Join leading scholars, journalists, and community voices for a series of virtual panel discussions exploring how liberal arts expertise shapes our understanding of today’s most pressing civic issues—from the role of the media and constitutional rights to the lived impacts of state-sanctioned violence.
In a moment marked by deep political polarization and urgent questions around immigration enforcement and public safety, this event interrogates how language, law, ethics, and community narratives inform our response to current events.
Engage in rigorous dialogue that bridges academic insight with real-world consequence, and discover how the liberal arts help us make sense of conflict, community, and our shared civic future.
This event is presented as a webinar via Zoom. This event is free and open to the public but registration is required. The webinar will be live from 9:15am – 2:00pm. Guests are welcome to join anytime to view their preferred session.
The United Nations General Assembly proclaimed 24 January as International Day of Education, in celebration of the role of education for peace and development.
Youth under 30 constitute more than half of the global population. They are a driving force for sustainable development, innovation and social transformation, yet they remain disproportionately affected by poverty, inequality and limited access to quality education and decent work opportunities.
HRE USA is a coalition of hundreds of members across the country, and we continue to grow daily. We are academics, activists, parents, educators, students, unions, policy makers, social scientists, software engineers, professors, artists, and non-profit organizations united with a common mission: promoting human dignity, justice, and peace by cultivating an expansive, vibrant base of support for human rights education (HRE) within the United States.
There are two ways to join the HRE USA community: as an individual or as an organization.
In this next workshop, we ask, what is your climate story? How can it become a climate solution?
Join the Teach Climate Network and Project Drawdown’s Storytelling Coordinator Drew Arrieta on January 21 from 12:00 – 1:00 pm CT for a workshop exploring how personal narratives can bring climate science down to earth: making it human, local, and real. Drawing from Project Drawdown’s Neighborhood Storytelling Work, we’ll look at examples of how everyday people are shaping climate solutions. Participants will leave with a clearer sense of their own climate story and how to share it with courage and care.
We understand that some of these workshops do not work for educators’ schedules, so all registrants will receive a recording and additional resources to their email within 1 week of the event. We are striving to make our events more welcoming to all, with specific goals about racial equity and inclusivity. Your answers during registration will help us to know how we are doing.
We are grateful for the 100s of HRE USA contributors in 2025, who provided their time, talents, and financial gifts in 2025! Our programs have been made possible by the 1000s of in-kind hours donations to develop our HRE programs, lessons and briefs, fellowships, conferences, podcasts, newsletters, and more.Your participation in our workshops, editing lessons, policies, reports, and podcasts, award selection processes and more provides evidence of the power of our network to inform, educate, organize, and advocate for HRE in our schools and communities.We are happy to share that we reached our 2025 Year-End Fundraising goal, raising $15,900 for our 2026 15th Anniversary Year! A special recognition for the Puffin Foundation for 12-years of network support, enabling HRE USA to thrive. We hope to magnify our impacts in 2026!
Gratitude to our Year-End Fundraising Consultant Sabrina Sanchez and Gabriela Martinez San Juan!
As well as our outstanding Communications Team, Natela Jordan and Jazzmin Chizu Gota, and our HRE USA Leadership Team members!
HRE USA is proud to announce the winners of this year’s 2025 O’Brien Awards:
Congratulations to Dr. Pedro Jose Gonzalez Corona and The World As It Could Be Human Rights Education Program!
The individual award goes to Dr. Pedro Jose Gonzalez Corona, Assistant Professor of Human Rights at the departments of Criminology and Criminal Justice, and Comparative Cultural Studies at Northern Arizona University. The World As It Could Be Human Rights Education Program (TWAICB) receives the organizational award.
Established in 2015 in memory of Edward O’Brien, pioneer human rights educator, the O’Brien Human Rights Education Awards annually honor outstanding contributions to human rights education (HRE) in the United States. The 2025 award was presented to Professor Gonzalez and The World As It Could Be Human Rights Education Program as part of HRE USA’s Human Rights Day Celebration.
Dr. Gonzalez and TWAICB leaders, Sandy Sohcot and Yvonne Vissing accepted the award at HRE USA’s Human Rights Day Celebration.
Dr. Pedro Jose Gonzalez Corona | 2025 O’Brien Award for Individual Achievement
Committed to educating his students both in and out of the classroom. Dr. Gonzalez is an emerging leader of a new generation of human rights educators and scholars. His research examines human rights, genocide, and state-sponsored violence in Latin America. He is a part of a cohort of scholars focusing on the Yaqui people’s history and trauma, mainly during the era of war and deportation. He is also currently writing a book on the Mexican crisis of disappearances, referencing the thousands of people who have been forcibly disappeared and most likely buried in clandestine mass graves. Dr. Gonzalez’s teaching approach includes the creation of faculty led programs and photographic exhibits in which students research human rights topics.
One of his recommenders says of him, “Dr. Gonzalez has never wavered in his full commitment to human rights, human dignity, justice… He is well aware of the fundamental truth of human rights, namely, that there is no such thing as a lesser person.”
