Human Rights Education Now!

Dr. Mary Elizabeth Curran is Professor of Language Education at the Rutgers Graduate School of Education. She directs the Office of Local-Global Partnerships and prepares future language education teachers and researchers. Her scholarship focuses on community-engaged language education, language teacher education, and global teacher education. She is the founder of the award-winning Conversation T...

Dr. Pedro Gonzalez is a leading human rights advocate and Assistant Professor of Human Rights at Northern Arizona University. His expertise spans criminology, criminal justice, and comparative cultural studies. Pedro's doctoral work in Holocaust Studies at the University of Texas at Dallas informs his teaching on the Holocaust, human rights, and Latin American and Mexican history. Pedro’s res...

Dr. Teresa M. Cappiali is an academic and international consultant. She founded NOIWE, a Sweden-based organization focused on transforming education using Transformative- Emancipatory Pedagogy (TEP). For 14 years+ and across five continents, she has developed this framework, combining knowledge, empathy, and critical thinking to create classrooms grounded in dialogue and collective transformation....

Mischa Geracoulis is the Outreach and Engagement Officer at Project Censored and Production Lead at The Censored Press. She contributes to the State of the Free Press yearbook, serves as a Project Judge, and is the author of Media Framing and the Destruction of Cultural Heritage (Routledge, 2025). She is also a Global Press Freedom Expert and Index Respondent with Reporters Without Borders. Her wo...

Professor Emeritus Jane Williams has built a distinguished career spanning legal practice, government legal service, academia, and civil society activism. She played a pivotal role in securing legislation on the rights of the child in Wales and was instrumental in the campaign for a Welsh Youth Parliament. At Swansea University, she co-founded the Observatory on Human Rights of Children (now the O...

*Read full bio on HREUSA website * Jack L. Nelson is a veteran educator and scholar whose career spans public schools and higher education in the United States and abroad. In 2001, he received the National Council for the Social Studies’ National Academic Freedom Award. He began teaching in Denver, Colorado, and later worked with migrant worker children in Riverside, California. He earned his B.A....

Laura Lundy is Honorary Professor of Education Law and Children’s Rights at Queen’s University Belfast and Professor of Law at University College Cork. She is Co–Editor-in-Chief of the International Journal of Children’s Rights and an internationally recognized expert in children’s participation rights and education law. Her highly cited 2007 article, “‘Voice’ is not enough,” introduced what is no...

In Episode 71, Laura Lundy examines global challenges to children’s rights, with particular attention to migration, poverty, and participation. She discusses the persistent failure of media and adult institutions to recognize children—especially child migrants—as full rights holders. Laura highlights the role of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child in advancing participation rights over tim...

Dr. Feliece I. Yeban is a human rights educator, scholar, and advocate whose work spans more than three decades across community organizations, universities, and state institutions in the Philippines. Grounded in the writings of Paolo Freire and Antonio Gramsci, her scholarship centers on decolonial pedagogy, community-based human rights work, and the uplift of Indigenous Filipino knowledge system...

In part two of the conversation, Ava Kreutziger and Bill Fernekes continue their dialogue with Feliece, focusing on interdisciplinary approaches, Indigenous rights, and the ongoing challenge of colonial legacies. Feliece discusses her research with Indigenous Filipino communities and the need to challenge collective amnesia surrounding Indigenous knowledge and histories. She explores how systems p...

Jude Armstrong is a writer and abolitionist from New Orleans, Louisiana. They organize alongside queer youth to protest anti-LGBTQ+ legislation and advocate for social justice. Their poetry has appeared in The Amistad , Palette Poetry , and Bottlecap Press , with recognition from Adroit Journal , YoungArts, and Teen Sequins . Jude is currently studying Human Rights and English at Columbia Universi...

In the second part of the youth discussion, Ava Kreutziger and  Elizabeth Schwab continue the conversation with Jude Armstrong, Jaya Field, and Ella Henry, focusing on global perspectives, intersectionality, and creative activism. Jaya discusses her comparative research on queer rights in Sweden and Poland; Jude explores poetry and abolition as tools for liberation; and Ella reflects on cultural s...

