Where a human rights degree can take you

Human rights advocacy has never been more important. No longer the sole domain of not-for-profit organisations, governments and legal practitioners, upholding human rights has become an enforceable responsibility for big business in Australia. And human rights-related jobs are booming.

ACU’s new Bachelor of Human Rights – the first of its kind on Australia’s east coast – was designed to equip graduates with the knowledge and skills to step into this expanding job market and create careers with real impact.  

The multidisciplinary degree brings together ACU’s rich knowledge from across law, philosophy and the humanities to foster well-rounded human rights advocates.  

We spoke with two of the course founders – constitutional and human rights lawyer Professor Patrick Keyzer, Dean of ACU’s Thomas More Law School, and ACU historian Dr Jon Piccini – about where studying human rights can lead.

What careers could a Bachelor of Human Rights graduate apply for? 

Professor Keyzer: “Lots of jobs exist for human rights advocates in the not-for-profit sector, for example in charities and social services. 

“But increasingly, human rights knowledge is required in business. In 2018, the Federal Government passed the Modern Slavery Act. It requires every Australian business or entity with a consolidated annual revenue of $100 million or more to review and monitor their operations and their supply chains to make sure they are slavery free. People with a Bachelor of Human Rights will be well placed to engage in that sort of work.

“We also anticipate that our graduates will work as privacy officers in large corporations. There will be people who will want to work in the international arena, whether it be in international foreign aid or the United Nations. It’s also a great foundational degree for people who want to then embark upon a professional master’s degree, such as a Master of Applied Public Health or Master of Business Administration.” 

Dr Piccini: “With their knowledge of law, a human rights graduate can go into advocacy positions in non-government organisations and corporations, or government positions such as human rights officer and project officer. 

“As Patrick mentioned, corporations increasingly are governed by different forms of human rights. They’re being held to account publicly for their supply chains and how they produce their goods, and in how they present themselves in terms of equality and identity, and in terms of what they do as companies. That creates this space where there is a great deal of need now for more human rights-trained people in the private sector.

“Our Bachelor of Human Rights equips students with a rounded sense of what human rights mean philosophically, politically, historically, and gives them a taste of the legal side with six human rights law units. It doesn’t equip students to be lawyers, but it’ll give them a working sense of the law. So they’ll develop a deep understanding of human rights, as well as the skills to be able to think creatively and analyse information, and really be able to present it in a diverse range of contexts.”

How can studying another degree alongside human rights affect students’ career options?

Professor Keyzer: “I did an arts degree and then a law degree, and now I’m a lawyer, so I think a double degree is a brilliant way to prepare yourself for the workplace. It gives you a lot of choices.

“If you do a Bachelor of Human Rights/Bachelor of Laws, those choices include getting admitted to practise as a lawyer, but then using that knowledge in a non-legal setting. Law is a really useful generalist degree. It’s not just for people who want to practise law; it’s powerful, useful knowledge. It’s useful if you want to be on boards, work in government, work in business.

“I’m particularly excited about this double degree because I practise in human rights law, but when I was studying, there was no human rights degree. I’ve had to learn about the law, practice, policy and history of human rights through interstitial reading during my academic career. I often wish I had that sort of foundational understanding of human rights that you get from a bachelor’s degree. It would have made me a better practitioner.

“Queensland, Victoria and the ACT have also implemented human rights legislation, so legal practitioners in those jurisdictions need additional human rights knowledge. And the Federal Government is contemplating federal human rights legislation, which I think inevitably it will implement. But even though we don’t have that federal legislation in Australia yet, human rights knowledge is useful when you’re practising in many different areas. The jurisprudence of Australian courts in the past 30 to 40 years has amplified the significance and importance of human rights. 

“As for our Bachelor of Human Rights/Bachelor of Criminology and Criminal Justice, we want criminal justice professionals, who aren’t necessarily lawyers, to have a deep understanding of human rights. Because, ultimately, the criminal justice system in Australia is where human rights issues happen. You only need to think about the royal commissions into family violence, Aboriginal deaths in custody, the Don Dale Youth Detention Centre, veterans, aged care, robodebt… Most of the major public policy moments of recent history all raised significant human rights issues. These issues propelled the public debate and led to the reforms that have created the jobs our graduates will be stepping into.”

How important is practical experience during the degree to future employers?

Dr Piccini: “One of the 18 core units in the degree is a third-year placement unit, which is grounded in human rights and will take advantage of ACU’s existing connections, particularly in the law school. Students will be able to do actual human rights project work in a range of legal and non-legal positions; for example, checking legislation for compliance with different human rights acts in Queensland, ACT and Victoria.

“As well as that government and legal work, students could work with NGOs, such as asylum seeker NGOs, so they can gain experience in an area that interests them. We’re already working to get a good range of placement providers. A lot of the time these placements do lead to paid positions, but it’s also valuable to graduate with some real experience.”

Professor Keyzer: “It’s a new degree, so I can’t tell you what’s going to happen in a couple of years, but in our law degree we require people to participate in placement work in the legal profession, and there’s a strong correlation between those placements and employment outcomes. 

“These law graduates are getting great jobs. They’re getting all the marquee graduate outcomes: being an associate to a Supreme Court judge or a County Court judge, working in all the government agencies, working in large law firms and medium-sized law firms.

“And if those placements don’t themselves create job opportunities, then they certainly burnish the students’ credentials. They both are, and are seen to be, job-ready when they finish.”

Is moving into research (studying a master’s or research degree after completing your bachelor’s) a good move for students in this area? 

Dr Piccini: “Further study is always an option within arts. Students can always matriculate into honours and that will be the case with this new degree, too. Beyond that, there’s definitely a strong argument to be made for introducing a Master of Human Rights, although we don’t offer that yet. And if students want to move into the doctoral space, that’s also an option.

“One thing that an arts degree can really do is give you a sense of what you’re interested in. And if you really want to follow that passion, then you can – through an honours year and then through further research if you’d like.” 

How will a human rights degree equip students for a secure and sustainable working future?

Professor Keyzer: “More so than ever before, human rights are essential to the operation of government. All government agencies, be they federal, state, territory, local, are both ostensibly and actually committed to the implementation of human rights through a variety of legislative and policy mechanisms. So human rights knowledge is really useful if you want a job in the public service. 

“But it’s not just governments, it’s business. Increasingly businesses are not only taking a window-dressing approach to human rights, but they are being required to implement human rights. The Modern Slavery Act has required Australian businesses to scrutinise their human rights, and the human rights that they live, and human rights that they operate by.

“Each year, 70 of our law students participate in a research project that reviews modern slavery statements on behalf of these big companies. As soon as they graduate, these big companies are saying, ‘Right, we want you to be our modern slavery officer.’ And that gives our graduates an opportunity to step into a big business where they’re given a significant, well remunerated, human rights oriented, employment opportunity. 

“The world is shifting under the feet of those of us in our 30s, 40s, 50s and 60s. Teenagers and people in their 20s are saying, ‘No, we’re not having any more of that. We’re going to do this.’ The future, in Australia and of Australia, is a human rights future. We’re moving towards that at pace. A really deep understanding of human rights is therefore going to serve you well.”

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