University of Iowa Center for Human Rights
April 1, 2019
The work of the UICHR attends to all categories of human rights, including “first generation” civil and political rights, “second generation” economic, social, and cultural rights, and “third generation” community or group rights. Our work is guided by the basic tenets of a free society to which The University of Iowa is committed. In fulfilling its mission, UICHR therefore continuously revisits even the most fundamental aspects of human rights, treating them not as a corpus of fixed thought and action, but as a set of assumptions and choices that are open to constant rethinking because of ever-evolving ideas, conditions, and needs.
Following this approach, the UICHR:
- Engages in a diverse array of research, teaching, and other activities that are designed to highlight and consider, constructively and critically, the problems and prospects of human rights worldwide.
- Nurtures trans-disciplinary and inter-institutional collaboration that seeks, among other things, to integrate artistic and literary viewpoints with legal, political, and socioeconomic human rights discourse;
- Encourages the active participation of faculty, students, and others both within and beyond the UI campus in the conception and execution of its diverse activities; and
- Shares information with both human rights specialists and the general public about its activities and about human rights issues and developments generally.