Human Rights Topics for Research Papers and Essays

Human rights topics cover a wide array of issues affecting humans regarding the law. Internationally, human rights have drawn attention from many organizations. And this makes them a research area that learners can explore.

According to the United Nations, everybody inherently has human rights. Consequently, nobody should deny others their human rights based on color, sex, gender, religion, language, ethnicity, or nationality. Topics on human rights are about laws and treaties aimed at safeguarding the natural rights of every person.

When writing about human rights, the writer could also choose to focus on the need for a universal declaration of human rights. The write-up could also focus on the economic, social, and cultural rights of individuals in a country. The role of the United Nations when it comes to the protection of human rights, enforcement of rights law, etc.

Natural rights are concepts that humans use to address property, liberty, and life. Consequently, these topics cover a broad range of issues affecting humans regarding legal protection and civil law. Currently, several policies and frameworks address various human rights transnationally. And this has led to the signing of many treaties.

For this reason, many scholars and students are pursuing human rights and law programs. These programs lie in human governmental and behavioral studies. Today, they form an academic study discipline. That’s because they carry elements of history, sociology, psychology, and political science. Exploring human rights is generally an interdisciplinary phenomenon.

With academic backing and increased knowledge, the universal declaration of human rights becomes easier to achieve. Also, less burden would be placed on the United Nations as individuals would be equipped with the knowledge of the rights law.

How to Choose Human Rights Topic

Like most academic tasks, writing a human rights paper requires the learner to select a topic first. The subject you choose to write about can make a difference in your writing process because it dictates the direction you will take when handling this assignment. What’s more, your topic determines the quality of your final paper.

If struggling to select the best topic for your human rights paper, here are the steps to follow.

Brainstorm for Ideas 

Brainstorming for human rights ideas that you can explore in your writing process should be the first step. Here, think about human rights issues that interest you. However, consider getting out of your comfort zone if you want to challenge yourself. You can also consider some of the prominent human rights issues in the news. If something sparks your creative burst, consider researching and writing about it. Develop a list of possible topics you can handle.

Select Your Topic 

Choose a topic that might seem straightforward and obvious. However, take precautions to select the right topic because this can make your writing process easier. Don’t make the mistake of selecting a too specific subject. Again, don’t settle for a broad topic. Nevertheless, choose a topic for your human rights paper should be an elimination process. But, finalizing your idea before starting will save you time. Therefore, don’t rush this step. Your topic at this level can be broad but not final.

Get Specific 

After selecting a broad topic, get specific. That way, you can determine if the idea is worth researching and writing about, according to the educator’s instructions. This step can take more time than you think. You could even change your mind along the way. However, this shouldn’t worry you because your choice will simplify the rest of the process.

The goal is to select a broad idea and extract specific subject elements. Take a particular element and make it more specific. For instance, you can start with a general topic on human rights. After that, you can narrow down to human rights for persons living with disabilities. That way, you can make your paper interesting and unique.

Define the Topic by Making It a Question 

You need a research question to help contextualize your paper. Therefore, define the topic by creating a question around it. That way, you can know the information to look for when researching your topic.

Research the Topic 

Once you’ve defined your topic, research it to know the amount of information available for you to include in your paper. Ideally, you don’t want a topic for which you can’t find relevant information. Therefore, check different information sources, including journals, books, news sources, and human rights organizations’ websites, to see if they have relevant information for your topic.

A Comprehensive List of the Best Human Rights Research Topics

Many students struggle to select topics for their human rights papers. Perhaps, that’s because this discipline is too broad with many ideas to explore. However, selecting the right topic for your paper will influence the overall quality of your paper. It will also determine how complex or easy this task will be for you. That’s why you should be careful to pick a topic you can comfortably handle.

Human rights have two primary perspectives. And these are a contemporary perspective and a modern perspective. The former entails examining contemporary issues for which experts have reached an accord. For instance, the general accord that slavery is retrogression in human rights development is a contemporary issue. And students can write papers and essays on such a topic.

The latter, on the other hand, entails an examination of an issue for which humans are yet to reach an accord. For instance, an essay on human rights for partners in a gay marriage is controversial. Therefore, students should approach it from a modern perspective.

Human rights could also center around economic, social, and cultural rights that pertain to a particular group of people. No matter what you want to write about, this list has some of the best ideas from which you can pick your topic.

Analytical Human Rights Research Topics

Do you want to write an analytical research paper on human rights? In that case, this category has some of the best ideas for you to explore.

