global Responsibility and Non-Interference
• The Right to a Healthy Environment: Environmental Protections and Human Rights
• Climate Change and Human Rights: Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies
• Indigenous Rights and Environmental Conservation: Balancing Preservation and Development
• Environmental Justice and Communities of Color: Overcoming Environmental Racism
• The Impact of Extractive Industries on Human Rights and Environmental Preservation
• Biodiversity Conservation and Indigenous Peoples’ Rights: Conflict and Collaboration
• The Right to Water and Sanitation: Access and Equity in Water Management
• Land Rights and Environmental Protection: Balancing Development and Conservation
• Environmental Impact Assessments and Human Rights: Ensuring Accountability and Participation
• The Role of the International Court of Justice in Protecting Human Rights
• The United Nations Human Rights Council and its Effectiveness in Promoting Rights
• Human Rights in Regional Organizations: The European Court of Human Rights
• The Role of International NGOs in Monitoring and Advocating for Human Rights
• International Human Rights Mechanisms and State Compliance: Challenges and Achievements
• The Role of Human Rights in International Trade Agreements and Economic Cooperation
• Human Rights in Armed Conflict: The Geneva Conventions and Customary International Law
• International Criminal Law and Prosecution of Human Rights Violations
• The Role of the United Nations in Protecting Children’s Rights
• Human Rights and Peacekeeping Operations: Balancing Security and Rights
• Digital Privacy and Human Rights: Challenges in the Age of Big Data
• The Right to Freedom of Expression in the Digital Era: Censorship and Online Speech
• Human Rights Implications of Artificial Intelligence and Automation
• Surveillance and Human Rights: Balancing Security and Privacy
• The Right to Internet Access as a Human Right: Universal Connectivity and Digital Equity
• Online Harassment and Cyberbullying: Legal Protections and Remedies
• Data Protection and Human Rights: Ensuring Personal Information Security
• Intellectual Property Rights and Access to Knowledge: Copyright and Cultural Rights
• The Right to Information and Government Transparency: Open Data and Accountability
• The Use of Drones in Armed Conflicts: Ethical and Legal Implications
• The Role of Human Rights Activism in Advancing Social Change
• The Intersectionality of Human Rights: Addressing Multiple Forms of Discrimination
• Indigenous Rights Movements and Land Justice: Advocacy and Legal Strategies
• The LGBTQ+ Rights Movement: Progress and Challenges in the Fight for Equality
• Women’s Rights Movements and Legal Reforms: Empowerment and Gender Equality
• Disability Rights Advocacy and the Fight for Inclusion and Accessibility
• Youth-Led Movements for Climate Justice and Environmental Rights
• The Black Lives Matter Movement and Police Accountability: Demanding Justice and Reform
• Human Rights and Migrant Rights Movements: Standing for Justice and Dignity
• Human Rights and Corporate Accountability: Advocating for Corporate Social Responsibility

The field of human rights law presents a dynamic landscape with a plethora of research paper topics that delve into critical social, political, and ethical issues. The ten categories presented here offer students a panoramic view of the diverse and interrelated areas within human rights law. As they embark on their research endeavors, students have the opportunity to explore the complexities and implications of human rights from various perspectives, both nationally and globally. The ever-evolving nature of human rights law ensures that this field will continue to inspire and challenge scholars, advocates, and policymakers in their pursuit of justice, equality, and human dignity. Whether it is advocating for marginalized communities, addressing humanitarian crises, or examining the intersection of technology and human rights, these topics will empower students to contribute meaningfully to the discourse and advancement of human rights principles worldwide. The journey of human rights research is both transformative and empowering, offering the potential to effect positive change in the lives of millions.

Human Rights Law: Exploring the Range of Topics

Human rights law is a dynamic and critical field that addresses the fundamental rights and freedoms inherent to all human beings. Rooted in the belief in the inherent dignity and worth of every individual, human rights law seeks to protect and promote these rights, ensuring that all people can live in equality, freedom, and peace. As a multidimensional area of study, human rights law offers a wide range of research paper topics that delve into the complexities of international and domestic legal frameworks, the intersections between human rights and other fields of law, and the evolving challenges in safeguarding human rights in an ever-changing world.

• The Universality and Cultural Relativism of Human Rights : The concept of human rights raises intriguing questions about the universality of rights versus the cultural relativism of values. Research papers in this category may explore the tensions between universal human rights norms and cultural practices, analyzing how cultural contexts can impact the interpretation and implementation of human rights.
• Human Rights and Armed Conflicts : Armed conflicts present severe challenges to human rights, with civilian populations often suffering the most. Human rights law research paper topics in this area may focus on the protection of human rights during armed conflicts, including issues of war crimes, humanitarian law, and the role of international institutions in ensuring accountability for human rights violations.
• Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights : Economic, social, and cultural rights are essential components of human rights law, emphasizing access to education, healthcare, housing, and social security. Research papers may analyze the legal frameworks and challenges in implementing these rights, especially in the context of poverty, inequality, and socio-economic development.
• Human Rights and Refugees : The plight of refugees and asylum seekers is a pressing human rights issue worldwide. Research topics in this area may examine the legal protections and challenges faced by refugees, the role of international organizations in supporting displaced populations, and the impacts of immigration policies on human rights.
• Human Rights and Discrimination : Discrimination on various grounds, such as race, gender, religion, and disability, continues to be a significant human rights concern. Research papers may explore legal frameworks and strategies to combat discrimination, including the role of affirmative action, equality laws, and anti-discrimination policies.
• Freedom of Expression and Media Rights : Freedom of expression is a cornerstone of human rights law, and the media plays a crucial role in fostering democracy and accountability. Research topics in this category may delve into issues of media freedom, censorship, and the balance between free speech and hate speech.
• Human Rights and Technology : Advancements in technology bring both opportunities and challenges to human rights protection. Research papers in this area may examine issues such as digital privacy, surveillance, artificial intelligence, and the right to access information in the digital age.
• Human Rights and Health : Health is intricately linked to human rights, as access to healthcare is a fundamental right. Research topics may explore the right to health and the challenges in ensuring equitable access to healthcare services, especially in vulnerable populations.
• Gender and Human Rights : Gender equality is a central theme in human rights law, and research papers in this category may focus on women’s rights, LGBTQ+ rights, and the intersections between gender and other human rights issues.
• Human Rights and Business : The impact of business practices on human rights has become a significant area of concern. Research topics may explore corporate social responsibility, business and human rights initiatives, and the role of businesses in upholding human rights standards.

The realm of human rights law is vast and multifaceted, covering a wide array of topics and issues that demand critical examination and research. From armed conflicts to economic disparities, from refugees’ rights to media freedom, and from technology to health, the field of human rights law offers a rich landscape for exploration and advocacy. As students and scholars delve into these research paper topics, they engage in crucial discussions on human rights protection, social justice, and the promotion of dignity and equality for all. By striving for a deeper understanding of human rights and their complexities, we contribute to creating a more just, compassionate, and rights-respecting world. At iResearchNet, we are committed to supporting students in their academic pursuits by providing expert assistance and custom research paper writing services that adhere to the highest standards of quality and excellence. Together, let us explore the frontiers of human rights law and work towards a future where human rights are upheld and protected for every individual, without exception.

How to Choose a Human Rights Law Topic

Choosing a compelling and relevant research paper topic is a crucial step in the academic journey of students studying human rights law. As a multifaceted and evolving field, human rights law offers a vast array of topics to explore, each with its unique challenges and opportunities. However, the abundance of choices can also be overwhelming, leaving students unsure of where to begin. In this section, we will provide valuable insights and practical tips on how to select the most suitable and engaging human rights law research paper topics.

• Identify Your Interests and Passions : The first step in choosing a research paper topic is to reflect on your personal interests and passions within the field of human rights law. What particular human rights issues resonate with you the most? Are you drawn to topics related to gender equality, access to healthcare, refugees’ rights, or freedom of expression? Identifying your interests will not only make the research process more enjoyable but also enable you to invest the necessary time and effort into producing a compelling and meaningful paper.
• Conduct Preliminary Research : Before finalizing a research paper topic, it is essential to conduct preliminary research to gain a broader understanding of the current state of knowledge in the chosen area. Review academic journals, books, policy papers, and reports related to your potential topics. This preliminary research will not only help you refine your topic but also identify any gaps in the existing literature that you could address in your research.
• Consider the Scope and Feasibility : While it may be tempting to choose a broad and ambitious topic, it is essential to consider the scope and feasibility of your research. A topic that is too broad may lack focus, while a topic that is too narrow may limit your ability to find sufficient research material. Strike a balance between a topic that is comprehensive enough to explore in-depth and one that is manageable within the scope of your research project.
• Examine Current Debates and Controversies : Human rights law is often marked by ongoing debates and controversies surrounding certain issues. Exploring topics that are currently subject to heated discussions allows you to contribute to these debates and engage with cutting-edge research. Consider topics related to emerging challenges in human rights protection, the implications of new technologies on human rights, or the impact of global events on human rights law.
• Consult with Professors and Peers : Seek guidance and feedback from your professors, advisors, and peers during the topic selection process. Discussing your ideas with knowledgeable individuals can provide valuable insights and help you refine your research focus. They can also suggest additional resources and research directions that you may not have considered.
• Choose a Researchable and Original Topic : Select a research paper topic that is not only interesting but also researchable and original. Ensure that there is a sufficient amount of credible sources and data available for your chosen topic. Additionally, strive to bring a unique perspective or approach to your research to contribute new insights to the field of human rights law.
• Stay Updated on Current Events : Human rights issues are dynamic and influenced by current events and global developments. Keep yourself updated on recent news, legal developments, and policy changes related to human rights. Monitoring current events will help you identify timely and relevant research paper topics that address real-world challenges.
• Consider the Impact and Real-World Relevance : Choose a research paper topic that has practical significance and real-world relevance. Human rights law is not merely an academic exercise; it has a direct impact on the lives of individuals and communities worldwide. Consider topics that have the potential to contribute to positive change, promote human rights awareness, or address pressing human rights challenges.
• Be Open to Flexibility and Adaptation : As you delve deeper into your research, be open to adapting and refining your research paper topic based on new insights and findings. Sometimes, the direction of your research may evolve, and being flexible in your approach allows you to produce a more nuanced and comprehensive paper.
• Seek Inspiration from iResearchNet : At iResearchNet, we understand the significance of choosing the right research paper topic. Our team of expert writers and researchers is well-versed in various areas of human rights law and can provide valuable insights and inspiration to help you select the perfect topic for your research paper. With our assistance, you can embark on a journey of exploration and discovery, delving into the complexities and nuances of human rights law while making a meaningful contribution to the field.

Selecting a research paper topic in human rights law requires careful consideration and thoughtful reflection. By identifying your interests, conducting preliminary research, and staying updated on current events, you can choose a topic that is not only academically stimulating but also relevant and impactful. At iResearchNet, we are committed to supporting students in their academic pursuits by offering expert guidance and custom research paper writing services. Together, let us embark on a journey of academic excellence and advocacy, working towards a world where human rights are upheld and protected for all.

How to Write a Human Rights Law Research Paper

Writing a research paper in the field of human rights law requires careful planning, thorough research, and a clear understanding of the subject matter. As you embark on this academic endeavor, you will encounter various challenges and opportunities to delve deep into the complexities of human rights issues. In this section, we will provide you with a comprehensive guide on how to write a compelling and impactful human rights law research paper.

• Understand the Research Question : The first step in writing a research paper is to understand and define your research question. Your research question should be clear, focused, and specific, addressing a particular aspect of human rights law. It should guide your research and provide a framework for your paper.
• Conduct In-Depth Research : Human rights law is a multidisciplinary field that draws on legal principles, international treaties, ethical considerations, and socio-political aspects. To write an authoritative research paper, conduct in-depth research from a variety of credible sources, including academic journals, legal databases, government publications, and reputable websites. Take notes and organize your findings to support your arguments effectively.
• Create an Outline : Organize your research and ideas by creating a well-structured outline for your research paper. An outline helps you maintain a logical flow of information, ensuring that your paper is cohesive and coherent. Divide your paper into sections and subsections, each addressing a specific aspect of your research question.
• Develop a Strong Thesis Statement : Craft a clear and concise thesis statement that summarizes the main argument of your research paper. Your thesis statement should convey the purpose of your paper and guide readers on what to expect throughout the document.
• Introduction : Begin your research paper with an engaging introduction that provides background information on the human rights issue you are addressing. Introduce the significance of the topic, explain its relevance in the context of human rights law, and present your thesis statement.
• Literature Review : Incorporate a literature review section in your research paper to discuss the existing body of knowledge on the topic. Analyze and critically evaluate relevant studies, theories, and legal cases related to your research question. Identify any gaps or inconsistencies in the literature that your research aims to address.
• Methodology : If your research paper involves empirical research or data analysis, outline your methodology in this section. Describe the research design, data collection methods, and data analysis techniques you used to obtain results. Explain how your chosen methodology aligns with your research question and contributes to the overall understanding of the human rights issue.
• Analysis and Findings : Present your research findings and analyze the data in the context of your research question. Use evidence and examples from your research to support your arguments. Analyze the implications of your findings on the human rights issue and its potential impact on policies, laws, or practices.
• Discussion : In the discussion section, interpret your research findings and relate them to the existing body of knowledge. Address any limitations or challenges encountered during your research and suggest avenues for further exploration.
• Conclusion : Summarize the key points of your research paper in the conclusion section. Restate your thesis statement and highlight the main findings of your study. Discuss the implications of your research on human rights law and suggest potential areas for future research.
• Citations and Referencing : Properly cite all the sources used in your research paper following the required citation style (e.g., APA, MLA, Chicago). Accurate referencing is essential to give credit to the original authors and avoid plagiarism.
• Proofreading and Editing : Before submitting your research paper, thoroughly proofread and edit it to eliminate any grammatical errors, typos, or inconsistencies. Ensure that your paper adheres to the formatting and style guidelines provided by your instructor or academic institution.

