Matthew Daniels


Matthew Daniels is an American academic and writer on human rights. He teaches at the Institute of World Politics where he is the Chair of Law and Human Rights and Founder of the Center for Human Rights and International Affairs.

Education

Daniels attended inner-city public schools in the New York City area before receiving a scholarship to Dartmouth College. He went on to obtain a Juris Doctor degree and a Master's in Public Administration from the University of Pennsylvania. He was subsequently awarded a doctoral fellowship in American politics to study judicial policymaking and the rule of law at Brandeis University. His 2003 thesis was titled, "A Case Study of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act"

Career

In 2008, Daniels launched an online video portal, Great Americans which showcased videos about the lives of American first responders and military members. The videos have garnered 2.5m views. Daniels earned a grant from the Templeton Foundation to found Good of All – a Washington, D.C. based non-profit organization educating the public about human rights in the digital age. In 2018, Good of All began the MLK Universal Rights Scholarship program awarded to five students of historically black colleges every year: Clark Atlanta University, Morgan State University, Morehouse College, and Paine College.
Daniels' first book will be released in June 2019: "Human Liberty 2.0" covers those who have changed the world using social media to advance the cause of human rights and dignity. The book has a foreword by Admiral James G. Stavridis and will be distributed by Simon and Schuster.
With Yonsei University's Graduate School of International Studies, Daniels developed , a non-profit that produced educational videos documenting the suffering of North Korean refugees and labor camp survivors. In December 2019, a study performed at the University of Nottingham verified the impact of these kinds of videos as "knowledge and interest in human rights increased immediately after viewing the videos."The organization partnered with the law firm Hogan Lovells to prepare a 96-page legal opinion pertaining to North Korean crimes against humanity and genocide.
Daniels is the creator and producer of The Human Rights Network which operates Universal Rights. HRN is a global academic network promoting human rights education through digital media. The educational mission of HRN is to spread awareness of the universal human rights principles enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. HRN was cited as an authority on racial discrimination as Disney film Song of the South as Disney reworked the Splash Mountain ride.
Daniels has also served as an Adjunct Professor of Law at Handong Global University's International Law School in Pohang, South Korea as well as an affiliate faculty member at the George Mason University School of Business in Washington, DC.

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