The Advocates for Human Rights is committed to improving women’s human rights throughout the world. Our Women’s Human Rights Program works tirelessly for sustainable change.
We have worked in Central and Eastern Europe, the former Soviet Union, the Caucasus, Central Asia, Mongolia, Morocco, Nepal, Mexico, Haiti, and the United States. At the request of government officials, embassies, and NGOs, we help draft laws that promote the safety of women. We have provided commentary on new and proposed domestic violence laws in nearly 30 countries.
We have published reports on violence against women as a human rights issue. We have worked with host country partners to document violations of women's human rights, including:
We train police, prosecutors, lawyers, and judges to implement both new and existing laws on domestic violence. We have conducted training in Armenia, Turkey, Kazakhstan, Morocco, Russia, Bulgaria, Georgia, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, and Serbia. We prepare and implement these training in collaboration with local partners.
WATCH, a premier court monitoring and judicial policy organization, became a project of The Advocates' work for women's rights in 2019. The WATCH project trains volunteers as court observers in Hennepin, Ramsey, and Washington county criminal court, and collects data on how cases of sexual assault, domestic violence, and child abuse are handled. Going forward, The Advocates will merge our time-tested fact-finding methodology with WATCH's court observation to develop informed, evidence-based reports with recommendations to strengthen how the Twin Cities metro area justice system holds offenders accountable and promotes victim safety.
In addition, our Stop Violence Against Women website serves as a forum for information, advocacy, and change. On the site, we detail women’s human rights news from around the world. By working with the UN, we developed the Legislation and Justice sections of the site's Virtual Knowledge Center to End Violence Against Women. On this forum, we provide expert guidance on drafting, advocating for, implementing, and monitoring national legislation of diverse regions around the world. We also provide information regarding programming tools and methods to help overcome the barriers women and girls face every day.
COVID-19 Impact of Domestic Violence in Minnesota
Peaceful Protests in Belarus Met with Violence
Promoting Gender Diversity and Inclusion in the Oil, Gas and Mining Extractive Industries Batterer Intervention Program Report
General Human Rights Film Series
Women's Rights Reports
Ending Sex Trafficking in MN
Sex Trafficking: Safe Harbor Resource Pack
Sex Trafficking & Prostitution