Writing a human rights law research paper is a rewarding and intellectually stimulating experience. By understanding your research question, conducting in-depth research, and organizing your paper effectively, you can produce a compelling and impactful piece of academic work. Remember to stay focused on your thesis statement and support your arguments with credible evidence. At iResearchNet, we understand the challenges of writing a research paper and are here to support you with expert guidance and custom research paper writing services. Together, let us contribute to the advancement of human rights knowledge and advocate for a more just and equitable world.

iResearchNet’s Custom Research Paper Writing Services

At iResearchNet, we understand the significance of human rights law and its impact on shaping a just and equitable society. We recognize that students pursuing law studies often face various academic challenges, including the task of writing comprehensive and well-researched research papers on complex human rights issues. To support students in their academic journey and contribute to the advancement of human rights knowledge, we offer custom human rights law research paper writing services. Our team of expert degree-holding writers is dedicated to providing top-quality, customized solutions tailored to meet your specific research needs. With our comprehensive services, you can embark on a seamless and rewarding research paper writing experience.

• Expert Degree-Holding Writers : At iResearchNet, we have a team of expert writers with advanced degrees in law and human rights-related fields. Our writers possess extensive knowledge of human rights principles, international treaties, and legal frameworks, enabling them to craft well-informed and insightful research papers.
• Custom Written Works : We understand that each research paper is unique, and therefore, we offer fully custom-written papers designed to meet your specific requirements. Our writers conduct in-depth research on your chosen topic and tailor the paper to align with your research question and academic guidelines.
• In-Depth Research : Our writers are adept at conducting comprehensive and in-depth research from a variety of credible sources, ensuring that your research paper is well-supported with evidence and examples.
• Custom Formatting : We are well-versed in different citation styles, including APA, MLA, Chicago/Turabian, and Harvard. Our writers meticulously follow the required formatting guidelines to ensure that your research paper adheres to the highest academic standards.
• Top Quality : We prioritize quality and excellence in every research paper we deliver. Our team of skilled editors reviews each paper to ensure it is free from errors and adheres to academic standards.
• Customized Solutions : We recognize that human rights law encompasses a wide range of topics and issues. Our custom writing services allow you to choose your preferred research topic and specify any particular requirements you have for the paper.
• Flexible Pricing : We offer flexible pricing options to accommodate students’ varying budgetary constraints. Our pricing is competitive, and we provide transparent cost estimates upfront.
• Short Deadlines : We understand the pressures of tight deadlines and offer expedited services to cater to urgent research paper writing needs. Our writers are capable of delivering high-quality papers within short timeframes, even as little as 3 hours.
• Timely Delivery : Punctuality is one of our core values. We are committed to delivering your research paper within the agreed-upon deadline, allowing you ample time for review and submission.
• 24/7 Support : Our customer support team is available 24/7 to address any inquiries, concerns, or updates regarding your research paper. Feel free to reach out to us at any time for prompt assistance.
• Absolute Privacy : At iResearchNet, we prioritize your privacy and confidentiality. All your personal information and research paper details are handled with the utmost confidentiality and stored securely.
• Easy Order Tracking : Stay updated on the progress of your research paper with our easy-to-use order tracking system. You can monitor the status of your paper and communicate directly with your assigned writer.
• Money Back Guarantee : We are committed to customer satisfaction. If, for any reason, you are not satisfied with the final research paper, we offer a money-back guarantee to ensure your peace of mind.

With iResearchNet’s custom human rights law research paper writing services, you can unlock the full potential of your academic journey. Our team of expert writers is here to support you in exploring the complexities of human rights law and contributing to the advancement of this critical field. Whether you need assistance in choosing a research topic, conducting in-depth research, or crafting a well-structured paper, we are here to assist you every step of the way. Empower your human rights law research with iResearchNet and make a meaningful impact on the world.

Empower Your Human Rights Law Research with iResearchNet

Are you ready to embark on a transformative journey into the realm of human rights law research? iResearchNet is your trusted partner in this noble pursuit. Our commitment to excellence, dedication to academic integrity, and passion for advancing human rights knowledge make us the perfect choice for all your research paper needs.

Empower your human rights law research and make a meaningful impact on the world with iResearchNet. Our custom research paper writing services are designed to support you in your academic journey and contribute to the advancement of human rights knowledge. Take the first step towards a brighter future and place your order today!

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Library electronic resources outage May 29th and 30th

Between 9:00 PM EST on Saturday, May 29th and 9:00 PM EST on Sunday, May 30th users will not be able to access resources through the Law Library’s Catalog, the Law Library’s Database List, the Law Library’s Frequently Used Databases List, or the Law Library’s Research Guides. Users can still access databases that require an individual user account (ex. Westlaw, LexisNexis, and Bloomberg Law), or databases listed on the Main Library’s A-Z Database List.

• Georgetown Law Library
• Foreign & International Law

Human Rights Law Research Guide

Introduction.

• Secondary Sources: Treatises & Books
• Secondary Sources: Journal Articles
• The Core International Human Rights Instruments
• Additional International Human Rights Instruments
• Status of Human Rights Treaties
• UN Charter Bodies
• UN Treaty Bodies
• The Americas
• National Laws Protecting Human Rights
• Multi-Institutional & Multi-Jurisdictional Sources
• Regional Commissions & Tribunals
• National (Domestic) Courts
• Human Rights Case Law by Subject
• Country Monitoring Reports
• Women's Human Rights Resources
• IGO and NGO Resources
• Other Research Guides & Update History

Key to Icons

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• Preeminent Treatise

Since the UN General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948, the body of international human rights instruments has grown significantly.  As a result, researchers often struggle to navigate a bewildering array of international treaties, country-specific monitoring reports, judicial decisions issued by regional tribunals and by national courts, and related documentation.

This guide is designed to help researchers identify relevant secondary sources on human rights law and to quickly and efficiently locate the full texts of primary law materials, including treaties, country reports, and case law.  While resources of general interest to all human rights researchers are highlighted throughout the guide, special attention is paid to resources that specifically address the  human rights of women at the international level .

Key Resources for Human Rights Law Research

• UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) The OHCHR's website provides access to a wealth of documentation, including the core human rights treaties , links to the treaty bodies that monitor compliance with these treaties, other international human rights instruments , a directory of human rights information by country , and a directory of human rights databases .  
• Oxford Reports on International Law This subscription database includes more than 4,000 judicial decisions on human rights topics issued by international and regional tribunals and by national courts.  Begin by selecting “human rights” from the Subject menu in the blue navigation bar.  Then search by keyword or use the filters on the left to narrow.  
• RefWorld Although it focuses on refugee and asylum law, this UN database also includes materials that address other human rights topics.  Search or browse for international legal instruments (treaties), national laws , country reports , and case law from international tribunals and national courts.  For greater precision, use the Advanced Search .  

Research Assistance & Help with Related Topics

If you need assistance with human rights law research, visit the Research Help page of the Georgetown University Law Library's website. Or contact the Law Library's International and Foreign Law Department by phone (202-662-4195) or by email ( [email protected] ).  Georgetown Law Center students may schedule a one-on-one research consultation with a librarian.

For guidance in researching topics related to human rights law, consult the following Georgetown Law Library resources:  CALS Asylum Case Research Guide , the Treaty Research Guide , and the War Crimes Research Guide .

Human Rights Law

Questions? Need Help? Contact the International & Foreign Law Dept.

International & foreign legal research (202) 662-4195 request a research consultation  .

Update History

Updated 08/2019 (chb) Revised 06/2018 (chb) Updated 12/2012(ajs) Revised 10/2009 (mms)

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• © Georgetown University Law Library. These guides may be used for educational purposes, as long as proper credit is given. These guides may not be sold. Any comments, suggestions, or requests to republish or adapt a guide should be submitted using the Research Guides Comments form . Proper credit includes the statement: Written by, or adapted from, Georgetown Law Library (current as of .....).
• Last Updated: Feb 7, 2024 10:45 PM
• URL: https://guides.ll.georgetown.edu/humanrightslaw

•   [email protected]

HIS 100 - Perspectives in History

Inequality and human rights.

Image by Markus Spiske, retrieved via Unsplash

The concept of inequality and humans rights is an issue that dates far back into the depths of human history. If this is an area of interest to you, please select one of the three historical events on the menu to the left for your course work. Below you can learn more about each topic first by clicking on the title. 

Tulsa Massacre This link opens in a new window

Wounded Knee Occupation This link opens in a new window

Stonewall Rebellion This link opens in a new window

Each of these topics listed above are linked to a Research Starter, which is a  tertiary source . Tertiary sources are great to get background information on a topic, but these are not meant to be cited in your assignment. Once you click on the topic of your choice from the menu, you will find a number of primary and secondary sources to use in your assignment. Read through each source to learn more about your chosen historical event. 

• << Previous: Developing a Research Question
• Next: Tulsa Massacre >>

• Harvard Library
• Research Guides
• HKS Library & Research Services

Human Rights

Data & statistics, legal research, think tank search, organizations, human trafficking, other research guides.

Getting Started

• Oxford Handbooks Online (Harvard Login) Review essays that evaluate the current thinking on a field or topic, and make an original argument about the future direction of the debate. Contains several reviews of human rights topics.
• Oxford Bibliographies Online (Harvard Login) Selective, discipline-focused, online guides to the essential literature in subjects in the humanities and social sciences.
• Encyclopedia of Human Rights (Harvard Login) Online access to award winning, five-volume encyclopedia offering comprehensive coverage of all aspects of human rights theory, practice, law, and history.
• Oxford Public International Law (Harvard Login) A comprehensive, single location providing integrated access to international law resources. Includes Max Planck Encyclopedia of Public International Law and Oxford Reports on International Law.
• Brill Human Rights and Humanitarian Law (Harvard Login) E-books on human rights, humanitarian and international public law.

E-Books, Articles and Other Publications

• Proquest Social Sciences Premium Collection (Harvard Login) Database collection covering the social sciences including politics, sociology, education and criminal justice. Includes Public Affairs Information Service (PAIS).
• Index to Legal Periodicals and Books (Harvard Login) Provides citations to articles in law reviews, bar association journals, yearbooks, institutes, and government publications from 1980 to present.

Human Rights Libraries

• HeinOnline Foreign & International Law Resources (Harvard Login) Access to key publications from the American Society of International Law and human rights yearbooks from around the world. Includes international tribunals and judicial decisions.
• CIRI Human Rights Data Project Provides data on human rights violations for 202 countries, annually over the period 1981-2011.
• Freedom in the World Annual flagship publication which surveys and rates 195 countries and 15 related and disputed territories by human rights criteria.
• Humanitarian Data Exchange An open platform for sharing humanitarian data with data from over 80 organizations including governments, NGOs and UN agencies.
• Minorities at Risk (MAR) Project Provides information on the status and conflicts of more than 283 politically-active ethnic groups in all countries with a current population of at least 500,000
• WomenStats Compiles qualitative and quantitative information on over 310 indicators of women's status in 174 countries. Free registration is required.
• AidData Searchable, open access database of nearly one million past and present aid activities around the world, and data tools to increase understanding of development finance.
• Financial Tracking Service Managed by the UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, this global, real-time database which tracks all reported international humanitarian aid including that for NGOs and the Red Cross / Red Crescent Movement, bilateral aid, in-kind aid, and private donations.

Law Journal Databases

• HeinOnline Foreign & International Law Resources (Harvard Login) Provides full-text access to publications from the American Society of International Law and human rights yearbooks from around the world, as well as the Hague Permanent Court of International Justice series and other useful materials.

International Law Reference Resources

• Max Planck Encyclopedia of Public International Law (MPEPIL) (Harvard Login) Online reference work for basic information about international human rights cases and issues. Click on Subject to search by key topics in human rights.
• Collected Courses of the Hague Academy of International Law (Harvard Login) Focus on international law subjects, including legislation and case law. Includes volumes on Limits of Force, Torture and the Geneva Conventions. Published in English or French.

Legislation

• Legislationonline.org "Provides direct access to international norms and standards relating to specific human dimension issues, as well as to domestic legislation and other documents of relevance to these issues." Includes full text access for legislation from both Western and Eastern European countries.
• Proquest Congressional (Harvard Login) Access bills, legislative history, congressional documents of the United States back to 1789 and CRS Reports.

International Courts

• International Court of Justice (ICJ) The principal judicial organ of the United Nations (UN). The ICJ settles disputes between the States (not individuals).
• International Criminal Court (ICC) The first permanent, treaty based, international criminal court for perpetrators of the most serious crimes of concern to the international community. The ICC is an independent international organization, and is not part of the United Nations system.
• International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) The United Nations court of law dealing with war crimes that took place during the conflicts in the Balkans in the 1990’s.
• ESCR Case Law Database Positive domestic, regional and international legal decisions from around the world regarding economic, social and cultural rights. Case summaries primarily in English and Spanish, with a growing number in French and Arabic.
• Child Rights International Network (CHRIN) Includes data, reports, and global coverage of child rights cases.
• Sexual Right Initiative, Law & Policy Database Documents and compares the status of law and policy related to sexual rights issues in different countries around the world

Search using Google conventions (i.e. putting quotation marks around phrases).

Inclusion Policy

Think Tank Search  searches the websites of institutions that generate public policy research, analysis, and activity. These sites are  affiliated with universities, governments, advocacy groups, foundations, and non-governmental organizations .  Inclusion is based upon the relevancy of subject area to HKS coursework and scholarship, the availability of the think tank’s research in full-text on the website, and the think tank’s reputation and influence upon policy making. The list represents a mixture of partisan and non-partisan think tanks.

Other Lists

• Policy File Index (Harvard Login) Abstracts of and links to domestic and international public policy issue published by think tanks, university research programs, & research organizations.
• Policy Commons: Global Think Tanks Collection of research from the world’s leading policy experts, think tanks, IGOs and NGOs. At last count it contains over 3 million publications from more than 24,000 organizations.
• Open Research Reports from JSTOR More than 39,000 research reports from over 140 policy institutes around the world are freely accessible to everyone on JSTOR. The open research reports are discoverable alongside journals, books, and primary sources, and are clearly labeled as their own content type.
• Find Policy A side project of Transparify, search think tank sites grouped by topic and location.
• Open Think Tank Directory A global collection of 2700 think tanks and related organisations.

Repository of think tank publications on EU affairs from the Library of the General Secretariat of the Council of the EU.

• UN Documentation: Human Rights Guide Research Guides on locating UN documents for human rights research. Authored by the UN Library.
• UN Watch A non-governmental organization based in Geneva, Switzerland, whose mandate is to monitor the performance of the United Nations.

