“This is a very famous university which has been involved in the fight for human rights in all parts of the world” - President Nelson Mandela when visiting the University of Essex on 10 July 1997 

Welcome to the Human Rights Centre

Established in 1983 and with three decades of experience in the teaching and practical application of human rights, we are one of the oldest and most internationally-renowned academic human rights centres in the world.

The Human Rights Centre has gained a reputation across the world for the quality of our staff and our students. Many academic staff have occupied, or continue to occupy, senior human rights positions within governmental and inter-governmental organisations.

The core of our work consists of the provision of first-class teaching programmes at both undergraduate and postgraduate level, and we are proud to have produced over 2000 human rights graduates. Our alumni work for international organisations such as the United Nations, the Council of Europe, the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) and in non-governmental organisations including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch. HRC graduates also work in the field to safeguard human rights in conflict-torn countries including Bosnia, Kosovo, Nepal and Sudan.

In addition to our teaching programmes we are actively engaged in a range of human rights projects and partnerships which extend our work beyond the academy and into the practical world of human rights protection. Our general contribution to the global protection of human rights was most recently recognised by the award of the Queen’s Anniversary Prize for our pioneering role in ‘advancing the legal and broader practice of international human rights’.

We're proud to announce that from the Autumn term, 2012, we will be offering a new single honours BA in Human Rights alongside our other undergraduate and postgraduate courses. More information will be coming soon.