“We believe that that memory must open a channel to human rights. Why human rights? Because we realize that when a people is threatened, it doesn’t remain threatened alone. When a group is singled out, it affects all other groups.” – Elie Wiesel
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HUMAN RIGHTS AT UCONN
Examining the most pressing human rights questions and preparing the next generation of human rights leaders.

HRI circles blue and rust

Highlighted Events

Nobody's Listening is a physical and VR exhibition on display in The Dodd Center for Human Rights in Spring 2025.

Nobody's Listening

Immersive Exhibition

Spring 2025 • Storrs, CT

Nobody's Listening is an immersive exhibition commemorating the Yazidi genocide initiated by ISIS in the summer of 2014 in northern Iraq. Using photography, art and virtual reality technology, the exhibition explores the consequences of the genocidal campaign by ISIS and its devastating effect on persecuted communities and their cultural heritage. The centerpiece of the exhibition is a ground-breaking virtual reality experience, Nobody’s Listening: The Forgotten Voices of Sinjar. This room-scale interactive experience transports viewers to northern Iraq using a blend of 360-degree documentary film-making, stunning Yazidi artwork and the latest virtual reality technology.

Learn more about the Nobody's Listening exhibition

The Inaugural Genocide Awareness Lecture will be delivered by Dr. James Waller.

Inaugural Genocide Awareness Lecture

Our Walled World: Identity & Separation in Deeply Divided Societies

April 22, 2025 • Storrs, CT

Dr. James Waller, the Christopher J. Dodd Chair in Human Rights Practice and a renowned expert in genocide and atrocity prevention, delivers the inaugural Genocide Awareness Lecture at UConn, commemorating Genocide Awareness Month. Offering a comprehensive analysis of how deeply divided societies construct physical, symbolic, and hidden walls that foster isolation and fear, Dr. Waller examines these divisions through a global comparative lens. Emphasizing the critical need for greater integration, Waller will propose strategies that dismantle the barriers perpetuating the 'us' and 'them' fault lines of our fractured societies.

Learn more about the Genocide Awareness Lecture

UConn Today News

Photo of podium with sign that says Human Rights Summit at The Dodd Center
Announcing the 2025 Dodd Human Rights Summit: Sport & Human Rights

The Summit will feature an opening conversation with 1968 Olympic podium protesters Tommie Smith and John Carlos, moderated by journalist Bill Rhoden.

Five members of an academic panel sit on stage.
Policymakers, Business Leaders Say Sustainable Investing is Smart Investing

State Treasurer explored how investors can ensure no one is left behind through a just climate transition during a keynote address to UConn students and faculty

A display shows two magazine covered with photos of a young Joe Steffan.
UConn Law Library Exhibit Shows Alumnus’ Case Against Department of Defense

Joe Steffan donates his files to the library in hopes that those studying the case and the issue of gay rights in the future will understand how they were litigated

Busy city street full of traffic
Challenging Convention: Human Rights-Centered Engineering at UConn

At UConn, the Engineering for Human Rights Initiative is changing the way our engineers are taught to approach all kinds of projects

In the News

AI Odyssey at Hartford Public Library’s Albany Library

October 17, 2024

A partnership between the Hartford Public Library, University of Connecticut, and the Connecticut/Baden-Württemberg Human Rights Research Consortium culminated in a two-day event, AI Odyssey, aiming to bridge the digital divide in AI and support teens learning to harness innovative technologies.

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Checking In With The U.S. Treasurer

November 1, 2023

Human Rights graduate student Sage Phillips ’22 (CLAS), ’24 MA, speaks with U.S. Treasurer Lynn Malerba ’08 MPA, Chief of the Mohegan Tribe, on the significance of her role as both a tribal leader and senior U.S. official, as well as the values of representation and inspiration.

[Read More]