Government & Agencies

• US Department of State's Human Rights Reports These reports from the U.S. Department of State cover internationally recognized individual, civil, political, and worker rights, as set forth in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
• EU Agency for Fundamental Rights An EU agency with the task of providing independent, evidence-based advice on fundamental rights. This group issues a number of papers and reports on topics relating to human rights issues in the EU.
• Brill Human Rights Documents (Harvard Login) Database of documents from hundreds of non-governmental human rights organizations. Covers 1980s - present.
• Amnesty International, Annual Reports Searchable website for human rights information by topic or by country. Includes comprehensive annual reports.
• Freedom House Includes reports and annual scores of civil and political rights for most countries
• State of the World's Children Produced by UNICEF, this annual report includes downloadable statistical tables that can be customized.
• Human Rights Watch, World Report Annual report published by Human Rights Watch. Reports provide information on human rights conditions in more than 90 countries. Includes archive of reports from 1989 to present.
• Refugees International Advocating for lifesaving assistance and protection for displaced people and promotes solutions to displacement crises. Includes in depth reports on displacement issues in specific countries and regions.
• Norweigian Refugee Council, Publications Includes, news, reports, evaluations on displaced and vulnerable people in crisis.

UN Agencies

Several UN agencies research, collect and publish information on human trafficking issues. Below are listed the major UN agencies that focus on this issue.

• UN, Office of Drugs and Crime (UNODC), Human Trafficking Knowledge Portal Disseminates information regarding the implementation of the UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime and specifically the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children. Includes a case law database on officially documented instances of trafficking and searchable legislation database.
• Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) The United Nations office with primary responsibility for promoting and protecting Human Rights. The Office's Special Rapportuer on Human Trafficking produces annual reports and other reports and recommendations
• International Labour Organization Brings together representatives of governments, employers and workers to jointly shape policies and programs relating to labor issues. Reports and data on human trafficking, which includes sex trafficking as a subset by country and geographic region. Use search terms like forced labour in the search box.

US Government Agencies

• US Department of State, Trafficking in Persons Report Annual report summarizing trafficking issues by Country including data, analysis and policy recommendations. Countries are assigned one of three tiers based on the extent of their governments’ efforts to comply with the “minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking.”

Non-Governmental Organizations

• Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Includes news stories and reports on human trafficking in East and West European countries.
• Polaris Project A leading advocacy group for ending human trafficking. The organization advocates for stronger laws against human trafficking organizations and provide services to victims of trafficking.

Harvard Kennedy School

• Carr Center, Violence Against Women Publications Database Curated by staff at the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy, this database provides access to hundreds of articles, research papers, presentations, news and other resources relevant to the topic of Violence Against Women (VAW).
• GenderWatch (Harvard Login) Provides abstracts and the full text of some 175 academic and scholarly journals, magazines, newspapers, newsletters, regional publications, books, booklets and pamphlets, conference proceedings, and government, non-governmental organization, and special reports.
• World Bank, Gender Data Portal Statistics by country and topic. Includes useful links for more data sources.
• Harvard Law Library, Research Guides Authored by Harvard Law Librarians, select the Human Rights and International Law categories to find a variety of specialized research guides on related topics.
• Last Updated: Jul 19, 2023 4:59 PM
• URL: https://guides.library.harvard.edu/hks/human_rights

Harvard University Digital Accessibility Policy

Welcome to Gale North America

International relations, human rights.

Gale provides useful and authoritative resources for human rights studies and education.

International Relations    |    Immigration    |    International Business    |    International Trade    |    Terrorism

Find information and resources for research and interdisciplinary studies on human rights—the rights to which all people are entitled, regardless of nation, culture, race, gender, age, or social position.

The first formal international agreement on what should constitute human rights appeared in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) in 1948. Former U.S. First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt served as the first U.S. delegate to the United Nations (UN). Her advocacy of human rights-based ethics and her key role in drafting the humanitarian guidelines of the UDHR continue to impact human rights protections and social justice movements today.

The UDHR arose as part of the post-conflict international response to atrocities committed during World War II (1939–1945), in which the German Nazi Party killed more than 11 million people, including 6 million Jewish people. The death, humiliation, torture, and other assaults on human dignity incurred during the armed conflict prompted the need for an international body to create guidelines to prevent such violations of human dignity from happening again.

Though different cultures, policymakers, and government officials may disagree on which standards and practices should constitute global human rights, the UDHR and other documentation on human rights issues generally specify that human rights should include, at a minimum, the right to life; freedom from slavery and torture; certain legal rights to equality and justice under the law (without discrimination based on gender, disability, religion, race, ethnicity, or other factors); and freedom to express political, religious, and other ideas without fear of persecution. While the UDHR is not legally binding, and member countries remain divided over how implementing UDHR principles can be accomplished without infringing upon national sovereignty, the language and cross-cultural principles of the UDHR have inspired international human rights laws and treaties and informed research, studies, and action on gender-based rights, disability rights, and other rights championed by numerous social movements for social justice.

National, regional, and international non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have started to demand accountability for human rights abuses and monitoring mechanisms that exist around the world, including various national and international tribunals set up to prosecute war crimes and genocide. United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) is a group of advocates within the United Nations committed to promoting and protecting human rights worldwide. Individuals appointed as Special Rapporteurs report on the many mandates of the UNHRC. Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International are two well-known human rights organizations that defend human rights around the world. The International Criminal Court heard cases based on human rights violations, including war crimes.

Human Rights Resources

Gale provides resources that support an interdisciplinary approach to the research requirements for human rights studies with journals, articles, and other materials from our collections of  primary sources   and  eBooks .

Primary Source Archives

Gale Primary Sources  contains full-text archives and collections that provide firsthand content for human rights research, including historical documents, peer-reviewed scholarly journals, periodical articles, news articles, and other publications that examine and analyze human rights studies as well as ephemera and other non-published materials that provide a multidisciplinary approach to both high school and academic research requirements and promote a deeper understanding of the issues.

Slavery and Anti-Slavery: A Transnational Archive

In its entirety,  Slavery and Anti-Slavery: A Transnational Archive  consists of more than 5 million cross-searchable pages sourced from books, pamphlets, maps from many countries, newspaper articles, journals and periodicals, legal documents, court records, monographs, manuscripts, and other publications. An unprecedented collection developed under the guidance of a board of scholars, it offers never-before-available research opportunities and endless teaching possibilities.

Women's Studies Archive

The Women’s Studies Archive offers a look at the social, political, and professional aspects of women’s lives during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. It captures the foundation of women’s movements, struggles, and triumphs, and provides researchers with valuable insights into the social, political, and professional achievements of the women's rights movement and other gender issues. Researchers will find primary sources from diverse archives that trace the path of women’s issues from past to present—pulling primary sources from manuscripts, ephemera, documents, newspapers, periodicals, journals, history collections, women’s literature, and more.

The Making of Modern Law: American Civil Liberties Union Papers, Part II: Southern Regional Office

The Making of Modern Law: American Civil Liberties Union Papers, Part II: Southern Regional Office  is comprised of never-before-digitized materials documenting the ACLU’s legal battle to enforce the Civil Rights Act of 1964 in thirteen Southern states. This collection is an indispensable resource for the researcher to understand the complete history of the civil rights movement as well as its continued impact on current civil rights issues in the United States and ongoing discussions of various topics related to international human rights.

The Making of Modern Law: American Civil Liberties Union Papers, Part I: 1912–1990

The Making of Modern Law: American Civil Liberties Union Papers, Part I: 1912–1990 spans most of the twentieth century. Its subjects include civil rights, civil liberties, race, gender, and issues relating to the U.S. Supreme Court. The relevance of the collection to today’s curriculum and current debates at international, national, and local levels serve many research needs.

Nineteenth Century Collections Online: Religion, Reform, and Society

Nineteenth Century Collections Online: Religion, Reform, and Society  contains full-text, searchable materials from a broad range of sources, including articles, books, and images that examine the comparative influence of faith and skepticism on the shaping of many aspects of society—politics, law, economics, and social justice and radical reform movements. In the nineteenth century, intellectual theories gave rise to new humanist religious projects and faith-based social reform movements. Alongside Comte's positivist "religion of humanity," utopian collectives, and settlement houses, a new fascination with studies into alternative spiritual and mystical practices grew.

Fight for Racial Justice and the Civil Rights Congress

This collection of literature comprises the Legal Case and Communist Party files of the Civil Rights Congress, documenting theories of social justice, various legal issues, and published documents detailing litigation in which the Civil Rights Congress was involved during its 10-year existence.

Ralph J. Bunche Oral Histories Collection on the Civil Rights Movement

This is a unique resource for the study of the era surrounding the civil rights movement in the United States. Within this resource, researchers will find transcriptions of close to 700 interviews with those who made history through their advocacy, which included the struggles for voting rights, the desegregation of schools, fights against discrimination in housing, exposing racism in hiring, defiance of police brutality, and addressing poverty in African American communities.

Gale eBooks

Gale's eBook collection offers a variety of publications online to support human rights research and studies. Users can add  Gale eBooks  to a customized collection and cross-search to pinpoint relevant content.  Workflow tools  help users easily share, save, and download content.

Political Science

Britannica Digital Learning   |   2016  |    ISBN-13:  9781622755479

This book traces the development of political science from ancient influences such as Plato and Aristotle to the perspectives of modern political shapers, such as Robert A. Dahl. It covers changes to the field in both thought and practice due to the rise and fall of political regimes, armed conflict and world wars, human migration, colonialism, climate change, and social media. The book also includes methodological examinations of international law and international relations, systems of government, constitutions, domestic policy, public opinion, social movements, and administration. The book ends with brief biographies of important people in the field of political science and specifies their various contributions.

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A World Divided: The Global Struggle for Human Rights in the Age of Nation-States

Princeton University Press   |   2019  |    ISBN-13:  9780691185552

This publication provides a global history of human rights in a world of nation-states that grant rights to some while denying them to others based on various aspects of identity. Through vivid histories drawn from every continent, it describes how since the eighteenth century, nationalists have fought to grant human rights to some people while excluding others through forced assimilation, ethnic cleansing, or genocide. From Greek rebels, American settlers, and Brazilian abolitionists in the nineteenth century to anticolonial Africans and Zionists in the twentieth, nationalists have confronted a crucial question: who has the right to have rights?  A World Divided: The Global Struggle for Human Rights in the Age of Nation-States tells their stories and shows that rights are dynamic. Originally intended exclusively for propertied white men, rights were quickly demanded by women, Native American and Indigenous peoples, and enslaved Black people. This title includes details to identify the origins of many of today's crises, from the 65 million refugees and migrants fleeing conflict worldwide to the growth of right-wing nationalism, and argues that only advancing human rights will move us beyond the divide.

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• v.9(10); 2012 Oct

Human Rights Research and Ethics Review: Protecting Individuals or Protecting the State?

Joseph j. amon.

1 Health and Human Rights Division, Human Rights Watch, New York, New York, United States of America

2 Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland, United States of America

Stefan D. Baral

3 Center for Public Health and Human Rights, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, United States of America

Chris Beyrer

4 Berman Institute of Bioethics, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, United States of America

Wrote the first draft of the manuscript: JJA. Contributed to the writing of the manuscript: JJA SDB CB NK. ICMJE criteria for authorship read and met: JJA SDB CB NK. Agree with manuscript results and conclusions: JJA SDB CB NK.

Joseph Amon and colleagues discuss the challenges of conducting human rights research in settings where local research ethics committees may favor the interests of the state over the interests of research participants.

Summary Points

• Recently there has been a dramatic expansion in research conducted in low- and middle-income countries, as well as research ethics committees (RECs) in these countries.
• RECs in low- and middle-income countries have little experience overseeing human rights research and may be subject to government control or influence that may favor the interests of the state over the interests of individual research participants.
• Many human rights investigators are trained in disciplines with ethical codes and professional norms, but do not typically engage RECs nor see human rights documentation as research, and they tend to view REC approval as counterproductive to the protection of research participants.
• Case studies of human rights research can provide important lessons on navigating conflicts of interest posed by some local (i.e., in country) RECs.
• Expanding the use of community engagement and developing strong ethical operating principles can help ensure that individuals and researchers are protected in human rights research and investigations.

Human rights violations play an important role as determinants of, or structural barriers to, health [1] – [6] . Research, investigation, and documentation focused on human rights have led to the development of rights-based interventions [7] , [8] and the promotion of human rights in the core strategies of international health organizations [9] , [10] .

At the same time, health and human rights investigations raise complex ethical and methodological challenges [11] . Key questions have emerged about the roles of ethical review and research ethics committees (RECs) when criminalized or marginalized populations are part of research or program efforts [12] , [13] . Human rights researchers may also follow ethical codes and professional norms such as those of journalists or lawyers, for example, but these do not typically engage RECs and may in fact define their work differently than biomedical or epidemiologic definitions of “research” [14] – [16] . Furthermore, members of local (i.e., in country) RECs may have conflicts of interest when state actors have a role in or supervision over RECs and can exert their influence to limit the scope of or impede investigations into human rights abuses.

In some circumstances, interests other than ensuring the sound protection of research participants may come to dominate the decisions that RECs make, including whether they agree to review the research and/or allow the research to be conducted at all. Researchers aware of these decision-making processes may “self censor” the focus of their research or choose to conduct research elsewhere. As increasing amounts of research are conducted on the impact of human rights on health, more attention is needed on the roles of RECs and researchers to ensure genuine protection of the individuals involved in human rights investigations.

Here we present examples of how human rights researchers can address complex ethical challenges by building the capacity of community-based organizations representing vulnerable populations and by adopting ethical operating principles. We illustrate our policy proposals using case studies of research involving men who have sex with men (MSM) in Africa, ethnic minorities in Myanmar, and individuals in compulsory drug treatment centers in Asia.

Human Participant Protections

The protection of participants in health-related research has evolved into a well-articulated international framework supported by normative documents, conventions, and, in growing numbers of jurisdictions, laws. Key among these are the World Medical Association's 1964 Declaration of Helsinki [17] , the US Department of Health and Human Services Belmont Report and regulations for the protection of research participants [18] , [19] , the Council for International Organizations of Medical Sciences international ethical guidelines [20] , and the International Conference of Harmonisation of Technical Requirements for Registration of Pharmaceuticals for Human Use ( http://www.ich.org/ ). All of these guidelines require prior review of research by an REC before research can be implemented. More recently, the World Health Organization published standards for such committees outlining key requirements for their structure, governance, and review standards [21] .

