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So often we use the modern conveniences technology affords us to distract and entertain ourselves, but we can also use this technology to leverage us, to educate, connect, and fight for justice on both a local and national level.
If you are interested in learning more about advocacy, Amnesty International has partnership with EdX to create several online courses to help educate the wider public about Universal Human Rights. These courses are a free resource and are accessible to those interested in participating. Modules include:
Introduction to Human Rights
The first half of this course provides a general overview of the core concepts in human rights, such as the notion of ethics and morals, and the principles of equality. It then moves onto covering various issues in the contemporary global human rights agenda, such as migration, terrorism, anti-corruption, intellectual property, the environment, and the rights of women and children.
Lawyer and Human Rights Professor, Jose Zalaquett, who co-teaches this course, is both a practitioner and educator. In addition to being the former President of Amnesty International‘s Executive Committee, and the Legal Department of the Peace Cooperation Committee for Chile, he heads the MOOC Chile project, which is an online platform dedicated to human rights education.
Platform: This course is available on Udemy throughout the year, and is self-paced.
Modules: 6 hours of lecture material.
Language: English and Spanish.
International Women’s Health and Human Rights
This course provides an overview of women’s health and human rights, from infancy to all ages, and covers topics from access to education, and food, to reproductive health, violence against women, and sex trafficking. The four critical themes that inform the various modules are being born and female discrimination, poverty, unequal access to basic services, and different forms of gender-based violence.
Designed by activist and the Global Fund for Women’s President Anne Firth Murray, the modules include lectures and interviews with a range of scholars, experts and NGO leaders.
Platform: Archived material is available on Lagunita
Modules: The course is 8 weeks long
Language: The course is available in English, with Spanish subtitles
Psychology of Political Activism: Women Changing the World
Although this course is not directly covering human rights it is fundamentally connected with activism and the psychological theories that were developed to understand what motivates individuals to participate in collective action and work towards social change. In order to practically apply these theories, the course uses nine case studies that were created using one of the most extensive collections of oral histories from women activists around the world. In addition to the lecture modules, the material includes video excerpts with these activists, interactive digital timelines, and study groups.
Platform: Archived material is available on EdX.
Modules: The course is 7 weeks long
Language: English