The Advocates and its Croatian partner, Autonomous Women’s House Zagreb, recently made a submission to the UN Human Rights Committee regarding domestic violence in Croatia.

Domestic violence in Croatia is a serious problem that is often exacerbated by troubling practices in law enforcement and the judicial system. These practices are what The Advocates hopes to change with the release of the new report, Implementation of Croatia's Domestic Violence Legislation.

Please join us for a House Party to Support the Women's Program on October 14, 2012!  More information here

Join The Advocates and The Friends of the St. Paul Public Library in bringing the Women's Human Rights Film Series to Minneapolis on September 18, 2012!

Cheryl Thomas, director of the women's program, took part in a Council of Europe seminar in early July. The seminar was held in Batumi, Georgia and focused on the new Convention on Violence Against Women (The Istanbul Convention) which was first adopted last year.

Take Action! On Tuesday, May 8, the House Judiciary Committee considers H.R. 4970 (Rep. Adams, R-FL), a version of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) that severely undermines protection of immigrant victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, and other serious crimes. Tell House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) and your Representative: “Please don’t eliminate VAWA protections for immigrant women.  Oppose H.R. 4970.”

The Advocates and volunteers will attend the Association of Women’s Rights in Development (AWID) Forum this week in Istanbul, Turkey. The international conference brings together advocates for women’s rights from around the world.

The Justice Module for UN Women’s Virtual Knowledge Centre to End Violence Against Women and Girls is live on the UN Website, www.endvawnow.org. The Advocates' Women’s Human Rights Program was the primary author of the module.

The Minnesota Coalition Against Sexual Assault (MNCASA) will recognize the Safe Harbors Initiative at its annual AWARE event this year. The Advocates for Human Rights and The Family Partnership will accept the award on behalf of the many stakeholders involved.

The Director of The Advocates’ Women’s Human Rights Program, Cheryl Thomas, presented at and served as a consultant to an expert meeting on enforcing domestic violence legislation in Eastern Europe and Central Asia. The meeting, which was sponsored by UN Women and held on January 23 and 24 in Almaty, Kazakhstan, brought together government and NGO representatives from approximately ten countries in the region to discuss their progress in combating domestic violence and the work remaining to be done.

The Advocates for Human Rights mourns the death of Ellen Pence, a human rights activist who dedicated her life to ending violence against women.

The Advocates' Beatríz Menanteau participated in the 85th Jornada Informativa del IME: Género y Migración (85th Information Workshop of the Institute for Mexicans Abroad: Gender and Migration) from August 24-27, 2011 in Mexico City.

The Advocates for Human Rights welcomes the July 20, 2011, enactment of a new approach to protecting children from sexual exploitation. As part of the negotiated budget agreement, Minnesota Governor Dayton signed into law provisions which take significant steps toward building a victim-centered model for protecting children exploited through prostitution. 

The Advocates for Human Rights recently completed our first ever prosecutor trainings on sex trafficking in Minnesota. The trainings reached capacity in the Twin Cities and drew over 70 participants total to its Twin Cities and Duluth locations. Prosecutors received our brand new Sex Trafficking in Minnesota: Prosecutor Manual, developed by The Advocates for Human Rights, designed to introduce prosecutors to the dynamics of sex trafficking inMinnesota and the Minnesota sex trafficking law.

Are new laws truly working to keep women and children safe and hold violent abusers accountable? This question was the focus of a meeting hosted by The Advocates for Human Rights Women’s Program and the Bulgarian Gender Research Foundation last week in Istanbul, Turkey where women and men from 15 countries came together to learn strategies to assess new laws on domestic violence.

The Advocates for Human Rights is proud to announce that Cheryl Thomas, Director of the Women’s Human Rights Program, has been named one of 150 “Women Who Shake the World” by Newsweek. The honor was announced in the March 14, 2011 print edition of Newsweek and on the magazine’s website at www.newsweek.com/2011/03/06/150-women-who-shake-the-world.html.

Thursday, March 31, 2011 7:00 PM “Africa Rising” paints an intimate portrait of the broadly-based but little-known anti-FGM movements and shows that courageous, creative, and resourceful individuals can change the course of history.

The Advocates for Human Rights welcome the introduction of the Safe Harbors Bill, HF0556, introduced on February 2, 2011.  This legislation will allow Minnesota to build a system that responds appropriately and effectively to victims of sexual exploitation and sex trafficking. 

Join us in celebrating the 100th Anniversary of International Women's Day! Find a list of International Women's Week events. View the flyer here. 