Over the last ten years, there has been extraordinary growth in the numbers of RECs in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). As new committees in LMICs have emerged, many countries have adopted a structure whereby local committees, affiliated with specific research institutions or organizations, are supported by a national committee. The national committee is in charge of creating policies, providing oversight, and, in some cases, performing an additional, final review.

Unfortunately, the methodology and intent of human rights research has not been fully considered in existing standards and guidelines on the ethical conduct of research. Similarly, RECs have traditionally been orientated to biomedical and epidemiologic research and have rarely considered human rights research. While principles such as autonomy, beneficence, non-malevolence, and justice are common to ethical codes in diverse disciplines [14] – [16] , [18] , [22] , the definition of “research” and the requirement for REC review are not universal across different types of research.

Defining “Research”

The definition of research and the difference between health research (typically requiring ethics review) and monitoring, evaluation, or practice (typically exempt from review) are not straightforward [23] . For individuals engaged in rights research and RECs considering their jurisdiction over such research, the determination of whether a human rights investigation constitutes research can be contentious and may reflect differences in disciplinary training and professional norms.

Health and human rights investigations can often be considered “non-research” under the US Department of Health and Human Services and international definitions that define research as developing “generalizable knowledge” [19] , [20] . Documentation of particular human rights abuses, factors that contribute to particular cases of human rights abuse, or human rights protections in particular situations are not usually considered “generalizable.” While broader surveys determining the prevalence of abuses may be considered research, in some cases they may be considered monitoring, which, again, is commonly exempt from review. In addition, individuals who provide testimony or evidence of human rights abuses are not traditional research participants. Instead, these individuals have an important motivation for engagement in human rights investigations, that is, for seeing such investigations as perhaps their only means of achieving justice for themselves and their communities. Thus, their view of the balance of “risk” versus “benefit” may be substantially different from the view held by biomedical researchers or REC members.

Conducting Research on MSM and HIV in Africa

Recently identified HIV outbreaks among MSM in several African countries have revealed many neglected or hidden human rights abuses. These abuses include discrimination in access to HIV prevention and treatment, lack of access to justice, police abuse, arbitrary arrest and detention, and ill-treatment and torture. In nearly all African countries in which research has been conducted, HIV infection rates have been markedly higher among MSM than among other men of reproductive age [24] – [29] . These epidemics are occurring among largely hidden, stigmatized, and—in many countries—criminalized MSM communities, challenging research and service provision [30] .

In some countries, police have specifically targeted outreach workers providing information and condoms to MSM [31] , [32] , and health-care workers have been complicit in efforts to “prove” homosexuality with forced anal exams [33] – [35] . In Uganda, conducting research on MSM, including investigations of possible human rights abuses, has become difficult or impossible. Reasons for this difficulty include proposed legislation to make sodomy a capital offense and to criminalize the failure to report individuals suspected of engaging in homosexual behaviors, and targeted violence against individuals identified as MSM, including murder [36] , [37] .

Nevertheless, MSM health service providers and gay service and rights organizations and activists in many African countries have been enthusiastic partners in HIV-related programs, including research, even though governments have been reluctant to support research on MSM. In several cases, governments have actively opposed research that would lend credence to the reality that lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender persons exist in their countries, and to the fact that MSM are at elevated risk for HIV infection [37] , [38] .

At one site of a multi-country study being conducted by two of the authors of this article (S. D. B. and C. B.), the head of the only university-based REC informed the research team that, since homosexuality was criminalized in the country, no research protocols related to MSM would be accepted for review. The REC chair told the researchers that the role of the REC included the protection of social and cultural values of the country. While RECs may legitimately reference social and cultural values in considering what constitutes risk to individual human participants, the REC in this case defined its role well beyond protection of human welfare to instead reinforce a political position of the state.

In response, researchers engaged community-based organizations serving MSM in the country to gauge the level of support for the study, and trained community leaders on research ethics [39] . The study protocol was then reviewed by community leaders, who suggested protocol changes based on further community consultation. At the same time, the protocols were also reviewed by a REC in the US that was informed that the in-country REC had refused to review the protocol. After approval by the US REC, the researchers decided that the final decision to proceed should be made by the community-based organizations in country based upon their assessment of the risks and benefits of the research. Community members also participated in validating research findings, and members of the community presented the results to their peers and in domestic and international forums.

Investigating Health and Human Rights in Myanmar

In democratic societies where government legitimacy has broad acceptance, and where ministries of health are seen as working to advance the health and well-being of the population, researchers rarely question whether academic or state entities have the right to form and oversee RECs. In contrast, in repressive societies, and where an REC is seen as not representative of, or legitimately protecting the interests of, a particular vulnerable group (e.g., prisoners, women, or an ethnic or religious minority), RECs may be understood as agents of the state: prioritizing the protection of state interests over those of research participants.

In the case of Myanmar, decades of civil and ethnic conflict have left large areas of the country under contested political control. Several major ethnic nationalities, including the Karen, Kachin, Chin, Shan, Mon, and Wa, have been in open armed conflict with the ruling military-backed regime or have cease-fire agreements that allow them considerable autonomy. Most of these ethnic groups do not have formal relationships with the ruling government.

In working with ethnic populations in border zones since 1992, we (as well as collaborators from the University of California, Los Angeles, and other entities) have struggled with the question of who most legitimately represents these populations and specifically who should safeguard their rights and interests if researchers or investigators want to collect data. For individuals with no formal communication with the regime they are fighting, the concept that this regime could make decisions for their health and well-being is both absurd and offensive. However, popular support for the government in exile is strong among most of Myamnar's ethnic national organizations, and this exiled government has a well-established health and welfare committee. Consequently, we have helped to establish and build the capacity of an REC composed of Myanmar physicians and nurses in exile, community health workers, community members, and faith-based leaders. This group has now had several years of experience functioning as an REC and reviewing proposals, and their authority has been accepted by RECs at US institutions [40] – [42] .

Documenting Abuses in Compulsory Drug Treatment Centers

Between July 2007 and September 2011, Human Rights Watch conducted investigations of compulsory detention of drug users in China [43] , [44] , Cambodia [45] , Viet Nam [46] , and the Lao People's Democratic Republic [47] . In these countries, drug use is legal but drug users are subject to extrajudicial administrative detention for the purpose of compulsory treatment of drug dependency. The investigations conducted by Human Rights Watch included interviews with individuals recently detained in drug detention centers; key informant interviews with non-government organizations, funding entities, and, in some cases, government officials; review of relevant government laws and policies; and review of international donor policies and programs in drug detention centers. The investigators found that individuals in drug detention centers were routinely held without clinical determination of drug dependency or due process, and once detained were denied evidence-based drug treatment as well as other basic health services. Drug users were often forced to perform arduous physical exercise, military drills, or forced labor, and were subject to physical and sexual abuse.

While research on drug addiction, HIV virology, HIV prevalence, and HIV prevention has been routinely conducted inside detention centers with the approval of government-affiliated RECs and the authorization of the government-controlled detention centers, the specific ethical concerns of conducting research in institutions that violate due process protections have not been addressed. At a minimum, researchers should be expected to accurately characterize the research setting and status of participants. Yet, researchers have often ignored the conditions within and lack of judicial oversight of such centers, presenting them as legitimate treatment facilities [48] , [49] . Researchers rarely report on the availability of evidence-based drug dependency treatment [48] , [50] – [55] and have obscured the status of research participants (e.g., referring to detainees as “patients” [48] or vaguely alluding to their “complex legal needs” [55] ). Published papers also often omit mention of the challenges of conducting independent research [48] , [50] – [55] . One study acknowledged using detention center staff to witness consent [55] , potentially increasing the risk of coercion. Researchers who do not have full, independent, or ongoing access to detention centers may be unable to assess negative consequences for research participants, and detainees who do not have access to legal counsel or the right to free speech may be unable to file a complaint alleging abusive research.

In response to these challenges, we chose to conduct research with individuals in the community who had been recently released from detention centers. However, human rights monitoring by independent international organizations is not allowed in China, Viet Nam, or the Lao People's Democratic Republic, and we did not feel that local RECs would approve research related to torture and ill-treatment. Therefore, a decision was made to proceed without local REC approval in order to protect both research participants and researchers, who we feared could be targeted by the state for proposing research that is viewed as sensitive to state security or disruptive of government goals of “social harmony.” In place of local REC approval, and because we felt that there was no defined community of recently released drug users to formally consult with (and that community engagement in the context of ongoing persecution would not be safe regardless), researchers developed and followed specific ethical operating principles. In contrast to the typical approach of RECs, where review is limited to the research protocol, every step of the research, from the protocol review to implementation to dissemination of results to scientific, diplomatic, and media audiences included internal ethics review by technical and legal experts.

Mitigating Risks in Human Rights Investigations

To address the possible conflicts investigators may face in protecting participants in the course of health and human rights investigations, local RECs are needed that can be considered truly independent. In addition, two distinct and complementary strategies—community-based review and the development of strong ethical operating principles—can help protect investigators and participants in health-related human rights research.

In the context of governments that persecute specific populations, actively limit free speech, and routinely punish criticism of the state, RECs are unlikely to be independent. Under these circumstances, using local RECs to safeguard the rights and interests of research participants may be counterproductive, putting both investigators and participants at risk. In these settings, researchers may need to actively engage communities and follow clear ethical operating principles in place of local REC review.

Community-based review and participatory research have a long history and were developed to address community members' concerns about neglect by and communities' mistrust of researchers, health-care systems, and government [56] , [57] . Conducted correctly, community-based participatory research (including financial and technical support for community engagement and leadership) creates bridges between policy-makers, scientists, and communities; facilitates reciprocal learning; assists in the development of culturally appropriate measurement instruments and interventions; and establishes a level of trust that enhances both the quantity and the quality of data collected and programs delivered [39] , [57] – [61] . While there is a well-established body of literature on engagement of marginalized populations in high-income settings and on some vulnerable populations in LMICs [57] , [58] , the issues faced by criminalized and violently stigmatized populations have less often been addressed.

One challenge of community-based review is that in many settings the “community” is not homogenous, organized, or able to participate in extensive consultation and review of proposed research. Research with migrants, prisoners, drug users, and criminalized populations is often conducted without a representative advocacy group. In other settings, it may not be clear who legitimately speaks for marginalized populations. In all settings, community-based review can be time-consuming and resource intensive.

In conducting human rights research, particularly in settings where safety may be of particular concern, a critical first step is to have standing procedures on investigator and participant protection. All Human Rights Watch staff who conduct interviews, for example, undergo security training and training on participants' protection and data safety. Researchers can also receive specialized training on how to sensitively interview people in such a way as to minimize risk of re-traumatization, including training on interviewing victims of sexual violence, children, persons in extreme pain, prisoners, and the mentally disabled. All researchers must participate in a security meeting prior to a research mission that establishes chains of communication so that security emergencies can be identified and handled once the mission is in progress. Post-mission meetings are held if security concerns arise, and the security of participants stemming from contact with researchers is monitored. Prior to publication of any findings from research (in the form of reports, journal articles, press releases, opinion pieces, photography, or other media), legal review is required and provides further assessment of research participant protection.

For individuals who experience human rights abuses, the consequences of reporting that abuse are often uncertain. Yet even when the risk of retaliation is judged to be high, many individuals may be willing to take such a risk in order to press for justice, despite the fact that justice may take years or even decades to be served. Individuals who are a part of communities that are systematically discriminated against, stigmatized, or criminalized may experience high levels of ongoing harm, and see participation in a human rights investigation as one of few means of challenging those abuses or demanding redress.

In the decade to come, RECs in LMICs will likely acquire increasing jurisdiction, resources, and authority over local research. These changes will offer a promise of greater protection for research participants who in the past have faced abuses with little opportunity for redress. But RECs may have little experience in evaluating the inherent risks faced by individuals vulnerable to human rights abuses as well as the risks and benefits from participation in a human rights investigation. RECs, which primarily review pre-research protocols, may also be poorly suited to the review of dynamic investigations using open-ended research methodologies where the risk to participants is less a result of research processes (e.g., questionnaires) than from post-research products (e.g., reports, legal processes, and media coverage).

The use of RECs to limit health and human rights research for political, cultural, or other considerations is a misuse of the legitimate functions of RECs. Careful attention must be paid when local committees assert that their views represent local cultural norms, or that human rights are an illegitimate focus of research as they express foreign values. A critical distinction for researchers is understanding the difference between respecting cultural traditions that are “matters of etiquette, ritual, or religion,” with little or no relation to ethics, from those cultural traditions with ethical (or human rights) implications, such as female genital mutilation or infanticide [62] . Cultural practices or government policies that either deliberately or incidentally serve to suppress or threaten the rights of certain people cannot be respected. RECs, charged specifically with upholding the rights and protection of individuals, should not use culture or “values” as a means to deny human rights.

Increasing attention to human rights as a determinant of health will result in increasing requests to RECs to review research that investigates the role and complicity of state actors, government laws and policies, and social or cultural norms as they relate to health. Stronger, independent RECs trained in human rights may be better equipped to more adequately review this research. When RECs are unable to do so, or where research on human rights or criminalized or marginalized populations is expressly prohibited, researchers may need to rely upon alternative strategies, including engaging communities and following ethical operating principles, to ensure that research participants are protected and that research is ethically conducted. While such innovations do not eliminate all risks, and may be costly in terms of time and resources, the alternatives, which may include acceding to censorship or not conducting investigations at all, are unacceptable limits.

Abbreviations

Funding statement.

The authors received no specific funding for this article.

