On Friday, we were honored to host the President of the United States Joe Biden at the University of Connecticut where he joined students, faculty, staff, supporters, the Dodd family, and leaders from across our state for the dedication of The Dodd Center for Human Rights.\u00a0 As leaders of the human rights program here at UConn, we offer these reflections on President Biden\u2019s address, which is among the most significant of his presidency with respect to human rights.<\/p>\n
The President reaffirmed the US commitment to a rules-based international order and to working multi-laterally and peacefully to promote human rights and the rule of law.\u00a0 President Biden said he has placed human rights \u201cback at the center of our foreign policy.\u201d He committed to speaking out, to \u201cour friends and our adversaries alike,\u201d whenever \u201cwe see our fellow humans being dehumanized.\u201d\u00a0 He drew this lesson from the International Military Tribunals at Nuremberg, after World War II: \u201cYour silence is complicity.\u201d<\/p>\n
The President\u2019s commitment to Holocaust and genocide education was communicated with a forceful personal touch: \u201c\u2026 [W]hen each of my children and now my grandchildren turn the age of 15, the first thing I\u2019ve done, my word as a Biden, is put them on an aircraft and fly to Dachau. One at a time, at age 15 \u2026 Nuremberg was unlike anything that ever came before. It was not about vengeance; it was about accountability. For only acknowledging the truth can we prevent the repetition of atrocities that are happening now in other parts of the world.\u201d<\/p>\n
While addressing this critical lesson of Nuremberg – that only by facing history can we hope to overcome it \u2013 the President also acknowledged that our own past is one of unfulfilled promises in realizing the human rights of all.\u00a0 \u201cWe have never,\u201d the President said, \u201cfully lived up to that animating American ideal.\u201d\u00a0 Only by facing that truth can we continue the work of bending the arc \u201ccloser and closer to justice.\u201d<\/p>\n
Critically, President Biden recognized that human rights begin at home: \u201cToday we know that our efforts to defend human rights around the world are strong because we recognize our own historic challenges as part of the same fight.\u201d\u00a0 Racial and gender equity, equal justice, and protecting \u201cthe sacred right to vote in free, fair, and secure elections\u201d are all human rights challenges we must address.\u00a0 Beyond civil and political rights, the President noted that the fight against child poverty in the United States must be seen in the context of \u201cour mission to defend human rights and dignity at home and around the world.\u201d\u00a0 These efforts are what he describes as \u201cleading by the power of our example, rather than the example of our power.\u201d<\/p>\n
Near the end of his remarks, President Biden made clear the historic stakes of our current moment. \u201c[H]uman rights and democratic principles are increasingly under assault\u201d at home and abroad.\u00a0 \u201cNothing about our democracy is assured,\u201d the President said, \u201cNothing about our freedom is guaranteed.\u00a0 We have to work for it.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Human Rights Institute is prepared for that work.\u00a0 As much as the day recognized the achievements of our programs since the original dedication of the Dodd Center in 1995, it also marked the beginning of the next chapter of human rights at UConn.\u00a0 Our faculty are conducting research and teaching courses that address the most pressing human rights challenges from a broad range of disciplinary perspectives.\u00a0 Our students are developing the knowledge, skills, and values necessary for human rights practice in a variety of professions.\u00a0 And we are engaged in collaboration with community partners across Connecticut and around the world to build a broader culture of human rights.\u00a0 We hope you will join this work of human rights for the next generation.<\/p>\n
Kathryn Libal,<\/strong> Director, Human Rights Institute<\/em> On Friday, we were honored to host the President of the United States Joe Biden at the University of Connecticut where he joined students, faculty, staff, supporters, the Dodd family, and leaders from across our state for the dedication of The Dodd Center for Human Rights.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":151,"featured_media":178465,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_crdt_document":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[147,2318,88,2312],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[2350],"class_list":["post-178456","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alumni","category-dodd-impact","category-global-affairs","category-hri"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-07 06:30:14","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/178456","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/151"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=178456"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/178456\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":178547,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/178456\/revisions\/178547"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media\/178465"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=178456"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=178456"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=178456"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=178456"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=178456"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nGlenn Mitoma<\/strong>, Director, Dodd Human Rights Impact, Human Rights Institute<\/em>
\nDaniel Weiner,<\/strong> Vice President for Global Affairs<\/em>
\nRichard Wilson,<\/strong>\u00a0Gladstein Distinguished Chair and Founding Director of the Human Rights Institute<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"