Jefferson R. Plantilla started legal education work in the Philippines in 1985 in the Structural Alternative Legal Assistance for the Grassroots (SALAG). He became the Coordinator of the Asian Regional Resource Center on Human Rights Education (ARRC) in Thailand from 1992 to 1995. From July 1995, he started working at the Asia-Pacific Human Rights Information Center (HURIGHTS OSAKA) in Japan. He c...

In Episode 65, Jeff Plantilla offers insights on strengthening human rights education (HRE) by emphasizing diversity, supporting local initiatives, and adapting messages to cultural contexts. He highlights the importance of addressing concrete issues, such as housing as a human right, and reflects on the challenges facing HRE in Japan. Jeff shares that the individuals who have influenced him are t...

Zeynep Karatas, a UC Irvine honors graduate in Political Science and International Studies, has worked with The Borgen Project, Lawyers Without Borders, and the United Nations Association of the USA. She held leadership roles on campus and presented her award-winning thesis on the European Court of Human Rights at three conferences. She plans to pursue graduate studies and a career in internationa...

In Episode 63, Zeynep Karatas, Eugenia Ricciotti, and Tata Varadashvili reflect on feminist movements past and present, drawing inspiration from earlier thinkers and organizers while emphasizing the need for intersectionality, self-care, and adaptation to today’s digital and media landscapes. Zeynep, Eugenia, and Tata highlight the importance of centering historically silenced groups, resisting hi...

William R. “Bill” Fernekes taught social studies and Spanish from 1974-1987 at Hunterdon Central Regional HS in Flemington NJ, later serving as supervisor of social studies from 1987 to his retirement in 2010. He has been a consultant to the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, the New Jersey Commission on Holocaust Education, and numerous other scholarly institutions.  He is a recipient of the Mel Mil...

In Part Two, Bill Fernekes emphasizes the need to balance theory and practice in human rights education (HRE), advocating for curriculum transformation grounded in dignity and decolonization. He explores the link between human rights, public policy, and poverty, highlighting programs like the California Task Force and Human Rights Close to Home. Bill stresses that HRE should empower—not indoctrina...

Kristina Eberbach is a consultant specializing in human rights and education programming. She works as a strategy and curriculum specialist for the Human Rights Close to Home Program at the University of Connecticut. She teaches human rights at both the University of Connecticut and Columbia University. Kristina serves on the steering committee of Human Rights Educators USA and co-founded the Univ...

Kristina Eberbach discusses the limited knowledge many U.S. students have about human rights and the importance of understanding human rights language to address justice and equity issues effectively. She connects human rights education (HRE) to social justice movements, emphasizing its legal foundations and its role in envisioning and creating a more just world. Kristina highlights the need to fo...

Loretta J. Ross is a Professor at Smith College in the Program for the Study of Women and Gender, where she teaches courses on white supremacy, human rights, and calling in the calling-out culture. A lifelong activist and scholar, she co-created the theory of Reproductive Justice and has led national movements for over five decades, including organizing the 2004 March for Women’s Lives and serving...

Loretta J. Ross discusses her approach to teaching about white supremacy, framing it as both an ideology and a social construct tied to identity. She emphasizes the importance of truth, evidence, and history in defending academic freedom—especially in the face of authoritarian practices like those seen during the Trump administration. Loretta offers strategic recommendations for institutions under...

Dr. Rick Halperin , Director of the Embrey Human Rights Program at SMU, has spent over five decades immersed in human rights activism and education. With a Ph. D. in Southern History from Auburn University, he taught history in 1985 and human rights in 1990. Rick has led numerous human rights trips, worked as a monitor across the globe, and served on several high-profile boards, including Amnesty...

In Episode 55, Dr. Rick Halperin and Julie Rinker continue their conversation on the intersection of human rights education (HRE), literacy, and activism. Julie discusses how her doctoral work uses HRE to support students with reading disabilities, merging social justice with practical interventions for literacy challenges. The episode delves into the harsh realities and evolving methods of capita...

Full description available on the HREUSA podcast website . Elizabeth Schwab is a senior at Boston College. She interned at the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and is Vice Chair of the Executive Committee for Human Rights Education USA. She has led initiatives to promote the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in education and expanded the global reach of the Human Rights Educat...