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• Reference--General Sources
• Amnesty International Under Library link find text of annual reports, campaign reports, publications arranged by country, country reports from 1994, and selected thematic reports and news releases.
• ASIL Electronic Resource Guide: International Human Rights Prepared by Marci Hoffman, Lecturer in Residence; Associate Director, Law Library; International & Foreign Law Librarian University of California, Berkeley School of Law Library (updated in 2011).
• Bibliography for Research on International Human Rights Law Univ. of Minnesota Human Rights Library. By Marci Hoffman and David Weissbrodt.
• European Court of Human Rights Full-text judgments are only available from October 1996 to date, with a list of decisions from 1959. Information on pending cases, basic texts including European Convention on Human Rights and its protocols, and the Rules of Court. Speeches and press releases also available.
• The European Human Rights System On GlobaLex. By James W. Hart (2011).
• The Exploitation of Women and Children: A Comparative Study of Human Trafficking Laws between the United States-Mexico and China-Vietnam On GlobaLex. By Christina T. Le (2013).
• FINDOC database From the Institute for Human Rights in Finland. Has entries for books, articles and seminar reports from 1966 on.
• Human & Constitutional Rights, Columbia University International conventions, comparative law bill rights collections, country, regional and international sections. No longer updated as of March 2008.
• Human Rights Organizations Database The Human Rights Organizations Database is Human Rights Internet's most comprehensive listing of institutions working in the field of human rights
• Human Rights Library The University of Minnesota Human Rights Library houses one of the largest collections of more than eighty-five thousand core human rights documents, including several hundred human rights treaties and other primary international human rights instruments. The site also provides access to more than four thousands links and a unique search device for multiple human rights sites.
• Human Rights Watch Human Rights Watch, the largest human rights organization based in the United States, conducts fact-finding investigations into human rights abuses in all regions of the world, issues reports, and generates global attention on the situtation. Site has information by country and by topic.
• Inter-American Human Rights Database In English and Spanish. From the Center for Human Rights and Humanitarian Law at the Washington College of Law, American University. Collection of documents adopted by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights since its first session in 1960. Available in both English and Spanish versions. Contains reports on the Commission's individual cases and reports of its early work sessions, and will eventually include special country reports and thematic reports.

• The Inter-American System of Human Rights: A Research Guide On GlobaLex. By Cecilia Cristina Naddeo; update by Francisco A. Avalos (2016).
• International Centre for the Legal Protection of Human Rights INTERIGHTS defends and promotes human rights and freedoms worldwide through the use of international and comparative law.
• International Human Rights Research Guide On GlobaLex. By Grace M. Mills (2014).
• A Review of the Progressive Development of International Human Rights Framework on Capital Punishment By Michelle Miao.
• United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Includes documents, publications and a searchable Treaty Bodies Database. The database was established to monitor the implementation of human rights treaties and can be searched by treaty, country, symbol, or type.
• U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants Searchable database of country conditions and statistics from its annual World Refugee Survey of 120 countries. Full-text articles on such topics as detention, internally displaced persons, repatriation, religious persecution, women and child, safe havens, etc. are also available.
• Women in International Law: Research Resources Prepared by Lyonette Louis-Jacques of the University of Chicago Law Library. Last updated 2002.

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• SHARIASource Portal (Harvard) A Portal for organizing the world’s information on Islamic law. It is a project of the Program in Islamic Law at Harvard Law School,
• SHARIASource Blog (Harvard) News and information from the Program in Islamic Law at the Harvard Law School.
• SHARIASource Newsletter Newsletter archives from the Program in Islamic Law at the Harvard Law School.
• Laws Criminalizing Apostasy in Selected Jurisdictions (2014) by Hanibal Goitom, Global Legal Research Center (Library of Congress) Covers: Afghanistan, Algeria, Bahrain ,Brunei, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran ,Iraq , Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, Sudan, Syria , Tunisia ,United Arab Emirates , & Yemen
• What Countries Criminalize Religious Conversion? Our New Report Examines this Question June 12, 2014 by Hanibal Goitom
• Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief (UN) See links (on right) to reports, documents, and more.
• Feminist Sexual Ethics Project (Brandeis University) Many topics covered, including: ---Slavery, Religion and Sexual Ethics ---Jewish Sexual Ethics ---Muslim Sexual Ethics ---Christian Sexual Ethics
• KARAMAH: Muslim Women Lawyers for Human Rights. Articles and research about "...Shari’ah in general and the rights afforded to women in Islam, as well as conflict resolution, civil rights, and leadership....KARAMAH also disseminates the scholarship of Muslim jurists and other scholars from around the world... on Islamic Law..."
• US Court cases on Islamic Law From KARAMAH: Muslim Women Lawyers for Human Rights. "...Case studies are provided as a brief overview of how different courts in the U.S. have decided on matters relating to Islamic Law...."

Human Rights of Women

• Gendering Documentation: A Manual For and About Women Human Rights Defenders. Women Human Rights Defenders International Coalition (PDF; 105 pages.)
• Women in International Law: Research Sources (2002) (L. Louis-Jacques,U. Chicago)
• Honour Crimes Project (The Centre of Islamic and Middle Eastern Law)
• Feminist Sexual Ethics Project (Brandeis University) 
Covers: Marriage and divorce; Dating; Sexual orientation; Family; Women's rights; Family planning; Sex education; Sexual harassment; Rape; Child sexual abuse; Clergy sexual misconduct; Sex workers; Trafficking in women. Includes:
Slavery, Religion and Sexual Ethics, 
Jewish Sexual Ethics,
Muslim Sexual Ethics, 
Christian Sexual Ethics, & 
Resources
• International Family Law: A Selective Resource Guide (2000) (by Marylin J. Raisch)
• Transnational and Comparative Family Law: Harmonization and Implementation (2013) (Globalex Research Guide by Marylin Johnson Raisch)
• Women’s Human Rights Conventions from: University of Minnesota Human Rights Library
• Legal Profiles (Islamic Family Law—Emory University)
• Sexual and Reproductive Health (WHO)
• Law Students for Reproductive Justice (If/When/How) Academic Resources
• women's rights & gender equality (The Guardian) In depth articles, interactive databases, video, photos, and more (from The Guardian)
• Rights of Women (OAS) Office of the Rapporteur on the Rights of Women, Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR).
• Gender Equality and Women (RefWorld) UNHCR
• Trafficking in Human Beings (RefWorld) UNHCR
• Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity (RefWorld) UNHCR
• Browse SSRN Networks & eJournal Subject Areas Included are: -Women, Law, & Human Rights eJournal (SSRN) http://www.ssrn.com/link/Women-Law-Human-Rights.html -Women, Gender & the Law eJournal (SSRN) http://www.ssrn.com/link/women-gender-law.html -Sexuality & the Law eJournal (SSRN) http://www.ssrn.com/link/Sexuality-Law.html -Reproductive Justice, Law & Policy eJournal (SSRN) http://www.ssrn.com/link/Reproductive-Justice.html -Family & Children's Law eJournal (SSRN) http://www.ssrn.com/link/family-law.html
• Making Laws, Breaking Silence: Case Studies from the Field edited by RANGITA DE SILVA DE ALWIS. This book "grows out of a high level roundtable convened by Penn Law, UN Women, UNESCO, UN SDG Fund, and IDLO in March 2017. "
• Global Gender Equality Constitutional Database (UN Women) A repository of gender equality related provisions in 195 constitutions from around the world.

Same-Sex Marriage

• Same-Sex Marriage: Global Comparisons Council on Foreign Relations, CFR Backgrounder Author: Danielle Renwick, Copy Editor/Writer Updated: August 31, 2015

Subject Guide

Films & Videos

• Global Health Films Database (USC) List of films that "address global health topics—ranging from documentaries to animated shorts to docu-series—categorized by title, topic, year, run time, genre, producer and other relevant key words. To reorganize the list by a certain category, simply click on the heading. Use the search bar to type in topics, regions or other categories, and the list will be filtered to your search terms."
• Kanopy Streaming Service Kanopy offers more than 6,500 films in a wide variety of subject areas and from several educational film distributors including: Criterion Collection, Symptom Media, PBS, Green Planet Films, First Run Features, California Newsreel, BBCActive, NEVCO and German Film. Faculty can create clips/playlists and embed any video or clip in UBLearns.
• Swank Digital Campus A collection of more than 19,000 feature films, classic films, and documentaries can now be embedded directly into the UB Learns course management system and will allow students the flexibility of semester-long, 24/7 access to course-assigned films beyond the traditional classroom setting.
• Foreign, Comparative, and International Law and Justice on Film and TV: An A to Z List compiled by Lyonette Louis-Jacques, August 2010 rev
• Foreign, Comparative, and International Law and Justice on Film and TV videography, by Country/General. compiled by Lyonette Louis-Jacques. August 2010 rev.
• << Previous: Human Rights by COUNTRY

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World Report 2023

Our annual review of human rights around the globe

A New Model for Global Leadership on Human Rights

TiranaHassan

The obvious conclusion to draw from the litany of human rights crises in 2022—from Russian President Vladimir Putin’s deliberate attacks on civilians in Ukraine and Xi Jinping’s open-air prison for the Uyghurs in China to the Taliban’s putting millions of Afghans at risk of starvation —is that unchecked authoritarian power leaves behind a sea of human suffering. But 2022 also revealed a fundamental shift in power in the world that opens the way for all concerned governments to push back against these abuses by protecting and strengthening the global human rights system, especially when the actions of the major powers fall short or are problematic.

We have witnessed world leaders cynically trading away human rights obligations and accountability for human rights abusers in exchange for seeming short-term political wins. US presidential candidate Joe Biden’s principled pledge to make Saudi Arabia a “pariah state” over its human rights record was eviscerated once he was in office and facing high gas prices by his bro-like fist bump with Saudi Arabia’s Mohammed Bin Salman. And the Biden administration, despite its rhetoric about prioritizing democracy and human rights in Asia, has tempered criticism of abuses and increasing authoritarianism in India, Thailand, the Philippines, and elsewhere in the region for security and economic reasons, instead of recognizing that all are linked.

Of course, these kinds of double standards are not solely the purview of global superpowers. Pakistan has supported the United Nations high commissioner for human rights’ monitoring of abuses in Muslim-majority Kashmir, but owing to its close relationship with China, has turned its back on possible crimes against humanity against Uyghur and other Turkic Muslims in Xinjiang. Pakistan’s hypocrisy is especially glaring given its coordinator role of the 57-member Organisation of Islamic Cooperation.

Human rights crises do not arise from nowhere. Governments that fail to live up to their legal obligations to protect human rights at home sow the seeds of discontent, instability, and ultimately crisis. Left unchecked, the egregious actions of abusive governments escalate, cementing the belief that corruption, censorship, impunity, and violence are the most effective tools to achieve their aims. Ignoring human rights violations carries a heavy cost, and the ripple effects should not be underestimated.

But in a world of shifting power, we also found opportunity in preparing our 2023 World Report, which examines the state of human rights in nearly 100 countries. Each issue needs to be understood and addressed on its own merits, and each requires leadership. Any state that recognizes the power that comes from working in concert with others to affect human rights change can provide that leadership. There is more space, not less, for governments to stand up and adopt rights-respecting plans of action.

New coalitions and new voices of leadership have emerged that can shape and further this trend. South Africa, Namibia, and Indonesia have paved the way for more governments to recognize that Israeli authorities are committing the crime against humanity of apartheid against Palestinians.

Pacific Island nations as a bloc have demanded more ambitious emissions reductions from those countries that are polluting the most, while Vanuatu leads an effort to put the adverse effects of climate change before the International Court of Justice for their own sake—and ours.

And while the US Supreme Court struck down 50 years of federal protection for reproductive rights, the “green wave” of abortion-rights expansions in Latin America—notably Argentina, Colombia, and Mexico—offers a compelling counternarrative.

This is the overarching lesson of our ever-more disrupted world: we need to reimagine how power in the world is exercised, and that all governments not only have the opportunity but the responsibility to take action to protect human rights within and beyond their borders.

Ukraine: Beacon and Rebuke

Vladimir Putin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February and ensuing atrocities quickly rose to the top of the world’s human rights agenda in 2022. After Ukrainian troops forced the Russian military’s withdrawal from Bucha, north of the capital, Kyiv, the UN found that at least 70 civilians had been the victims of unlawful killings, including summary executions, which are war crimes. This pattern of Russian atrocity has been repeated countless times.

A man pushes his bike through debris and destroyed Russian military vehicles in Bucha, Ukraine, northwest of Kyiv, on April 6, 2022. Human Rights Watch documented numerous  apparent war crimes by Russian forces during their occupation of Bucha from March 12-31, 2022.

A mass grave is exhumed by Ukrainian authorities on April 8, 2022, as they attempt to identify the bodies of civilians who lost their lives during the Russian occupation of Bucha, Ukraine.

Fleeing families arrive at the main train station in Ukraine’s eastern city of Kramatorsk, in Donbas region, April 3, 2022.

At the Drama Theater in Mariupol, hundreds of displaced residents took refuge, painting the Russian word “DETI” (children) on the ground outside in letters so large they could be seen in satellite imagery. This alert was meant to protect the civilians, including many children, sheltering inside. Instead, it seemed only to serve as an inducement for Russian forces whose bombs destroyed the building and killed at least a dozen, and likely more, of its occupants. Inflicting civilian suffering, such as the repeated strikes on the energy infrastructure that Ukrainians depend on for electricity, water, and heat, seems to be a central part of the Kremlin’s strategy.

Putin’s brazenness has been made possible largely because of his longstanding free hand to operate with impunity. The loss of civilian life in Ukraine comes as no surprise to Syrians who suffered grave abuses from airstrikes following Russia’s intervention to support Syrian forces under Bashar al-Assad in 2015. Putin tapped prominent military commanders from that campaign to lead the war effort in Ukraine, with predictable—and devastating—consequences for Ukrainian civilians. Russia has accompanied its brutal military actions in Ukraine with a crackdown on human rights and anti-war activists in Russia, throttling dissent and any criticism of Putin’s rule.

But one positive outcome of Russia’s actions has been to activate the full global human rights system created to deal with crises like this. The UN Human Rights Council promptly opened an investigation to document and preserve evidence of human rights violations in the war, and later created a special rapporteur to monitor the human rights situation inside Russia. The UN General Assembly four times condemned—mostly by wide margins—both Russia’s invasion and its human rights violations. The General Assembly also suspended Russia from the UN Human Rights Council, blunting its spoiler capacity on Ukraine and other serious human rights crises on the council’s docket.

The UN General Assembly passes a resolution suspending Russia from the UN Human Rights Council, New York City, April 7, 2022.

European countries welcomed millions of Ukrainian refugees, a commendable response that also exposed the double standards of most European Union member countries in their ongoing treatment of countless Syrians, Afghans, Palestinians, Somalis, and others seeking asylum. The prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague opened a Ukraine investigation following a referral of the situation by an unprecedented number of the court’s member countries. Governments have also mobilized to weaken Putin’s global influence and military power, with the European Union, the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, and others imposing targeted international sanctions against Russian individuals, companies, and other entities.

This extraordinary response showed what is possible for accountability, for refugee protection, and for safeguarding the human rights of some of the world’s most vulnerable people. At the same time, the attacks on civilians and horrendous abuses in Ukraine should be a reminder that this consolidated support, critical as it is, should not be confused with a quick fix.

