Criteria

This year the Kemper Human Rights Education Foundation (khref.org) is offering prizes of $2000, $750 and $250 to high school students judged to have written the best answers to the question on the flyer below (and attached as a readily reproducible file).  Please inform your students about the contest described by the flyer and encourage them to participate in it. More information about KHREF and the essays of the winners of its contests over the past 20 years may be found on khref.org.

Essay Question:

This year Amina J. Mohammed the Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations noted the world is facing the highest number of violent conflicts since the Second World War; the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Vladimir Putin; and in September, Chileans will mark the 50th anniversary of the overthrow of their democratically elected government and the inauguration of the brutal Pinochet dictatorship. Considering these and other matters, if you were asked to give a talk on December 10 marking the 75^th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, what would you say about its effectiveness and its value going forward?  Does it need to be revised to achieve its goals, or can it be effective in its current form?  Please support your arguments with scholarly research.

Value

$1000, $2000, and $4000 prizes

Due Date

ONLINE or MAIL by December 10, 2023

Procedure

1. Essays are due on or before December 10, 2023 (Human Rights Day),
2.  Essays should be approximately 2500 words in length and be submitted as a Microsoft Word attachment to: kemperhumanrights@gmail.comor by regular mail to: KHREF, 184 Fillow Street, Norwalk, CT 06850.
3. Via footnotes and a bibliography indicate the names, titles, year of publication, and page numbers for all references on which it is based,
4. Include a cover page with:  i. the title, ii. author’s name and grade level, ii. name and address of author’s high school, iii.  name of a teacher at the high school and iv. the following statement signed by the teacher: “I teacher’s name, a teacher of [subject] at [name of the essay author’s school] am aware of [author’s name] participation in KHREF essay contest and to the best of my knowledge the essay [s/he] submitted represents [her/his] independent work, iv. the following statement signed by the essay’s author:   My essay is based on the research cited in its footnotes and bibliography and represents my own thoughts on the subject and prior to receiving a prize I agree to participate in a Zoom interview with members of KHREF’s board regarding my essay and, v. the following statement signed by the essay’s author and essay author’s parent or guardian: “I give the Kemper Human Rights Education Foundation permission to publish this essay.”