Human Rights Minor

United Nations Human Rights Council Chamber, Geneva
Nelson Mandela once said "To deny people their human rights is to challenge their very humanity.” The framework of human rights is now the lens through which we see human relations, and human rights issues are everywhere. This program will enable you to understand what human rights are, how we define and apply them, and how they shape our world. 

Human rights issues are everywhere. Studying human rights provides you with the knowledge and skills to understand how human rights impact and are impacted by virtually every discipline.

A minor in Human Rights is a secondary area of concentration in a subject different from your honours program. Students enrolled in any degree program may pursue this minor program.

Students interested in pursuing a minor in Human Rights need to complete a Plan Modification Form and submit it to the Human Rights Program Director (human.rights@uwaterloo.ca) for approval. In order to be eligible to declare it, you must have at least 0.5 units (1 course) completed from the curriculum list with a 65% average or above. You can declare your minor starting in your second year.

To fulfill the minor, students must complete a minimum of four academic course units (eight courses) with a minimum cumulative average of 65% in accordance with the below curriculum.

If you are interested in Human Rights and Law, click here to learn more about our Double Degree program. 

Required Courses
  • HRTS 101, Introduction to Human Rights
  • HRTS 201, Foundations and Critiques of Human Rights (formerly Human Rights Theory I)
  • HRTS 203, The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms
  • HRTS 204, Discrimination, Rights, and Canadian Law (formerly HRTS 102, Human Rights Codes, Commissions, and Policies)
  • More Information

Electives

Complete 2.0 units from any additional HRTS courses, choosing from any of the following electives:

Offered by the Human Rights Program:

  • HRTS 301- Human Rights and the United Nations (0.50)
  • HRTS 302- Critical Approaches to Contemporary Human Rights Issues (0.50)
  • HRTS/INDG 305- Indigenous Rights in Global Context (0.50)
  • HRTS 390- Special Topics in Human Rights (0.50)
  • HRTS 490- Advanced Topics in Human Rights (0.50)

Offered by other departments at the University of Waterloo

Choose any of the following:

  • BLKST203 - Introduction to Anti-Racist Communication (0.50)
  • CDNST201 - The Indigenous Experience in Canada (0.50)
  • CI250 - Truth - Reconciliation - Story (0.50)
  • CLAS311 - Sex and Gender in the Ancient World (0.50)
  • ENGL309G - The Discourse of Dissent (0.50)
  • GSJ206 - Women and the Law (0.50)
  • HIST221 - Racism and Response in Canadian History (0.50)
  • HIST223 - The Holocaust in History (0.50)
  • HIST232 - A History of Peace Movements (0.50)
  • HIST314 - The American Civil Rights Movement (0.50)
  • HIST321 - Human Rights in Historical Perspective (0.50)
  • HIST322 - Global History of the Detention Camp (0.50)
  • HIST369 - The Politics of Decolonization (0.50)
  • INDG201 - The Indigenous Experience in Canada (0.50)
  • INDG301 - Critical Theories of Indigeneity in a Global Perspective (0.50)
  • INDG305 - Indigenous Rights in Global Context (0.50)
  • LS201 - Women and the Law (0.50)
  • LS273 - Children's Rights in Canada (0.50)
  • LS331 - Human Rights in Historical Perspective (0.50)
  • LS352 - Human Rights (0.50)
  • LS463 - Rights and Public Policy (0.50)
  • LS464 - Justice and Gender (0.50)
  • PACS203 - A History of Peace Movements (0.50)
  • PACS311 - Doing Development: Issues of Justice and Peace (0.50)
  • PACS318 - Peacebuilding in Divided Societies (0.50)
  • PACS324 - Human Rights, Peace, and Business (0.50)
  • PACS325 - Refugees and Forced Migration (0.50)
  • PHIL328 - Human Rights (0.50)
  • PSCI352 - Peacebuilding in Divided Societies (0.50)
  • PSCI365 - The Law and Politics of Free Speech (0.50)
  • PSCI421 - Justice and Gender (0.50)
  • PSCI463 - Rights and Public Policy (0.50)
  • SDS210R - Children's Rights in Canada (0.50)
  • SDS449R - Prejudice and Discrimination (0.50)
  • SOC388 - Refugees and Forced Migration (0.50)
  • SPAN400 - Memory, Human Rights, and Reconciliation (0.50)
  • Information about individual courses 

Human Rights Professors

Anna Purkey

Anna Purkey

Associate Professor of Human Rights (On Sabbatical)

Dr. Anna Purkey is a lawyer and human rights scholar with a focus on refugee and forced migration studies. She received her Doctorate in Law from McGill University, and is a member of the Quebec Bar Association and the executive of the Canadian Association for Refugee and Forced Migration Studies (CARFMS). She has previously held the position of Legal Counsel at the Department of Justice (Canada) and has worked as an external consultant for the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada.

Dr. Purkey’s research focuses on international and Canadian refugee law and policy, with a special emphasis on protracted refugee situations and themes of human rights, human capability, and legal empowerment. Recent and current projects center on the concept of vulnerability in the Canadian refugee system, and the treatment of marginalized groups including refugee children and older refugees.

Nancy Tapias Torrado

Nancy Tapias Torrado

Program Director & Assistant Professor of Human Rights

Nancy R. Tapias Torrado is a doctor in sociology (University of Oxford) and human rights lawyer (Pontificia Universidad Javeriana-PUJ). She also holds master’s degrees in international human rights law (University of Essex), philosophy (PUJ) and education (University of Barcelona). For over two decades, Dr. Tapias Torrado has been dedicated to working with and for human rights defenders at risk and some of the most vulnerable persons and communities, mainly in Latin America. Dr. Tapias Torrado is a former Law Professor at PUJ and a former Amnesty International’s Americas Regional Researcher (International Secretariat, London, UK). She is the 2023-24 Barry Pashak Postdoctoral Fellow of Concordia University’s Social Justice Centre and a former Postdoctoral Fellow at the UQAM. Dr. Tapias Torrado has consulted for the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and several non-governmental organizations, including OXFAM, CEJIL and PBI. She is a member of the Advisory Council on Restorative Justice for the Special Jurisdiction for Peace (JEP) in Colombia. She has also done extensive pro bono work with and for Colombian refugees, mainly women human rights defenders in exile.

View "Meet Professor Anna Purkey" on YouTube