The Minerva Center for Human Rights at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem's Faculty of Law is the preeminent academic center in Israel devoted to human rights education and research. Engaging government, civil society and local and international academia, the Center serves as the most important hub in Israel for practical and theoretical discourse on current local and global human rights dilemmas.
The Center provides outstanding Hebrew University students with unequaled academic and practical tools necessary for them to fulfill key roles as leaders in public service, as educators and researchers, and as pioneers of social change. The Minerva Center for Human Rights places great emphasis on developing platforms for collaborations between Israeli students, scholars and practitioners and their international counterparts, in order to generate awareness of, and discourse with, comparative academic reflection, historical experience and cultural perspectives. Partners in recent Minerva projects include Freie Universität Berlin, George Washington University, McGill University, European University Institute, Georgetown University, University of Fribourg, University of Manitoba, Ulster University, Queen’s University Belfast, National University of Rwanda and others. Each year the Center brings to Jerusalem dozens of leading international human rights scholars and practitioners to lecture at conferences and workshops, teach intensive courses or participate in research groups. In addition, the Center has initiated in recent years projects in which Hebrew University students and young researchers have participated in conferences, courses and study tours in Northern Ireland, Rwanda, Germany, Italy, Holland, Switzerland, Canada and the United States.
