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Cheryl Thomas
Cheryl Thomas
Photo by Dan Seipp of Con Tiempo

Cheryl Thomas is an attorney and Director of the Women's Human Rights Program, a program she founded at The Advocates for Human Rights (formerly Minnesota Advocates for Human Rights) in 1993.  Since 1994, Ms. Thomas has traveled throughout Central and Eastern Europe and former Soviet Union countries and Morocco to work with local groups and individuals to promote women's human rights.  She has published numerous articles and reports on violence against women as a human rights abuse.  Ms. Thomas was honored as a 2005 Changemaker by Minnesota Women’s Press.  In 2008, she was selected to be one of 15 experts from around the world to participate in a United Nations Expert Group Meeting on good practices in legislation on violence against women.  Ms. Thomas was named one of 150 “Women Who Shake the World” by Newsweek in 2011 for her work with local partners around the world writing laws that better protect women and girls. 

After receiving her law degree from the University of Minnesota in 1983, Ms. Thomas practiced law at the Minnesota Attorney General's office and was a partner at the law firm, Briggs and Morgan. She was an adjunct professor at the University of Minnesota Law School where she taught Women’s International Human Rights from 1996 – 2002.   From 1999 to 2001 she served as Executive Director of WATCH, a court monitoring organization focused on cases of violence against women and children.

Publications:

Ellison, Mary and Cheryl Thomas. “Minnesota won’t tolerate sale of human beings for sex.” Star Tribune (23 June 2009).
 
Bortel, Angela, Mary Ellingen, Mary Ellison, Robin Phillips, and Cheryl Thomas. Sex Trafficking Needs Assessment for the State of Minnesota. Minneapolis, MN: The Advocates for Human Rights, September 2008.
 
Ellingen, Mary, Laura Nelson, Rosalyn Park, and Cheryl Thomas. Domestic Violence in Tajikistan. Minneapolis, MN: The Advocates for Human Rights, October 2008.
 
Ellingen, Mary, Rosalyn Park, Robin Phillips, Cheryl Thomas, and Genoveva Tisheva. Implementation of the Bulgarian Law on Protection Against Domestic Violence: A Human Rights Report. Minneapolis, MN: The Advocates for Human Rights, March 2008.
 
Park, Rosalyn and Cheryl Thomas. “UN Conventions and Declarations.” Encyclopedia of Interpersonal Violence. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publishers, 2008.
 
Park, Rosalyn and Cheryl Thomas. “Human Rights.” Encyclopedia of Interpersonal Violence. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publishers, 2008.
 
Farell, Emily, Mary Ellingen, Laura Nelson, Rebecca Palmer, and Cheryl Thomas. Journey to Safety: The Battered Immigrant Women’s Experience. Minneapolis, MN: The Advocates for Human Rights, June 2007.
 
 
Beutz, Molly, Aviva Breen, Mary Ellingen, Robin Phillips, Christine Tefft, and Cheryl Thomas. The Government Response to Domestic Violence Against Refugee and Immigrant Women in the Minneapolis/St. Paul Metropolitan Area: A Human Rights Report. Minneapolis, MN: The Advocates for Human Rights, 2004.
 
 
Bond, Johanna, Kathleen Graham, and Cheryl Thomas. Domestic Violence in Nepal. Minneapolis, MN: The Advocates for Human Rights, 1998.
 
Bruch, Elizabeth, Robin Phillips, Anne Taylor, and Cheryl Thomas. Lifting the Last Curtain: A Report on Domestic Violence in Romania. Minneapolis, MN: The Advocates for Human Rights, 1995.