1. A detailed analysis of the rights law in Belarus
2. Can the international community penalize a country for basic human rights violation
3. Analyzing children rights violations in Taiwan
4. How to prevent the police from violating human rights
5. Analysis of the economic, social, and cultural human rights that people violate the most at the workplaces
6. Human rights and ecological problems- What’s the connection?
7. Analysis of the organizational structure for the human rights commission in Europe
8. Analysis of human rights violations within the pornography industry
9. Analyzing the principles and purpose of the European’s human rights convention
10. How effective is the human rights court in Europe?
11. A detailed analysis of the human rights of the people living with disabilities
12. Analyzing HIV/AIDS patients’ human rights in developing countries
13. Analyzing human rights during the artificial intelligence era
14. Analyzing social health determinants in the 21st-century and human rights
15. A detailed analysis of refugees and migrants human rights in Libya

This category has the best ideas to explore if you love analyzing human rights topics. Nevertheless, take your time to research your preferred subject to come up with an excellent paper.

Argumentative Human Rights Paper Topics

Perhaps, you love arguing your points when writing academic papers. If so, here are great ideas to explore when writing your papers.

1. Prisoners should have the right to vote
2. How to justify torture
3. How installing surveillance cameras violates human rights
4. How a capitalistic system can defend or violate human rights
5. How life imprisonment violates human rights
6. How cutting a male infant’s genitals violates his human rights
7. When women and men’s rights should differ
8. Does the state have the freedom to violate any human right during the war in the nation’s interest?
9. Do human rights rely on situations?
10. How specific traditions can define a person’s human rights
11. Should free education for all be a part of human rights?
12. When should a state prioritize its interests over individual rights?
13. How the U.S violates human rights by restricting immigrants
14. How pet ownership serves as a human right example
15. How global trade promotes labor rights

This human rights topics list has some brilliant ideas to explore if you love arguing. However, take your time to research the idea you choose carefully to write a brilliant paper.

Human Rights Debate Topics

Do you plan to hold a debate on human rights issues? If yes, this list has some of the best topics you can consider for your discussion.

1. Everybody should have the right to own a gun
2. Abortion should be legal for every woman
3. Religious institutions should pay taxes
4. All animals should have equal rights
5. Not all vaccines are safe
6. The government violates privacy rights by installing public places’ surveillance cameras
7. Economic regulations are not good for free-market capitalism
8. Global warming might not be real
9. The evolutionary theory is a lie
10. Governments should legalize marijuana
11. The government should abolish capital punishment
12. Sexual and gender orientation shouldn’t affect marriage equality
13. The United States needs immigration reforms
14. President Trump’s administration was the best
15. The government hasn’t handled the opioid crisis properly

These topics can lead to spirited discussions. However, each debater should research their topic extensively to have adequate points to support their arguments. And this should also be the case when writing a research paper or essay on any of these topics.

Controversial Human Rights Topics

Controversial topics involve prolonged disagreements. If this is something you’re interested in researching and writing about, here are great ideas to explore.

1. The human rights origin
2. The human rights’ enlightenment legacy
3. How the socialists contribute to human rights
4. Cultural relativism vs. universalism
5. The tension between human rights and security and the historical human rights progress question
6. How globalization improves human rights
7. Addressing the refugee crisis without violating human rights
8. Upholding worker’s rights without interfering with employer’s profits
9. Gender equality as an aspect of human rights
10. Approaching LGBTQ+ rights without discrimination
11. Does the technology violate or improves human rights?
12. Nationalism violates the human rights of vulnerable groups
13. Journalists’ attack has led to widespread misinformation
14. Effective ways to respond to threats of climate change
15. Examining the UN commitment to human rights

This list has controversial topics in human rights that students can explore in their research. Nevertheless, prepare to invest time and effort in research to come up with a brilliant paper about any of these topics.

Extended Essay Topics Human Rights Ideas

If looking for a topic that allows you to engage in in-depth research of a limited subject, this category has the best ideas for you. Here are sample extended topics for essays on human rights.

1. The Australian Aborigines have better cultural rights than the indigenous people
2. Women in Saudi Arabia have better political rights than Women’s rights
3. What is the basic humanism essence?
4. How to define Pantomime
5. Why every human needs a home in life
6. Defining beauty without violating human rights
7. Who qualifies to be a jerk?
8. A critical analysis of force used to protect human rights in Kosovo and the U.S intervention is better than Kosovo and the USA
9. The UN Rwanda genocide response is better compared to the Rwandan genocide
10. Justifying the UN intervention during the Rwandan genocide
11. How to justify the limitation of women political rights in Saudi Arabia
12. The depiction and treatment of families in Satyajit Ray films and mainstream Hindi movies is better than family’s role in Indian Cinema
13. People in developed countries enjoy human rights better than those in third world countries
14. How Malaysia human perception is better than religious beliefs of other people in life after death
15. How the memory of kids is better than that of old people

In addition to selecting the best extended human rights-related topics, students should understand the structure of this paper. Also, research is critical when writing an extended essay.

