The Master of Arts in Human Rights

Study Human Rights from a Uniquely Catholic Perspective

                                     Pope Saint John Paul II visits The Catholic University of America, 1979

When you access the application, please note that the M.A. in Human Rights is under the School of Arts and Sciences.

The Master of Arts in Human Rights, developed by the IHE, is designed for students who wish to study human rights from a distinctly Catholic perspective. It draws upon existing courses from several schools at The Catholic University of America. This interdisciplinary degree is awarded by the School of Arts and Sciences. The program’s director is William Saunders, J.D.

“[William Saunders] is genuinely a human rights hero, a person who has literally put his body, put his life on the line upholding human rights in very dangerous places…to stand in solidarity and to support people who were victims of terrible human rights abuses.”

– Robert George, Princeton University’s McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence and Advisor to our M.A. in Human Rights


Meet With Experienced Human Rights Experts

As part of the MA program, students regularly meet with human rights heroes, many of whom serve on the Advisory Board of the program. Not only do the students learn from these human rights advocates, but they are able to ask questions and engage in conversation with them on a vast array of human rights issues and challenges.

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“This Institute, I think, is a very important expression of the renaissance that’s underway at Catholic University in these recent years, and I’m delighted to be part of that.”