Background/Objectives: Our purpose in this study was to verify the mediating effect of self-esteem and grit in the link between human rights victimization and happiness. Methods/Statistical analysis: A sample of 233 students was purposively recruited from two universities in South Korea. SPSS PC + Win. Ver.25 and PROCESS macro Ver.3.5 were used for data analysis. Frequency analysis, reliability analysis, correlation analysis and multiple mediating effect analysis were performed. Findings: Results were as follows. First, human rights victimization had a significant negative effect on happiness, self-esteem and grit. Grit had a positive correlation between self-esteem and happiness. Second, self-esteem and grit mediated in the link between human rights victimization and happiness. This study can be applied as a new model to prevent college students from human rights victimization. Improvements/Applications: Our findings also demonstrated that self-esteem and grit are useful buffers to happy individuals.