Activists and relatives of Syrians suspected of being detained or forcibly disappeared by the Syrian government pose with portraits of missing Syrians during a demonstration in front of Berlin's Brandenburg Gate on May 7, 2022.

Rather, governments should reflect on where the situation would be if the international community had made a concerted effort to hold Putin to account much earlier—in 2014, at the onset of the war in eastern Ukraine; in 2015, for abuses in Syria; or for the escalating human rights crackdown within Russia over the last decade. The challenge going forward is for governments to replicate the best of the international response in Ukraine and scale up the political will to address other crises around the world until there is meaningful human rights improvement.

Achieving Accountability in Ethiopia

The armed conflict in northern Ethiopia has received only a tiny fraction of the global attention focused on Ukraine, despite two years of atrocities, including a number of massacres, by the warring parties.

In 2020, tensions between Ethiopia’s federal government and Tigray’s regional authorities, the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), boiled over into conflict in the Tigray region, with Amhara regional forces and Eritrea’s military supporting the Ethiopian armed forces. The government has heavily restricted access to conflict-affected areas for independent rights investigators and journalists ever since, making scrutiny of abuses as they unfold difficult, even as the conflict spread to the neighboring Amhara and Afar regions.

Governments and the UN have condemned the summary killings, widespread sexual violence, and pillage, but have done little else. An ethnic cleansing campaign against the Tigrayan population in Western Tigray resulted in many deaths, sexual violence, mass detention, and the forced displacement of thousands. The government’s effective siege of the Tigray region continued through 2022, denying the civilian population access to food, medicine, and life-saving humanitarian aid, as well as electricity, banking, and communication, in violation of international law.

A bus carrying civilians passes a destroyed tank outside Mekelle, the capital of Ethiopia's Tigray region, on June 29, 2021. 

A woman sits at a school being used to house people displaced by fighting, in the city of Mekelle in Ethiopia's northern Tigray region on June 27, 2021.

People collect water from a tank in a compound of abandoned buildings, where internally displaced people are sheltered, near the town of Dubti, in the Afar region of northern Ethiopia, June 7, 2022.

The three elected African members of the UN Security Council—Gabon, Ghana, and Kenya—as well as Russia and China, have blocked even placing Ethiopia on its formal agenda for discussion, despite the council’s mandate to maintain and restore international peace and security.

Governments have also hesitated to adopt targeted sanctions against Ethiopian entities and individuals responsible for abuses. International scrutiny has instead rested with the UN Human Rights Council, which narrowly renewed the mandate of the mechanism it created in December 2021 to investigate and preserve evidence of grave abuses and identify those responsible. However, Ethiopian federal authorities continue to block its work fiercely.

A 10-day African Union-led peace process culminated in November in a truce between the Ethiopian federal government and Tigrayan authorities, which offers an opportunity for outside states to play a leadership role in supporting solutions that can break deadly cycles of violence and impunity. With pathways for domestic accountability elusive, international monitoring of the agreement is needed, along with credible efforts to hold accountable those responsible for wartime abuses.

The agreement’s key backers and observers, including the AU, UN, and US, should signal and maintain pressure to ensure that independent investigative organizations can access conflict areas, and document and preserve evidence. Accountability for these crimes needs to remain a priority so victims and their families can obtain a measure of justice and reparations.

A Brighter Spotlight on Beijing

Chinese President Xi Jinping secured a precedent-breaking third term as head of the Chinese Communist Party in October, setting himself up as a “leader for life,” and all but ensuring the Chinese government’s unrelenting hostility to human rights protections will continue. Xi has surrounded himself with loyalists and doubled down on building a security state, deepening rights violations across the country.

A display showing images of Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Museum of the Communist Party, on October 13, 2022, in Beijing, China. The ruling Communist Party of China opened its 20th Party Congress on October 16, when Xi Jinping secured a third term in power.

Security personnel stand in front of people lined up for tests to detect Covid-19 at a mass testing site in Beijing, China, January 24, 2022.

Members of the Muslim Uyghur minority present pictures of their relatives detained in China during a press conference in Istanbul, May 10, 2022. Turkey's Uyghur community urged United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet to probe so-called re-education camps.

In the Xinjiang region, Beijing’s mass detention of an estimated one million Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslims—who are subject to torture, political indoctrination, and forced labor—and severe restrictions on rights to religion, expression, and culture for the general population, stand out for their gravity, scale, and cruelty. The UN found that violations in Xinjiang could amount to crimes against humanity, echoing the findings of Human Rights Watch and other human rights groups.

The rigorous report of the then-UN high commissioner for human rights, Michelle Bachelet, based on years of investigation and the Chinese government’s internal documents, laws, policies, data, and policy statements, created a critical common reference point from which governments should act. That the report was released only in the final minutes of Bachelet’s term is indicative of Beijing’s intense pressure to bury it.

The report sparked notable diplomatic mobilization. A resolution to open a debate about the report was introduced in the Human Rights Council and fell short by only two votes. The result reflected Beijing’s pressure on governments like Indonesia—which said we “must not close our eyes” to the plight of Uyghurs and then voted “no”—as well as its influence on the actions of those states that abstained, including Argentina, India, Mexico, and Brazil. But the “yes” votes of Somalia, Honduras, and Paraguay, and the co-sponsorship support of Turkey and Albania, together with 24 mostly Western countries, show the potential in cross-regional alliances and fresh coalitions to come together to challenge the Chinese government’s expectation of impunity.

The collective spotlight on the dismal human rights situation in Xinjiang has put Beijing on the defensive, and the Chinese government is working hard to explain away its heinous behavior. The outcome in Geneva heightens the responsibility of the UN leadership to throw its full political weight behind the report and to continue to monitor, document, and report on the situation in Xinjiang, and more broadly in China. Anything less would be an abdication of the human rights pillar of the UN system’s responsibility to protect Turkic Muslims in Xinjiang.

Meanwhile, as discomfort around the Chinese government’s repressive ambitions has grown, governments, including those of Australia, Japan, Canada, the UK, EU, and US have looked to cultivate trade and security alliances with India, taking cover behind its brand as the “world’s largest democracy.” But Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party has mimicked many of the same abuses that have enabled Chinese state repression—systematic discrimination against religious minorities, stifling of peaceful dissent, and use of technology to suppress free expression—to tighten its grip on power.

Hijab-wearing students arrive to attend classes as a policewoman stands guard outside a government school after the recent hijab ban, in Udupi town in the southern state of Karnataka, India, February 16, 2022.

The seemingly careless trade-off on human rights that world leaders make, justified as the cost of doing business, ignores the longer-term implications of their compromises. Deepening ties with the Modi government while avoiding its troubling rights record squanders valuable leverage to protect the precious, but increasingly endangered, civic space on which India’s democracy relies.

Respect for Rights as a Prescription for Stability

Autocrats benefit from the illusion they project as being indispensable to maintaining stability, which in turn seemingly justifies their oppression and widespread human-rights violations committed toward achieving that end.

But this “stability,” driven by the endless quest for power and control, infects and erodes every pillar needed for a functional society based on the rule of law. The result is frequently massive corruption, a broken economy, and a hopelessly partisan judiciary. Vital civic space is dismantled, with activists and independent journalists in jail, in hiding, or fearing retaliation.

Hasmik Tutunjian uses chargeable lights in her living room during power cuts in Beirut, Lebanon, August 26, 2022.

The months-long protests in Iran in 2022 underline the grave risks for autocracies of imagining that repression is a shortcut to stability. Protests erupted across the country in response to the death of the 22-year-old Kurdish-Iranian woman Mahsa (Jina) Amini in September, following her arrest by “morality police” for wearing an “improper hijab.” But protest against the mandatory use of the hijab is just the most visible symbol of repression. The new generation of protesters across the country echoes the frustrations of generations past: people tired of living without fundamental rights, and of being ruled by those who callously disregard the welfare of their people.

A protester in Istanbul, Turkey, holds a portrait of Mahsa (Jina) Amini during a demonstration on September 20, 2022. The death of Amini in Tehran, Iran, after being arrested by the “morality police” for wearing an “improper hijab” sparked protests in Iran and around the world. 

The demand for equality triggered by women and schoolgirls has morphed into a nationwide movement by the Iranian people against a government that has systematically denied them their rights, mismanaged the economy, and driven people into poverty. Iranian authorities have ruthlessly cracked down on what became widespread anti-government protests with excessive and lethal force, followed by sham trials and death sentences for those who dare challenge the government’s authority. Hints that authorities may disband the morality police fall well short of the demand to abolish the discriminatory compulsory hijab laws, and even further from the fundamental structural reforms the protesters are demanding to make the government more accountable.

The link between impunity for abuses and mismanaged governance can be seen elsewhere. Shortages in fuel, food, and other essentials, including medicine, sparked massive protests in Sri Lanka, forcing Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, and then his brother, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, to resign. Unfortunately, the man who parliament chose to replace them, Ranil Wickremasinghe, has walked away from commitments to justice and accountability for egregious violations committed during the country’s 26-year civil war, which ended in 2009. President Wickremasinghe, instead of focusing on the economic crisis and ensuring social justice, cracked down on protests, even using the notorious Prevention of Terrorism Act to detain student activists.

Soldiers with gas masks deployed behind barriers as protesters gather in Colombo demanding the resignation of Sri Lanka's President Gotabaya Rajapaksa over the country's crippling economic crisis, May 28, 2022.

Cracks have also emerged in the foundations of seemingly impenetrable countries. In November, mounting frustration over Beijing’s strict lockdown measures as part of its “zero Covid” strategy spilled over into the streets, with protesters in cities across the country denouncing the Communist Party’s draconian measures and, in some cases, Xi’s rule. These remarkable shows of defiance, led mostly by young people and young women, demonstrate that desires for human rights cannot be erased despite the enormous resources the Chinese government has devoted to repressing them.

Protesters hold up white pieces of paper during a demonstration in Beijing against China’s “zero Covid-19" measures, November 27, 2022. 

It is easy to celebrate the protesters who take the fight for human rights to the streets. But we cannot expect the protesters to diagnose the problems—which they do at great risk to themselves and their families—and to hold those responsible for the deprivations they have suffered to account by themselves. Rights-respecting governments need to lend their political stamina and attention to ensure that needed human rights change comes to fruition. Governments should live up to their global human rights responsibilities, not just ponder and posture about them.

Demonstrators link arms at an unauthorized protest in Lenin Square, Novosibirsk, Russia, against Russia’s war in Ukraine.

Consider Sudan, whose people’s revolution of 2018-19 challenged the abusive power structure that repressed the country for decades. The two-year joint civilian-military transition that led the country was sabotaged by a military coup in late 2021, putting Sudanese autocrats and military commanders implicated in serious abuses—some of whom are once again committing abuses—in charge of the country’s future.

But Sudanese grassroots Resistance Committees—pro-democracy civilian groups created out of the 2018 revolution—persist, despite deadly crackdowns. These groups insist on a civilian-only transition and want those responsible for abuses to be held to account. In December, political actors reached a preliminary agreement with the military coup leaders, postponing discussions on justice and security sector reforms to a later stage, but protesters and victims’ groups have rejected the deal.  

Demonstrators outside the home of a protester who had been killed days earlier in Khartoum, Sudan. Hundreds of loosely connected "resistance committees" organized nonviolent protests, calling for civilian rule in Sudan, January 27, 2022.

If Sudan is to move toward a more rights-respecting future, the demands of these groups, including calls for justice and an end to impunity for those in command, should be a priority of the US, UN, EU, and regional partners in engaging with Sudan’s military leadership. Those who staged a coup to obtain power will not give it up without deterrents or financial costs.

Similarly, centering the demands of the millions of people pressing for human rights and democratic civilian rule in Myanmar remains critical to addressing the ongoing crisis. In February 2021, Myanmar’s military staged a coup and has brutally suppressed widespread opposition ever since. For two years, the military junta has carried out systematic abuses, including extrajudicial killings, torture, and sexual violence, that amount to crimes against humanity and war crimes.

Police arrest a protester in Yangon, Myanmar, on March 27, 2021.

Myanmar citizens living in India hold placards during a protest in New Delhi against the military coup in Myanmar and supporting recognition of the National Unity Government of Myanmar, February 22, 2022.

Refugees, who fled fighting between the Myanmar army and non-state armed groups and settled temporarily on the bank of the Moei River, receive aid from Thailand on the Thai-Myanmar border, in Mae Sot, Thailand, January 6, 2022.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) produced a “Five Point Consensus”—negotiated between the bloc and Myanmar’s junta—to address the crisis in the country. It has failed, with several ASEAN countries, including Malaysia, Indonesia, and Singapore acknowledging the junta’s refusal to comply. Since the coup, ASEAN has barred Myanmar junta representatives from the bloc’s high-level meetings. Beyond that, ASEAN has imposed minimal pressure on Myanmar, while other powerful governments, including those of the US and UK, hide behind regional deference to justify their own limited action.

To achieve a different result, ASEAN needs to adopt a different approach. In September, Malaysia’s then-Foreign Minister Saifuddin Abdullah was the first ASEAN official to meet openly with representatives of Myanmar’s opposition National Unity Government, formed by elected lawmakers, ethnic minority representatives, and civil society activists after the coup. The bloc should follow suit and extend its engagement to representatives of civil society.

ASEAN should also intensify pressure on Myanmar by aligning with international efforts to cut off the junta’s foreign currency revenue and weapons purchases, which would in turn weaken Myanmar’s military. As ASEAN chair in 2023, Indonesia should lead a review of the junta’s human rights record and failure to comply with the Five-Point Consensus and consider suspending Myanmar to uphold the bloc’s commitment to a “people-oriented, people-centered ASEAN.”

Human Rights Can Define—and Design—the Path Ahead

Another year of shrinking real and virtual civic space around the world brings the recognition that attacks on the human rights system are due in part to its effectiveness—because by exposing the abuses and elevating the voices of survivors and those at risk, the human rights movement makes it harder for abusive governments to succeed.

In 2022, six weeks into the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Russian authorities summarily shuttered the Human Rights Watch office in Moscow after 30 years of continuous operation, together with those of more than a dozen foreign nongovernmental organizations. The closures followed a decade of repressive laws and measures that the Russian government adopted to decimate civil society and force hundreds of activists, journalists, human rights lawyers, and other critics into exile. The Kremlin has gone to such great lengths to extinguish dissent because dissent threatens it. And therein lies a fundamental truth: those who work assiduously to repress human rights show their weakness, not their strength.

