On January 30, 2012, The Advocates for Human Rights together with the National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, has submitted a report outlining the situation relating to the detention of migrants in the United States, key systemic failures to protect their human rights, and priority recommendations. Over 200 organizations have signed onto the report with their support. 

On January 12, thirty-three civil society and business groups, including The Advocates for Human Rights, sent a letter to every member of the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate expressing their opposition to any efforts to narrow the world’s flagship anticorruption legislation, the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA).

Congratulations to pro bono attorneys Pam Abbate-Dattilo and Ted Koshiol with the support of consulting attorney Loan Huynh, summer associate Anu Skreekanth and attorney & interpreter Nicole Moen, all of Fredrikson & Byron, who recently received an affirmative asylum grant for a young woman from Togo. The client came to the United States to seek asylum in order to avoid a forced marriage and FGM in Togo, both of which she opposed.

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

Read our latest publication of The Human Rights Observer for December 2011! It contains highlights of the year, summaries of ongoing projects, reports from programs, resources, reviews of publications and information about upcoming events. 

The Advocates will be attending the 47th Session of the Committee Against Torture held at the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in Geneva, Switzerland from Oct. 31-Nov. 2. The Committee Against Torture (CAT) examines the progress states have made in implementing the provisions of the 1987 Convention Against Torture. As part of the session, The Advocates and other partner NGOs will brief the CAT on Morocco’s compliance.

The following response was authored by Keala Ede, a member of The Advocates' Death Penalty Project Steering Committee in response to Charles Lane's opinion piece, “Doubts about his guilt? Not reasonable ones” published in the StarTribune on September 23, 2011. 

John Bessler, Steering Committee member of The Advocates' Death Penalty Project, has published a new book, Cruel and Unusual: The American Death Penalty and the Founders’ Eighth Amendment.

In collaboration with The World Coalition Against the Death Penalty, The Advocates for Human Rights has submitted a shadow report to the United Nations Human Rights Committee regarding Jamaica’s compliance with its international legal obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (the “ICCPR”). 

In collaboration with The World Coalition Against the Death Penalty, The Advocates for Human Rights submitted shadow reports to the United Nations Human Rights Committee regarding Iran’s compliance with their international legal obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (the “ICCPR”). The shadow reports focus on the death penalty and living conditions of death row inmates.

The Advocates congratulates 2011 Nobel Peace Prize Laureates Leymah Gbowee, Tawakkul Karman, and Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. Both Leymah Gbowee and Ellen Johnson Sirleaf volunteered to speak at events for The Advocates, Ms. Gbowee at our 2010 International Women's Day and Ms. Sirleaf at a reception celebrating the US volunteers of our Liberian Truth and Reconciliation Commission Project. 

The Advocates congratulates Refugee & Immigration Program Director, Emily Good and our partners at the University of Minnesota Law School’s Immigration & Human Rights Clinic on three recent asylum victories!