Tuesday, February 22, 2011 at 7:00 PM Challenging the media, this film stands to challenge a new generation of students to take advertising seriously, and to think critically about popular culture and its relationship to the sexualization of children, sexism, and violence against women. 

Monday, January 31 at 6:30 PM The Women's Human Rights Film Series screens Playground, Libby Spears' sensitive investigation into the sexual exploitation of children in the U.S.

Tuesday, Nov. 30, 12:00 pm, Location: 28th Floor at Robins, Kaplan, Miller & Ciresi L.L.P., 800 LaSalle Avenue, 2800 LaSalle Plaza, Minneapolis.  Join us for a dynamic discussion about our recent work to enforce and improve laws on violence against women in the countries of Central and Southern Europe.

The 2011 Spring Film Series has been announced! Join us for showings of Playground, Killing Us Softly 4, and Africa Rising. 

Tuesday, November 23, 2010 at 7:00 p.m. Metropolitan State University Library, EcolabRoom, 645 East Seventh Street, Saint Paul

Addressing a life and death issue during a time of urgent crisis, this film is a timely and comprehensive exploration of physical and emotional abuse in our society, as refracted through the story of Kim Mosher, a Duluth, MN mother of three.  Representative Michael Paymar and Cheryl Thomas, Director of the Women’s Human Rights Program at The Advocates, will lead a discussion following the film.

Members of The Advocates' Women’s Human Rights Program recently left Bulgaria and are currently in Kazakhstan and Croatia meeting with partners about domestic violence laws. Below is a report from Rose Park and Mary Ellingen, two of The Advocates' Staff Attorneys traveling with the group.

From Risk to Action: Women & HIV/AIDS in Ethiopia, on Thursday, December 9, 2010 at 7:00 p.m. at Rondo Community Outreach Library, 461 North Dale Street, Saint Paul.  Nearly 60% of HIV-positive individuals in Ethiopia are women. Gender bias and the biology of transmission leave women more vulnerable to infection. The film profiles the connection between gender and HIV/AIDS, as well as the work of local leaders in education and policy change to improve the status of women.

This film, by Ross Kauffman and Zana Briski, is the winner of the 77th annual Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature. A tribute to the resiliency of childhood and the restorative power of art, the film is a portrait of several unforgettable children who live in the red light district of Calcutta, where their mothers work as prostitutes.

The 2010-11 Fall Film Series has been announced! Join us for showings of Born Into Brothels, Power and Control: Domestic Violence in America, and From Risk to Action: Women & HIV/AIDS in Ethiopia.

The Women’s Program will be traveling to Kazakhstan, Croatia, and Bulgaria in October for a workshop on monitoring new domestic violence laws in Central and Eastern Europe.

Third Thursday Global Issues Forum, Thursday, September 16, 7:00-9:00 p.m. Free and open to the public.

Location: Hennepin Avenue United Methodist Church, 511 Groveland Avenue, Minneapolis (at Lyndale and Hennepin). Park in church lot.

House Party fundraiser to benefit the Women's Human Rights Program hosted by Marlene and Tom Kayser on Sunday, September 19, 4 - 6 p.m.

Cheryl Thomas, Director of the Women's Human Rights Program at The Advocates, will be featured this Sunday on My Talk 107.1 to discuss violence against women as an international women's health issue.

Liberian activist Leymah Gbowee will be the keynote speaker for the 15th Annual International Women's Day Celebration on March 6, 2010.

UNIFEM has launched a Global Virtual Knowledge Centre to End Violence against Women and Girls. The site brings together lessons learned and recommended practices gleaned from initiatives on ending violence against women and girls around the world. The Advocates developed the site's module on legislation to end violence against women and girls.

Ten Thousand Villages in St. Paul to hold benefit event for the Women's Human Rights Program at The Advocates

In February, Women's Program Director Cheryl Thomas attended a meeting hosted by the University of Virginia Law School with Rashida Manjoo, United Nations Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women. 

The Advocates and the Friends of the Saint Paul Public Library have announced four films for screening in early 2010 as part of the Women's Human Rights Film Series.

The Advocates for Human Rights, Moroccan NGOs from across the country, and host Global Rights met in Errachidia, Morocco from March 8-12, 2010 to draft a national law on violence against women. If passed, the law would be the first comprehensive violence against women act in the Arab world that criminalizes domestic violence and sexual assault and provides for an order for protection remedy for victims.
 

The Minnesota Coalition Against Sexual Assault (MNCASA) has announced that Mary C. Ellison, Women's Program Staff Attorney, and Cheryl Thomas, Women's Program Director, will receive an AWARE Award at its 2010 AWARE Event on April 7th.