Ph.D. Topics in Human Rights

If pursuing Ph.D. studies in human rights, you need a topic for your thesis. Here are ideas you can consider.

1. Witnesses protection at the international criminal courts
2. Racism in international sports
3. Human rights and COVID-19
4. Analysis of the critical human rights law elements
5. The united nations and the legal context of the international human rights
6. How international relations complement human rights at an international level
7. Who should be the human rights custodian?
8. Differences and similarities in the US and UK human rights laws
9. How countries can safeguard the human rights of the immigrants
10. How human rights law can address the human trafficking issue
11. Who monitors the protection of human rights?
12. Analyzing religious, cultural, and ethnic rights from the human rights perspectives
13. Human rights at the international level and unaccompanied children
14. Are international human rights laws enforceable?
15. Analyzing international human rights, democratic rights, and culture

Each of these topics requires extensive research and analysis of information to write a brilliant paper.

International Human Rights Topics

If looking for international topics covering human rights issues, here are sample ideas to explore.

1. Disability rights and forced evictions in Africa
2. International laws that protect women’s human rights
3. Protection of immigrants and refugees human rights at an international level
4. The essence of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights
5. Analysis of the framework development for the international social and cultural rights on capital punishment
6. Analyzing the system for the European human rights
7. How effective is the European human rights court?
8. Using human rights law to secure justice at an international level
9. Protecting human rights for the vulnerable groups during armed conflict
10. How to measure human rights violations at an international level
11. International human rights protection and the United Nations’ non-member states
12. How the Uniting for Peace Resolution protects human rights
13. Evidence for violation of human rights at the international level
14. Protecting the human rights of migrant workers
15. Preambles for treaties on human rights

Current Topics in Human Rights

If looking for something current to write about, here’s a list of ideas to consider.

1. Did President Donald Trump violate human rights during his administration?
2. Why there’s a gender-based difference in payment for the U.S workers
3. Social and cultural rights for the LGBT community
4. Challenges in the enforcement of human rights laws
5. How the police violate the human rights of the civilians
6. The United Nations and standards for human rights in Australia
7. Human rights for African women
8. The future of human rights in the US
9. Do the native people retain their human rights during the immigrants’ influx?
10. How social media helps in protecting human rights
11. How racial discrimination continues in the UAE
12. Violation of human rights at the workplaces
13. How does economic social and cultural human rights law impact the policies of your country
14. How companies avoid businesses in countries with widespread violation of human rights
15. How cultural relativism influences human rights

Historical Human Rights Research Topics

If you love history, you can explore these topics related to human rights.

1. The history of the Bill of Rights
2. The Chinese Exclusion Act implications
3. Why the Western civilization changed its view of human rights
4. How Eleanor Roosevelt helped in protecting human rights
5. The origin of innocence presumption in the American judicial system
6. Crimea violation of human rights in 2014
7. Islam and female oppression in history
8. Analysis of the voting right act of 1965
9. Analysis of the American-Indian movement
10. Analyzing the human rights concept’s origin
11. Analysis of the human rights defining factors in Medieval Europe
12. The human rights that the 1948 declaration made universal
13. What would’ve been the Human Rights Act in 1993 in New Zealand?
14. Effects of World War II on human rights
15. Human rights denied to women in 20th-century

Human Rights Topics for Essays

When asked to write an essay on a human rights topic, you have many ideas to consider.

Universal declaration of human rights could be an interesting thing to write about. Also, you may consider delving into the aspects where the United Nations come in as a body. The protection of human rights is also very interesting to write about. Even the social and cultural rights that are often undermined are a very interesting area to write about. Rights law is not left out of the deal.

1. Role of the police in racial profiling
2. The American genocide
3. Human trafficking in the human history
4. The revisionist and holocaust history
5. Racism roots and protection of human rights
6. The LGBT movement and human rights
7. The treatment of human rights in modern films
8. The 1965 voting rights act
9. The convicted rights
10. Human rights and Jim Crow
11. Education board vs. brown
12. Analysis of the peers’ jury
13. Analyzing the meaning of the right to remain silent
14. Modern labor movements and human rights
15. Women’s suffrage in the US

Students have many human rights research paper topics to consider. Nevertheless, learners should select topics that can handle comfortably.