There are already many organizations and networks doing great work in HRE. You don't have to re-invent the wheel, here are some free resources to help you get started! No matter your level of experience or who you are working with, there is something here for everybody.
UN Office of the High Commissioner: Human Rights Education
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights coordinates, among others, United Nations education and public information programs in the field of human rights. This incredible resource collects news, speeches, infographics, videos, and more all with an aim to build a robust Human Rights Education program at the international level.
Human Rights Educators USA
Founded in 2011, Human Rights Educators USA (HRE USA) is a growing network dedicated to building a culture of human rights by providing an innovative forum for HRE practitioners and supporters to learn, network, and exchange professional expertise and better serve our growing HRE community.
Voice of Witness
Voice of Witness (VOW) advances human rights by amplifying the voices of people impacted by injustice.
Our work is driven by the transformative power of the story, and by a strong belief that an understanding of crucial issues is incomplete without deep listening and learning from people who have experienced injustice firsthand.
Through our oral history book series and education program, we amplify the voices of people impacted by injustice, teach ethics-driven storytelling, and partner with human rights advocates to:
- build agency within marginalized communities,
- raise awareness and foster thoughtful, empathy-based critical inquiry and understanding of the crises they face,
- and inform long-term efforts to protect and advance human rights.
Facing History and Ourselves
At Facing History and Ourselves, we believe the bigotry and hate that we witness today are the legacy of brutal injustices of the past. Facing our collective history and how it informs our attitudes and behaviors allows us to choose a world of equity and justice. Facing History’s resources address racism, antisemitism, and prejudice at pivotal moments in history; we help students connect choices made in the past to those they will confront in their own lives. Through our partnership with educators around the world, Facing History and Ourselves reaches millions of students in thousands of classrooms every year.
Teaching Tolerance
Teaching Tolerance provides free resources to educators—teachers, administrators, counselors and other practitioners—who work with children from kindergarten through high school. Educators use our materials to supplement the curriculum, to inform their practices, and to create civil and inclusive school communities where children are respected, valued and welcome participants
Rethinking Schools
Since its inception as a quarterly newspaper in Milwaukee, WI in 1986, Rethinking Schools has become the preeminent publisher of social justice education materials in the United States. Our quarterly magazine has subscribers in all 50 states, all 10 Canadian provinces, and around the world. Our books are used in teacher education programs, by social organizations and teachers’ unions, and by classroom teachers everywhere.
Zinn Education Project
The Zinn Education Project promotes and supports the teaching of people’s history in classrooms across the country. For more than ten years, the Zinn Education Project has introduced students to a more accurate, complex, and engaging understanding of history than is found in traditional textbooks and curricula. With more than 110,000 people registered, and growing by more than 10,000 new registrants every year, the Zinn Education Project has become a leading resource for teachers and teacher educators.
University of Minnesota Human Rights Resource Center
The Human Rights Resource Center makes excellent HRE resources produced by non-profit organizations and independent publishers accessible to all. These resources include more than 50 curricula, guides, videos, documents, and other educational aids. The Resource Center also creates and publishes innovative materials through its own Human Rights Education Series. Our two human rights Web sites contain thousands of materials essential for anyone with an interest in international human rights.
University of Minnesota Human Rights Library
The University of Minnesota Human Rights Library houses one of the largest collections of more than sixty thousand core human rights documents, including several hundred human rights treaties and other primary international human rights instruments. The site also provides access to more than four thousand links and a unique search device for multiple human rights sites. This comprehensive research tool is accessed by more than a 250,000 students, scholars, educators, and human rights advocates monthly from over 150 countries around the world. Documents are available in nine languages
Amnesty International Education Program
Amnesty International offers several online educational programs for adult learners as well as young activists
Teachers 4 Social Justice (T4SJ)
Teachers 4 Social Justice is a grassroots non-profit teacher support and development organization. Our mission is to provide opportunities for self-transformation, leadership, and community building to educators in order to affect meaningful change in the classroom, school, community and society.
University of San Francisco Human Rights Education Master’s Program
USF offers the country's only master's degree in human rights education, providing a unique opportunity to address social and educational inequities. Grounded in critical thinking and positive action, this program provides a rigorous human rights education in the classroom and community. You'll graduate prepared to tackle—and to teach about—inequities based on race, class, gender, sexual identity, religion, and nation.