The logo of one of Russia’s leading human rights groups, Memorial, in its former office in Moscow, December 29, 2021. Russian authorities forcibly closed Memorial in 2022.

Time and again, human rights prove to be a powerful lens through which to view the most existential threats we face, like climate change. From Pakistan to Nigeria to Australia, every corner of the world faces a nearly nonstop cycle of catastrophic weather events that will intensify because of climate change, alongside slow onset changes like sea-level rise. In simple terms, we are seeing the cost of government inaction, a continued assault by big polluters, and the toll on communities, with those already marginalized paying the highest price.

Razia, 25, and her 6-month-old daughter, Tamanna, sit in front of a fan to cool off during a heatwave, in Jacobabad, Pakistan, May 15, 2022.

People canoe along flooded residential streets after a heavy downpour in Bayelsa, Nigeria, October 20, 2022.

Houses surrounded by floodwater in Lismore, Australia, March 31, 2022.

The unbreakable link between people and nature has been recognized by the UN General Assembly, which last year confirmed the universality of the human right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment. With the destructive effects of climate change intensifying around the world, there is a legal and moral imperative for government officials to regulate the industries whose business models are incompatible with protecting basic rights.

To stave off the worst effects of climate change and confront the human rights toll at all stages of their operations, governments need to urgently work to implement a just transition to phase out fossil fuels and prevent agribusiness from continuing to raze the world’s forests. At the same time, governments should act with urgency in upholding human rights in their responses to climate extremes and slow-onset changes that are already inevitable, protecting those populations most at risk, including Indigenous peoples, women, children, older people, people with disabilities, and people living in poverty.

A child near by a coal mine while smoke rises from the Duvha coal-based power station owned by the state power utility Eskom, in Emalahleni, Mpumalanga province, South Africa, June 2, 2021.

Many of these communities are also leading the charge to protect their ways of life and their homes against coal, oil, and gas operations that pollute the water they rely on to cook, clean, and drink, and result in the rising of the seas that engulf the lands where they live. Centering frontline communities and environmental defenders is one of the most powerful ways to push back against corporate and government activities that harm the environment and protect critical ecosystems needed to address the climate crisis.

Indigenous forest defenders are critical to the protection of the Brazilian Amazon, an ecosystem vital for slowing climate change by storing carbon. Rather than supporting them, the administration of then-President Jair Bolsonaro enabled illegal deforestation and weakened Indigenous rights protections. The spectacular environmental destruction during his four-year term went hand-in-hand with serious rights violations, including violence and intimidation against those who tried to stop it.

Indigenous people call for greater protection of their land and rights at the  Acampamento Terra Livre  (Free Land Camp) in Brasilia, an annual protest held by Indigenous peoples from throughout Brazil, April 6, 2022. 

Brazil’s newly elected president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, has pledged to reduce Amazon deforestation to zero and defend Indigenous rights. During his previous two terms from 2003 to 2010, deforestation dropped dramatically, but his administration also promoted dams and other infrastructure projects with high environmental and social impacts in the Amazon. President Lula’s ability to deliver on his climate and human rights commitments are critical for Brazil and the world.

A New International Embrace of Human Rights

The magnitude, scale, and frequency of human rights crises across the globe show the urgency of a new framing and new model for action. Viewing our greatest challenges and threats to the modern world through a human rights lens reveals not only the root causes of disruption but also offers guidance to address them.

Every government has the obligation to protect and promote respect for human rights. After years of piecemeal and often half-hearted efforts on behalf of civilians under threat in places including Yemen, Afghanistan, and South Sudan, the world’s mobilization around Ukraine reminds us of the extraordinary potential when governments realize their human rights responsibilities on a global scale. All governments should bring the same spirit of solidarity to the multitude of human rights crises around the globe, and not just when it suits their interests.

Protecting Rights, Saving Lives

Human Rights Watch defends the rights of people in close to 100 countries worldwide, spotlighting abuses and bringing perpetrators to justice

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This section lists selected resources and organizations that work on selected topics on human rights: women, migrants, civil rights, children, the disabled, and the prevention of torture and genocide.

The Rights of Women

Amnesty International: Women's Rights .  Portal for Women's Rights Issues from AI.

Contemporary Women's Issues .  Access to global information on women in over 190 countries from journals, newsletters, reports, pamphlets,  and guides covering gender-related issues.

GenderWatch .  International journals, magazines, newsletters, regional publications, special reports, and conference proceedings devoted to women's and gender issues.

Global Database on Violence Against Women .  Includes laws, policies, programs, institutional mechanisms, research, data, and country pages

Human Rights Watch - Rights of Women . Portal for Women's Rights Issues from HRW.

United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women.   UN body of  i ndependent experts that monitors implementation of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW).

UN Women .  United Nations Agency devoted specifically to Women's Issues, including Human Rights.

Women's Human Rights Resources Database . Lists articles, documents and links  related to international women's rights law and Canadian women's rights law. 

Women's Studies International . Acces to women's studies, women's issues, and gender-focused books, book chapters, journal and magazine articles, dissertations, and reports from throughout the world.

Genocide and Torture

Bush Administration Torture Archives Documents highlighting abuse and torture of detainees in facilities such as Guantanamo Bay and Abu Ghraib Prison.

Encyclopedia of genocide and crimes against humanity . Presents information on  acts that fall within the definitions developed for crimes under international law: war crimes, genocide, and crimes against humanity.

Genocide Watch . Coordinating organization for the International Campaign to End Genocide (ICEG), an international coalition of organizations dedicated to educating the public and policy makers about the causes, processes, and warning signs of genocide.

Prevent Genocide International . An education and action network dedicated to stopping genocide.

United Nations Office of the Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide.   Acts as a catalyst to raise awareness of the causes and dynamics of genocide, to alert relevant actors where there is a risk of genocide, and to advocate and mobilize for appropriate action.

Rights of the Disabled

ACLU Disability Rights . Section on ACLU web site dedicated to the rights of the disabled.

Disability Rights International .  Promotes the human rights and full participation of children & adults with disabilities worldwide.

Encyclopedia of Disability . Collects over one thousand entries that provide insight into international views, experiences, and expertise on the topic of disability

Human Rights Watch: Disability . HRW section on disability.

United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs: Disability . 

Civil Rights

Black Studies Center (BSC) . Cross-searchable gateway to Black Studies including scholarly essays, recent periodicals, historical newspaper articles, reference books, and more.

Civil Rights in the United States . Excellent guide from the University of Minnesota Law School.

Ethnic News Watch . Index of over 200 ethnic, minority, and native press publications, including news, culture, and history topics. Searchable in English and Spanish.

Civil Rights Digital Library.    Includes a digital video archive of historical news films of the Civil Rights Movement, a civil rights portal providing a  virtual library by connecting related digital collections, as well as stories, articles, and lesson plans.

Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute .  Papers of Martin Luther King, from Stanford University.

Southern Poverty Law Center . Advances justice for vulnerable members of society through advocacy, litigation, and education. Provides information on hate crimes throughout the United States

Television News of the Civil Rights Era .  "An archive containing film footage from the nightly news from two local television stations in Virginia. Included are clips of Martin Luther King, John F. Kennedy, Richard M. Nixon, the governors of the Commonwealth of Virginia.”

United Nations and Minority Rights .  UNHCR section devoted to Minority rights.

The Rights of the Child

Child Rights Information Network (CRIN)   Dedicated to changing how societies and governments view children and to making the enforcement of current human rights more inclusive of children.

European Commission: Rights of the Child .  European Union site with resources on the EU's work on the rights of the child.

State of the World's Children . UNICEF’s flagship publication that closely examines key issues affecting children. 

United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) . Section on the Rights of the Child on the UNICEF web site.

United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child . Body of 18 Independent experts that monitors implementation of the UN  Convention on the Rights of the Child  by its State parties.  

Refugees and Migrants

Amnesty International - Migrants and Refugees . News and stories about AI's work with refugees.

Human Rights Watch - Migration . HRW topical section for Migration.

Migrant Rights International . NGO and federation of migrants’ and migrants’ rights organizations, trade unions and faith-based groups promoting and defending the human rights of migrants.

Migrant Rights.Org . Advocates to bring about a change in attitudes towards migrant workers with a focus on the Middle East.

United Nations Committee on Migrant Workers . Body of independent experts monitoring the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families by State parties.

United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees . The United Nations Refugee agency - immense web site with facts, information, reports, and resources about global refugee issues including their search engine,  refworld .

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10 Human Rights Topic Ideas For You To Explore

Are you interested in knowing more about a human rights topic? Maybe you’re in school and need an idea for a project. People hoping to work (or currently working) in the human rights field also need to know about emerging trends. Even if your career isn’t in human rights, these topics are still relevant. Whether you want to volunteer with an organization, raise awareness about an issue, or simply know more about what’s going on, understanding the state of human rights is important. It’s the first step to defending rights and making the world a better place for everyone. Here are ten human rights topic ideas to explore:

#1. Gender inequality

Gender inequality is an evergreen human rights topic. Because it has such a long history, we have a good idea of what works and what still needs to be done. Issues like the gender pay gap, the distribution of unpaid labor, gender-based violence , gendered job segregation, and women’s empowerment play into the state of inequality. Due to the pandemic, gender parity was set back by about a generation, so how to best respond is also a good topic to explore.

#2. Climate change

The climate crisis is arguably the most globally urgent human rights topic today. Reports from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change consistently confirm that human activity drives climate change. It affects rights like health, housing, food, water, education, and more. It disproportionately affects women, children, older people, minorities, migrants, rural workers, and other vulnerable groups.

#3. Children’s rights

Children often have their human rights violated. This is especially common during times of war, poverty, and other conflicts. The climate crisis represents one of the biggest threats. According to UNICEF , around one billion children are at “extremely high risk.” Kids need adults and organizations committed to speaking up for them and empowering their voices.

#4. The rights of migrants and refugees

More than 280 million people (about 3.6% of the global population) live outside their country of origin, according to the United Nations. Many of those migrants were forced to leave. The reasons vary significantly, but the human rights of migrants and refugees are often threatened. A report by the UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, and the Mixed Migration Centre at the Danish Refugee Council gives us an example. The report detailed how people crossing routes between East and West Africa and Africa’s Mediterranean coast face human rights abuses from smugglers, human traffickers, and State authorities.

#5. Weakening democracy

Freedom in the World 2021 , a report from Freedom House, found that authoritarian actors are becoming more brazen. 73 countries saw their freedom scores decline, including authoritarian states like Belarus and democracies like the United States and India. Considering that 2020 represented the 15th consecutive year of a decline in global freedom, weakening democracy is a disturbing human rights trend.

#6. Reproductive rights in Poland

Reproductive rights are important everywhere, but things are becoming dire in Poland. The country has some of the most restrictive abortion laws in Europe thanks to the Law and Justice Party, which came to power in 2015. As things stand, nearly all abortions are effectively banned. This had led to protests like the massive 2020-2021 Women Strike. Groups supporting women’s rights have received bomb and death threats while individual activists are facing what many see as politically-motivated criminal charges. Anyone invested in reproductive rights should watch what’s happening in Poland.

#7. Disability rights

Due to barriers and discrimination, disabilities make it difficult or impossible for people to participate in the workplace, schools, cultural activities, travel, and so on. As an example, the United States’ confusing Social Security rules can lead to reductions or even a complete loss of benefits for disabled people when they marry. Health insurance can vanish, too. Stigma and ignorance make the world an unjust place, too.

#8. Surveillance technology

Concerns about surveillance are growing in the wake of Covid-19 tracking and monitoring technology. Ethical issues already existed in the use of crime prevention technologies, but the pandemic gave governments a reason to use the tech for another purpose. Employee monitoring, QR codes, facial recognition, drones, data collection, and more can easily start threatening human rights. Surveillance technology everyone. It’s a human rights topic that deserves attention.

#9. Transgender rights

Human rights for trans people were never protected that well, but there’s been a global rollback in recent years. 96 countries allow trans people to legally change their gender, but 71 have what ILGA World (a worldwide federation of organizations campaigning for LGBTQ+ rights) calls prohibitive requirements. There’s also been a weakening of discrimination laws, making the world a more dangerous place for trans people.

#10. Disinformation and misinformation

Propaganda and conspiracy theories have always existed, but technology facilitates the lightning-speed spread of false information. Disinformation is deliberate, but accidentally sharing false information – misinformation – can be just as harmful. False information is a human right issue because it threatens rights like the right to free and fair elections, the right to health, and the right to freedom from discrimination. The global surge of false information regarding Covid-19 is a clear example of the real-world effects. Conspiracy theories about the virus’ origins and false claims about cures and vaccines have led to violence and death .

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About the author, emmaline soken-huberty.

Emmaline Soken-Huberty is a freelance writer based in Portland, Oregon. She started to become interested in human rights while attending college, eventually getting a concentration in human rights and humanitarianism. LGBTQ+ rights, women’s rights, and climate change are of special concern to her. In her spare time, she can be found reading or enjoying Oregon’s natural beauty with her husband and dog.

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Regions & Countries

What the data says about abortion in the u.s..

Pew Research Center has conducted many surveys about abortion over the years, providing a lens into Americans’ views on whether the procedure should be legal, among a host of other questions.

In a  Center survey  conducted nearly a year after the Supreme Court’s June 2022 decision that  ended the constitutional right to abortion , 62% of U.S. adults said the practice should be legal in all or most cases, while 36% said it should be illegal in all or most cases. Another survey conducted a few months before the decision showed that relatively few Americans take an absolutist view on the issue .

Find answers to common questions about abortion in America, based on data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Guttmacher Institute, which have tracked these patterns for several decades:

How many abortions are there in the U.S. each year?

How has the number of abortions in the u.s. changed over time, what is the abortion rate among women in the u.s. how has it changed over time, what are the most common types of abortion, how many abortion providers are there in the u.s., and how has that number changed, what percentage of abortions are for women who live in a different state from the abortion provider, what are the demographics of women who have had abortions, when during pregnancy do most abortions occur, how often are there medical complications from abortion.

This compilation of data on abortion in the United States draws mainly from two sources: the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Guttmacher Institute, both of which have regularly compiled national abortion data for approximately half a century, and which collect their data in different ways.

