Flags fly for intercultural human rights.

Worldwide wisdom converges at close-knit St. Thomas University School of Law in Miami, where a unique graduate program in Intercultural Human Rights features international experts teaching students who come from Azerbaijan, Botswana, Chile, and beyond.

Taking a break from their regular jobs at the United Nations, the International Committee of the Red Cross, the European Court of Human Rights, as well as universities from around the world, visiting faculty members teach students how to be effective advocates for justice, equality, and human dignity in our global society.

The plight of refugees, the modern-day slavery of human trafficking, the rights of indigenous people, and the treatment of prisoners held at the U.S. naval station at Guantanomo are among the thorny issues they tackle.

"The idea is to bring the best minds of the world to come and tell their insider views of human rights," said Siegfried Wiessner, professor of law and director of the Graduate Program in Intercultural Human Rights at St. Thomas.

Last year, St. Thomas became the youngest law school in the country to offer a Doctor of Science of Law (J.S.D) degree program in Intercultural Human Rights, sharing the distinction with Notre Dame as the only two law schools in the country offering this capstone degree in the field of human rights law. Candidates have to be honors graduates of St. Thomas' LL.M. program.

Already, 118 graduates of St. Thomas' master of laws in intercultural human rights have come from more than 45 countries and now serve as "ambassadors in the struggle for protection of human dignity" working with the U.N. Volunteers, U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, World Bank, and International Organization for Migration, litigating cases in courts, working for governments and in academia, and running their own foundations.

One student earning her LL.M. is Julia Shilunga, who worked in the High Court of Namibia on inheritance rights of women and children.

"The course exposes me to different cultures, with tears in my eyes, through other international student classmates," she said. "This rich experience makes me respect human dignity and helps me be a strong lawyer against any human rights violations in Namibia, Africa, and the entire world."

The program's founder, Wiessner, is originally from Germany, and speaks English, French, German, and Spanish. What he calls his "intellectual liberation" occurred at law school, when he received his LL.M. at Yale and his...