Institute for Human Rights & Humanitarian Studies

The Institute for Human Rights and Humanitarian Studies combines support for teaching, research, and service to promote global citizenship among its students, staff, and alumni. Human rights are the foundation for global civil society, and the Institute is an important resource for spurring positive change and inspiring future leaders.

The Institute is uniquely positioned to take
advantage of Webster University’s global footprint in order to become a leading hub for human rights education internationally. To get a sense of what is already happening, here are examples of research and study within the Webster community:

• Undergraduate students have given new meaning to "study abroad" by
  undertaking humanitarian fieldwork in Thailand.
  
  
• The Geneva campus offers a Refugee Studies program, and its annual Humanitarian Conference is now entering its 16th year.
  
  
• Faculty members continue to research genocide and the Holocaust in both
  Vienna and Saint Louis.
  
  
• Webster offers professional seminars on international human rights and humanitarian law by leading scholars, enhanced by on-site visits to international legal institutions in Leiden and the Hague.
  
  
• In London, hands-on learning in human rights is facilitated by connections with Human Rights Watch, Oxfam, and the Royal Institute of International Affairs (Chatham House).
  
  
• The highly successful Year of International Human Rights, along with the annual Human Rights Conference, attract renowned scholars to Saint Louis and generate student interest in right issues.

  The Institute is here to promote and coordinate activities, as well as to build networks between government

  agencies, organizations, and businesses. As we move forward, we look forward to creating new

  opportunities for teaching, research, and service.

  Keynote Address at 2012 Human Rights Conference:

  Refugee and Migrant Rights

  Ivan Gayton: Medecins sans Frontiers

  Click here to view talk.