Even as advances have been made to ensure the fundamental rights of all, injustices continue to threaten the dignity of the most vulnerable.
Staggering incarceration rates disproportionately affect African Americans, schools are rapidly resegregating, and equal voting rights are threatened in many areas of the United States. Around the globe, freedom of expression is repressed while torture and slavery remain scourges on modern society. Immigration has become a flashpoint for debates on how to protect those whose lives are disrupted by civil conflict and systemic poverty.
The Klau Center supports rigorous and innovative research into the root causes, systemic effects, and possible remedies for civil and human rights violations. This inquiry takes the form of faculty work, Center-led initiatives, and support for innovative writing.
Working papers, both faculty and student-authored, as well as a variety of other occasional papers and books on civil and human rights topics published by the Center, can be found here.
Research by Topic
The Klau Center has engaged in research around many civil and human rights-related topics including civil rights enforcement, the Inter-American human rights system, global economic rights, human trafficking, transitional justice, and much more. Selected projects are listed here by topic.
The Klau Center sponsors an annual writing competition to promote research at the professional, graduate, and undergraduate levels, for those investigating a wide range of topics pertaining to civil and human rights.