The World as It Could Be | 2025 O’Brien Award for Organizational Achievement
Since 2006 The World As It Could Be Human Rights Education Program (TWAICB) has inspired people of all ages to take actions that lead to equality, justice, and dignity for all. These initiatives use the creative arts to deepen learning about the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) and its continuing relevance as a vehicle to further equality, equity, justice and dignity for all. TWAICB’s unique curriculum culminates in a Rite-of-Passage-like presentation for participants’ school or organization and its extended community that expresses their ideas about the significance of the UDHR and its connection to their lives,
Founded and developed by Sandy Sohcot in San Francisco Bay Area schools, TWAICB is now under the leadership of Yvonne Vissing, founding director of the Center for Childhood & Youth Studies at Salem State University, where she is a Professor of Healthcare Studies. Together they seek to make TWAICB’s resources more available and accessible to a global audience and to emphasize children’s human rights and how communities can support young people’s well-being.
HRE USA is proud to honor The World As It Could Be Human Rights Education Program for its commitment and service to human rights education in the United States.
HRE USA is proud to announce the winners of this year’s 2025 Youth In Action for Human Rights Awards:
Congratulations to Marium Zahra of El Paso, TX and Shivum Telang of Sewickley, PA—individual winners for their outstanding activism on behalf of social justice, and Vote16MD of Maryland for group achievement!
To encourage a new generation of human rights activists, the Youth in Action for Human Rights Awards recognize youth leadership in the defense of and advocacy for human rights in the United States. The Awards annually honor the work of both an individual and a group of young people of high school age. Applicants are evaluated on the basis of the impact, independence, sustainability, creativity, and relevance to human rights. This year’s winners will received a $500 prize and were recognized at HRE USA’s national Human Rights Day Celebration.
Marium Zahra | 2023 Youth in Action for Human Rights Award for Individual Achievement
Through her activism as an independent journalist, a student lawyer at the El Paso Municipal Teen Court, a sustainable agriculture fellow with the La Semilla Farm and Food Center, an Education Team Lead on the Work2BeWell Youth Advisory Council, or a national youth delegate at UNICEF USA, Marium Zahra works to uplift youth from marginalized communities by advocating for the human rights of young people, especially those from low socio-economic backgrounds. Covering topics as varied as climate issues, the harms of anti-Critical Race Theory legislation and banned books, economically fair testing requirements for students applying to college, and the importance of inclusive, and accessible libraries, her writing has reached a wide national audience. She has been featured in outlets such as The Nation, Prisim Reports, Business Insider, Yes! Magazine, the PBS NewsHour, and Learning for Justice.
Shivum Telang | 2025 Youth in Action for Human Rights Award for Individual Achievement
After a family health crisis made him aware of the inequalities in the American healthcare system, Shivum Telang turned his computer talents to address the problem, especially for those in rural and marginalized communities. The results was MedMatch, a custom search algorithm with a streamlined database that connects patients directly to doctors while also managing referrals and appointment scheduling. Currently working with the Pennsylvania Department of Health and connecting with Congressmen to draft a bill regarding access to healthcare, Shivum uniquely bridges the gap between technology and governance. He emphasizes that his platform is designed to “empower people to know and claim their rights,” allowing them to navigate a confusing system with dignity.
Vote16MD | 2025 Youth in Action for Human Rights Award for Group Achievement
Vote16MD works to lower the voting age to 16 across Maryland’s municipalities, with the broader goal of empowering youth and encouraging lifelong civic engagement. Part of Vote16USA, a national youth-led movement to extend voting rights, Vote16MD works alongside lawmakers to develop and implement Vote16 policies. Already 20 Maryland cities have lowered the voting age. Led by Vanessa Li and Anya Kleinman, chapters of Vote16MD research the policies of their local townships and counties, lobby elected representatives and municipal election boards, raise community awareness about the importance of youth voting rights, and engage and empower young people to make their voices heard.
Title: Handbook of Human Rights Education, De Gruyter Press.
Editors: S. Garnett Russell and Sandra Sirota, equal co-editors
Our proposed handbook will provide an important and timely general overview of the main topics and debates within the field of human rights education, while also providing examples of specific human rights education issues from diverse cases around the world. It will be geared towards undergraduate and graduate students, practitioners, policy makers, and a general audience.
In light of the multidisciplinary nature of human rights education, the book will be of relevance to scholars and students across different fields including international and comparative education, human rights education, teacher education and certification courses, human rights, sociology of human rights, social work, and also areas related to civic education and education and migration.
We invite scholars and practitioners who are involved in human rights education to submit abstracts for this edited handbook on human rights education. We are seeking contributions for Section 5 on human rights education across different country case studies and regions.
The deadline to submit abstracts is January 16, 2026. The word limit is 500 words.
We will notify authors if your abstract has been accepted by February 2, 2026.
Full chapter submissions (6,000 words, APA style) are due by June 1, 2026 and will be peer reviewed by other contributors. In that spirit, we ask that authors peer review another chapter as well.
HRE USA 