Big Ideas@Berkeley

Promoting Human Rights:

The Rule of Law for Accountability, Transparency, and Human Well-Being

What is Promoting Human Rights?

Although the United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights was designed to be a common standard of human rights for all peoples in all nations, human rights violations exist in almost every part of the world; Amnesty International’s 2009 World Report states that individuals are tortured or abused in at least 80 countries, face unfair trials in at least 50 countries, and are restricted in their freedom of expression in at least 70 countries.

In part, these human rights violations occur because over half of the world’s population lives in countries that lack the rule of law, defined by the United Nations as “a principle of governance in which all persons, institutions and entities, public and private, including the State itself, are accountable to laws that are publicly promulgated, equally enforced and independently adjudicated, and which are consistent with international human rights norms and standards.” Countries that lack the rule of law often do not meet the most basic needs of their populations, failing to offer economic opportunity, provide basic justice, or ensure physical security. In such places, corruption often becomes endemic, reflecting and/or resulting in a slow erosion of human rights.

The challenge for this competition is to develop a proposal that will, in some way, combat the causes or consequences of corruption and thus directly or indirectly foster the rule of law. Alternately, a proposal might focus more generally on preserving or promoting the protection of individuals’ essential human rights.

Examples of some focus areas could include, but are not limited to: issues such as genocide or mass atrocities including physical and mental cruelty, corruption, gender inequality, slavery, political oppression, civil rights abuses, or forcible relocations.

Category Specific Rules

The “Promoting Human Rights” category is open to all matriculated graduate and undergraduate students in the University of California system. Multidisciplinary teams are strongly encouraged. For additional information about general contest rules, timing, and how to apply, please refer to the Contest Application Requirements. Additional details may be provided via updates to the Big Ideas site.

Background

The Promoting Human Rights category is sponsored by the Blum Center for Developing Economies at UC Berkeley in cooperation with USAID. Award administration and funding will be provided by the Blum Center.