The CDC data that is highlighted in this post comes from the agency’s “abortion surveillance” reports, which have been published annually since 1974 (and which have included data from 1969). Its figures from 1973 through 1996 include data from all 50 states, the District of Columbia and New York City – 52 “reporting areas” in all. Since 1997, the CDC’s totals have lacked data from some states (most notably California) for the years that those states did not report data to the agency. The four reporting areas that did not submit data to the CDC in 2021 – California, Maryland, New Hampshire and New Jersey – accounted for approximately 25% of all legal induced abortions in the U.S. in 2020, according to Guttmacher’s data. Most states, though,  do  have data in the reports, and the figures for the vast majority of them came from each state’s central health agency, while for some states, the figures came from hospitals and other medical facilities.

Discussion of CDC abortion data involving women’s state of residence, marital status, race, ethnicity, age, abortion history and the number of previous live births excludes the low share of abortions where that information was not supplied. Read the methodology for the CDC’s latest abortion surveillance report , which includes data from 2021, for more details. Previous reports can be found at  stacks.cdc.gov  by entering “abortion surveillance” into the search box.

For the numbers of deaths caused by induced abortions in 1963 and 1965, this analysis looks at reports by the then-U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare, a precursor to the Department of Health and Human Services. In computing those figures, we excluded abortions listed in the report under the categories “spontaneous or unspecified” or as “other.” (“Spontaneous abortion” is another way of referring to miscarriages.)

Guttmacher data in this post comes from national surveys of abortion providers that Guttmacher has conducted 19 times since 1973. Guttmacher compiles its figures after contacting every known provider of abortions – clinics, hospitals and physicians’ offices – in the country. It uses questionnaires and health department data, and it provides estimates for abortion providers that don’t respond to its inquiries. (In 2020, the last year for which it has released data on the number of abortions in the U.S., it used estimates for 12% of abortions.) For most of the 2000s, Guttmacher has conducted these national surveys every three years, each time getting abortion data for the prior two years. For each interim year, Guttmacher has calculated estimates based on trends from its own figures and from other data.

The latest full summary of Guttmacher data came in the institute’s report titled “Abortion Incidence and Service Availability in the United States, 2020.” It includes figures for 2020 and 2019 and estimates for 2018. The report includes a methods section.

In addition, this post uses data from StatPearls, an online health care resource, on complications from abortion.

An exact answer is hard to come by. The CDC and the Guttmacher Institute have each tried to measure this for around half a century, but they use different methods and publish different figures.

The last year for which the CDC reported a yearly national total for abortions is 2021. It found there were 625,978 abortions in the District of Columbia and the 46 states with available data that year, up from 597,355 in those states and D.C. in 2020. The corresponding figure for 2019 was 607,720.

The last year for which Guttmacher reported a yearly national total was 2020. It said there were 930,160 abortions that year in all 50 states and the District of Columbia, compared with 916,460 in 2019.

• How the CDC gets its data: It compiles figures that are voluntarily reported by states’ central health agencies, including separate figures for New York City and the District of Columbia. Its latest totals do not include figures from California, Maryland, New Hampshire or New Jersey, which did not report data to the CDC. ( Read the methodology from the latest CDC report .)
• How Guttmacher gets its data: It compiles its figures after contacting every known abortion provider – clinics, hospitals and physicians’ offices – in the country. It uses questionnaires and health department data, then provides estimates for abortion providers that don’t respond. Guttmacher’s figures are higher than the CDC’s in part because they include data (and in some instances, estimates) from all 50 states. ( Read the institute’s latest full report and methodology .)

While the Guttmacher Institute supports abortion rights, its empirical data on abortions in the U.S. has been widely cited by  groups  and  publications  across the political spectrum, including by a  number of those  that  disagree with its positions .

These estimates from Guttmacher and the CDC are results of multiyear efforts to collect data on abortion across the U.S. Last year, Guttmacher also began publishing less precise estimates every few months , based on a much smaller sample of providers.

The figures reported by these organizations include only legal induced abortions conducted by clinics, hospitals or physicians’ offices, or those that make use of abortion pills dispensed from certified facilities such as clinics or physicians’ offices. They do not account for the use of abortion pills that were obtained  outside of clinical settings .

(Back to top)

The annual number of U.S. abortions rose for years after Roe v. Wade legalized the procedure in 1973, reaching its highest levels around the late 1980s and early 1990s, according to both the CDC and Guttmacher. Since then, abortions have generally decreased at what a CDC analysis called  “a slow yet steady pace.”

Guttmacher says the number of abortions occurring in the U.S. in 2020 was 40% lower than it was in 1991. According to the CDC, the number was 36% lower in 2021 than in 1991, looking just at the District of Columbia and the 46 states that reported both of those years.

(The corresponding line graph shows the long-term trend in the number of legal abortions reported by both organizations. To allow for consistent comparisons over time, the CDC figures in the chart have been adjusted to ensure that the same states are counted from one year to the next. Using that approach, the CDC figure for 2021 is 622,108 legal abortions.)

There have been occasional breaks in this long-term pattern of decline – during the middle of the first decade of the 2000s, and then again in the late 2010s. The CDC reported modest 1% and 2% increases in abortions in 2018 and 2019, and then, after a 2% decrease in 2020, a 5% increase in 2021. Guttmacher reported an 8% increase over the three-year period from 2017 to 2020.

As noted above, these figures do not include abortions that use pills obtained outside of clinical settings.

Guttmacher says that in 2020 there were 14.4 abortions in the U.S. per 1,000 women ages 15 to 44. Its data shows that the rate of abortions among women has generally been declining in the U.S. since 1981, when it reported there were 29.3 abortions per 1,000 women in that age range.

The CDC says that in 2021, there were 11.6 abortions in the U.S. per 1,000 women ages 15 to 44. (That figure excludes data from California, the District of Columbia, Maryland, New Hampshire and New Jersey.) Like Guttmacher’s data, the CDC’s figures also suggest a general decline in the abortion rate over time. In 1980, when the CDC reported on all 50 states and D.C., it said there were 25 abortions per 1,000 women ages 15 to 44.

That said, both Guttmacher and the CDC say there were slight increases in the rate of abortions during the late 2010s and early 2020s. Guttmacher says the abortion rate per 1,000 women ages 15 to 44 rose from 13.5 in 2017 to 14.4 in 2020. The CDC says it rose from 11.2 per 1,000 in 2017 to 11.4 in 2019, before falling back to 11.1 in 2020 and then rising again to 11.6 in 2021. (The CDC’s figures for those years exclude data from California, D.C., Maryland, New Hampshire and New Jersey.)

The CDC broadly divides abortions into two categories: surgical abortions and medication abortions, which involve pills. Since the Food and Drug Administration first approved abortion pills in 2000, their use has increased over time as a share of abortions nationally, according to both the CDC and Guttmacher.

The majority of abortions in the U.S. now involve pills, according to both the CDC and Guttmacher. The CDC says 56% of U.S. abortions in 2021 involved pills, up from 53% in 2020 and 44% in 2019. Its figures for 2021 include the District of Columbia and 44 states that provided this data; its figures for 2020 include D.C. and 44 states (though not all of the same states as in 2021), and its figures for 2019 include D.C. and 45 states.

Guttmacher, which measures this every three years, says 53% of U.S. abortions involved pills in 2020, up from 39% in 2017.

Two pills commonly used together for medication abortions are mifepristone, which, taken first, blocks hormones that support a pregnancy, and misoprostol, which then causes the uterus to empty. According to the FDA, medication abortions are safe  until 10 weeks into pregnancy.

Surgical abortions conducted  during the first trimester  of pregnancy typically use a suction process, while the relatively few surgical abortions that occur  during the second trimester  of a pregnancy typically use a process called dilation and evacuation, according to the UCLA School of Medicine.

In 2020, there were 1,603 facilities in the U.S. that provided abortions,  according to Guttmacher . This included 807 clinics, 530 hospitals and 266 physicians’ offices.

While clinics make up half of the facilities that provide abortions, they are the sites where the vast majority (96%) of abortions are administered, either through procedures or the distribution of pills, according to Guttmacher’s 2020 data. (This includes 54% of abortions that are administered at specialized abortion clinics and 43% at nonspecialized clinics.) Hospitals made up 33% of the facilities that provided abortions in 2020 but accounted for only 3% of abortions that year, while just 1% of abortions were conducted by physicians’ offices.

Looking just at clinics – that is, the total number of specialized abortion clinics and nonspecialized clinics in the U.S. – Guttmacher found the total virtually unchanged between 2017 (808 clinics) and 2020 (807 clinics). However, there were regional differences. In the Midwest, the number of clinics that provide abortions increased by 11% during those years, and in the West by 6%. The number of clinics  decreased  during those years by 9% in the Northeast and 3% in the South.

The total number of abortion providers has declined dramatically since the 1980s. In 1982, according to Guttmacher, there were 2,908 facilities providing abortions in the U.S., including 789 clinics, 1,405 hospitals and 714 physicians’ offices.

The CDC does not track the number of abortion providers.

In the District of Columbia and the 46 states that provided abortion and residency information to the CDC in 2021, 10.9% of all abortions were performed on women known to live outside the state where the abortion occurred – slightly higher than the percentage in 2020 (9.7%). That year, D.C. and 46 states (though not the same ones as in 2021) reported abortion and residency data. (The total number of abortions used in these calculations included figures for women with both known and unknown residential status.)

The share of reported abortions performed on women outside their state of residence was much higher before the 1973 Roe decision that stopped states from banning abortion. In 1972, 41% of all abortions in D.C. and the 20 states that provided this information to the CDC that year were performed on women outside their state of residence. In 1973, the corresponding figure was 21% in the District of Columbia and the 41 states that provided this information, and in 1974 it was 11% in D.C. and the 43 states that provided data.

In the District of Columbia and the 46 states that reported age data to  the CDC in 2021, the majority of women who had abortions (57%) were in their 20s, while about three-in-ten (31%) were in their 30s. Teens ages 13 to 19 accounted for 8% of those who had abortions, while women ages 40 to 44 accounted for about 4%.

The vast majority of women who had abortions in 2021 were unmarried (87%), while married women accounted for 13%, according to  the CDC , which had data on this from 37 states.

In the District of Columbia, New York City (but not the rest of New York) and the 31 states that reported racial and ethnic data on abortion to  the CDC , 42% of all women who had abortions in 2021 were non-Hispanic Black, while 30% were non-Hispanic White, 22% were Hispanic and 6% were of other races.

Looking at abortion rates among those ages 15 to 44, there were 28.6 abortions per 1,000 non-Hispanic Black women in 2021; 12.3 abortions per 1,000 Hispanic women; 6.4 abortions per 1,000 non-Hispanic White women; and 9.2 abortions per 1,000 women of other races, the  CDC reported  from those same 31 states, D.C. and New York City.

For 57% of U.S. women who had induced abortions in 2021, it was the first time they had ever had one,  according to the CDC.  For nearly a quarter (24%), it was their second abortion. For 11% of women who had an abortion that year, it was their third, and for 8% it was their fourth or more. These CDC figures include data from 41 states and New York City, but not the rest of New York.

Nearly four-in-ten women who had abortions in 2021 (39%) had no previous live births at the time they had an abortion,  according to the CDC . Almost a quarter (24%) of women who had abortions in 2021 had one previous live birth, 20% had two previous live births, 10% had three, and 7% had four or more previous live births. These CDC figures include data from 41 states and New York City, but not the rest of New York.

The vast majority of abortions occur during the first trimester of a pregnancy. In 2021, 93% of abortions occurred during the first trimester – that is, at or before 13 weeks of gestation,  according to the CDC . An additional 6% occurred between 14 and 20 weeks of pregnancy, and about 1% were performed at 21 weeks or more of gestation. These CDC figures include data from 40 states and New York City, but not the rest of New York.

About 2% of all abortions in the U.S. involve some type of complication for the woman , according to an article in StatPearls, an online health care resource. “Most complications are considered minor such as pain, bleeding, infection and post-anesthesia complications,” according to the article.

The CDC calculates  case-fatality rates for women from induced abortions – that is, how many women die from abortion-related complications, for every 100,000 legal abortions that occur in the U.S .  The rate was lowest during the most recent period examined by the agency (2013 to 2020), when there were 0.45 deaths to women per 100,000 legal induced abortions. The case-fatality rate reported by the CDC was highest during the first period examined by the agency (1973 to 1977), when it was 2.09 deaths to women per 100,000 legal induced abortions. During the five-year periods in between, the figure ranged from 0.52 (from 1993 to 1997) to 0.78 (from 1978 to 1982).

The CDC calculates death rates by five-year and seven-year periods because of year-to-year fluctuation in the numbers and due to the relatively low number of women who die from legal induced abortions.

In 2020, the last year for which the CDC has information , six women in the U.S. died due to complications from induced abortions. Four women died in this way in 2019, two in 2018, and three in 2017. (These deaths all followed legal abortions.) Since 1990, the annual number of deaths among women due to legal induced abortion has ranged from two to 12.

The annual number of reported deaths from induced abortions (legal and illegal) tended to be higher in the 1980s, when it ranged from nine to 16, and from 1972 to 1979, when it ranged from 13 to 63. One driver of the decline was the drop in deaths from illegal abortions. There were 39 deaths from illegal abortions in 1972, the last full year before Roe v. Wade. The total fell to 19 in 1973 and to single digits or zero every year after that. (The number of deaths from legal abortions has also declined since then, though with some slight variation over time.)

The number of deaths from induced abortions was considerably higher in the 1960s than afterward. For instance, there were 119 deaths from induced abortions in  1963  and 99 in  1965 , according to reports by the then-U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare, a precursor to the Department of Health and Human Services. The CDC is a division of Health and Human Services.

Note: This is an update of a post originally published May 27, 2022, and first updated June 24, 2022.

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Key facts about the abortion debate in America

Public opinion on abortion, three-in-ten or more democrats and republicans don’t agree with their party on abortion, partisanship a bigger factor than geography in views of abortion access locally, do state laws on abortion reflect public opinion, most popular.

About Pew Research Center Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan fact tank that informs the public about the issues, attitudes and trends shaping the world. It conducts public opinion polling, demographic research, media content analysis and other empirical social science research. Pew Research Center does not take policy positions. It is a subsidiary of The Pew Charitable Trusts .

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