MINNEAPOLIS (AP) -- University of Minnesota graduate students have created a tool to prioritize efforts to address human rights violations that they hope the United Nations will use.

Master's students in the Humphrey School of Public Affairs developed the Minnesota Method for Human Rights Change, a tool for human rights advisers to use when deciding which issues to consider first.

The two-part method involves preliminary research and gathering local experts to help advisors determine which human rights need to be addressed.

The students are finalizing their report for the U.N.

Todd Howland is a representative of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. Howland says it'll take at least two years to test and modify the tool before it becomes an official U.N. method.

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