Human Rights First (formerly known as the Lawyers Committee for International Human Rights) is a nonpartisan,

501(c)(3) A 501(c)(3) organization is a United States corporation, Trust (business), trust, unincorporated association or other type of organization exempt from federal income tax under section 501(c)(3) of Title 26 of the United States Code. It is one of ...

, international human rights organization based in New York City, Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. Its work centers on four main issue areas:

authoritarianism Authoritarianism is a political system characterized by the rejection of political plurality, the use of strong central power to preserve the political ''status quo'', and reductions in democracy, separation of powers, civil liberties, and ...

extremism Extremism is "the quality or state of being extreme" or "the advocacy of extreme measures or views". The term is primarily used in a political or religious sense to refer to an ideology that is considered (by the speaker or by some implied sha ...

, systemic injustice and the abuse of technology. It closely works with lawyers, veterans and security experts, technologists, and allied advocates to further its policy agenda. In 2004, it launched an "End Torture Now" campaign. The organization also runs the Fighting Discrimination program which focuses on

hate crime Hate crime (also known as bias crime) in criminal law involves a standard offence (such as an assault, murder) with an added element of bias against a victim (individual or group of individuals) because of their physical appearance or perceived ...

Board of directors

Human Rights First is governed by a board of directors composed of 92 members, including a 30-person Board of Advocates and a 13-person Emeritus Board. Members of the board include: * Jay Carney, Global Head of Policy and Communications at

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* Sarah Cleveland, Professor of Human and Constitutional Rights Columbia University Law School * Ben Jealous, Executive Director of the

Sierra Club The Sierra Club is an American environmental organization with chapters in all 50 U.S. states, Washington, D.C., Washington D.C., and Puerto Rico. The club was founded in 1892, in San Francisco, by preservationist John Muir. A product of the Pro ...

* Kerry Kennedy, President of RFK Human Rights * Robert A. Mandell, former Ambassador to Luxembourg; Chairman and CEO of Greater Properties, Inc. (Ret.) * Carlos Pascual, Senior Vice President at

IHS Markit Accuris is an information services provider. History IHS Information Handling Services (IHS) "was founded in 1959 as Information Handling Services to provide information for aerospace engineers through microfilm databases". It subsequently gre ...

* Nazanin Rafsanjani, former head of New Show Development at Gimlet Media and

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* Mona Sutphen, Senior Advisor at The Vistria Group

Selected publications

* ''The War Against Children: South Africa’s Youngest Victims'',

Desmond Tutu Desmond Mpilo Tutu (7 October 193126 December 2021) was a South African Anglican bishop and theologian, known for his work as an anti-apartheid and human rights activist. He was Bishop of Johannesburg from 1985 to 1986 and then Archbishop ...

, 1986. *''Vigilantes in the Philippines: A Threat to Democratic Rule'', Diane Orentlicher, 1988. *''Refuge Denied: Problems in the Protection of Vietnamese and Cambodians in Thailand and the Admission of Indochinese Refugees into the United States'', Albert Santoli, 1989. *''Paper Laws, Steel Bayonets: Breakdown of the Rule of Law in Haiti'', Elliot Schrage, 1990. *''Childhood Abducted: Children Cutting Sugar Cane in the Dominican Republic'', Theresa A. Amato, 1991.

References

External links

Interview with Michael Posner
from the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum
Interview with Tad Stahnke
from the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum {{authority control Non-profit organizations based in New York City Human rights organizations based in the United States