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Women's Human Rights Program
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Staff attorneys Mary Ellingen and Rosalyn Park with staff from Centre Nadya in Russe, Bulgaria (July 2007)
The Women's Human Rights Program applies international human rights standards to advocate for women's rights in Minnesota, the United States, and around the world. 
 
Founded in 1993, the Women's Human Rights Program has partnered with organizations in Central and Eastern Europe, the former Soviet Union, the Caucasus, Central Asia, Morocco, Nepal, Mexico and Haiti. The Women's Human Rights Program uses traditional human rights fact-finding methods to document violations of women's human rights. The Women’s Program has worked with host country partners to document such violations of women's rights as domestic violence, rape, employment discrimination, sexual harassment in the workplace, and trafficking in women and girls.
 
To date, the Women’s Human Rights Program has published 19 reports on violence against women as a human rights issue, and frequently provide consultation and commentary on drafting laws on domestic violence at the request of government officials and NGOs from around the world. The Women’s Program has provided commentary on new and proposed domestic violence laws for more than 20 countries.  
 
Our program also trains lawyers, police, prosecutors, and judges to implement new and existing laws on domestic violence effectively. We prepare and conduct these trainings at the invitation of, and in collaboration with local partners so that we are well informed about the nuances of the laws, legal system and other important community dynamics that will affect the success of the trainings. The Advocates has conducted such trainings in Armenia, Turkey, Kazakhstan, Morocco, Russia, Bulgaria, Georgia, Latvia, and Lithuania.
 
The Women's Human Rights Program also manages the Stop Violence Against Women website. The website serves as an online forum for information, advocacy, and change; detailing a variety of women's human rights abuses and successes from around the world. The Advocates has also worked with the United Nations to develop the Legislation and Justice sections of the Virtual Knowledge Center to End Violence Against Women, www.endvawnow.org. The Legislation section provides expert guidance on drafting, advocating for, implementing, and monitoring national legislation from diverse regions in the world, and the Justice section provides programming tools and information to overcome the barriers women and girls face in accessing justice.
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House Judiciary Threatens to Undermine Violence Against Women Act Protections

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.”
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The Advocates Attending the Association of Women’s Rights in Development (AWID) Forum

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.
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Justice Module for UN Women’s Virtual Knowledge Centre to End Violence Against Women and Girls is Live

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.