Submission to the United Nations Universal Periodic Review of the United States of America
Fourth Cycle
50th Session of the UPR
Human Rights Council
April 2025
Submitted By: Students of Human Rights and Education, Columbia University (SHRECU) and Human Rights Educators USA (HREUSA)
Organization Website: http://humanrightscolumbia.org; http://hreusa.org
Students of Human Rights and Education, Columbia University (SHRECU) is a collective formed through the Institute for the Study of Human Rights’s (ISHR) Spring 2025 course on Human Rights and Education. This course is led by Professor Glenn Mitoma, Director of Undergraduate Studies at ISHR. The Institute was established in 1978 and is committed to its three core goals of providing interdisciplinary human rights education to Columbia students, fostering innovative academic research, and offering its expertise in capacity building to human rights leaders, organizations, and universities around the world. SHRECU is comprised of undergraduate students—many pursuing degrees through ISHR. Our course examined the intersection between human rights and education, exploring how education functions as a “site of and a strategy in struggles for just, equitable, and dignified communities,” and human rights serve as a “form of public pedagogy aimed at fostering particular kinds of subjects and communities.” Given the contemporary climate and our commitment to engaged human rights pedagogy, we directed our academic efforts toward advocating for the right to education, leveraging our unique positions as Columbia students and human rights scholars. Alongside our academic studies, our activities include producing this UPR submission and organizing into working groups focused on UN advocacy, campus engagement, and writing policy papers to ensure our impact extends beyond the semester and this report.
Human Rights Educators USA (HRE USA) is a national network within the United States dedicated to promoting human dignity, justice, and peace by cultivating an expansive, vibrant base of support for human rights education (HRE). As such, our suggested recommendations for the Universal Periodic Review 4th Cycle center on our network’s priorities. Our review also takes into account the institutional environments influencing the dissemination and promotion of HRE policies and practices in K-12 schools and higher education. Our review prioritizes protecting academic freedom and educational accessibility without discrimination within all settings in the United States.
HRE USA 