Past Projects, Events and Trainings:
Call for Action: Please Help HRP develop a tool to hold New York City Councilmembers accountable! -- The Human Rights Project at the Urban Justice Center needs your assistance! We are in the initial stages of launching a new tool that will help New Yorkers hold elected officials accountable to their constituents. The tool will allow New Yorkers to review the level of priority that Council Members have given to the basic needs and human rights of the communities they represent. The Human Rights Project believes that this tool will help New Yorkers determine whether the members of the City Council have indeed held up the principles of human rights.
As a first step to initiating this project, we would like to get a general picture of how the average New Yorker views the City Council. We have developed a general survey (9 multiple choice questions) that will provide us with some information on the experience and knowledge New Yorkers have on the City Council.
We need your help in filling out and disseminating this survey. Please fill out and circulate the following survey by August 30th.
In addition, we will be administering the survey in different New York City communities. Please let us know if you are willing to help circulate the survey in your community. We appreciate your support in this effort!
HRP and partners urge the State Department to participate in Durban II
The Human Rights Project was joined by several organizations and individuals dedicated to defending human rights to write a letter to the Secretary of State, Condoleeza Rice, urging her to take action in engaging the United States government in the Durban Review Conference (Durban II). The Durban Review Conference scheduled to take place in April 2009 is the follow-up meeting to the World Conference Against Racism of 2001. It is the most important forum for the global community to make commitments on combating racism, racial discrimination and xenophobia, and we must not allow our government to decline to participate.
HRP Coordinates UN Racism Expert’s Visit to NYC
The Human Rights Project (HRP) coordinated the May 21-22 New York City visit by the United Nations Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance, Mr. Doudou Diene. Mr. Diene was in the United States on an official fact-finding mission, and will be releasing a report on his findings after his visit. HRP coordinated Mr. Diene’s visit with New Yorkers who have been victimized by the NYPD, child welfare system, housing and development policies, environmental racism, and immigration practices. Among other things, Mr. Diene’s visit also a guided tour of Harlem to witness the ongoing displacement of longtime residents and small business owners, and location of environmentally hazardous sites. HRP is also on the steering committee for Mr. Diene's national visits which includes stops in Chicago, Omaha, Los Angeles, Miami, New Orleans, Puerto Rico, and Washington DC.
HRP Pushes Historic Human Rights Bill
On Wednesday, March 12th, HRP and other members of the New York City Human Rights Initiative joined Council Member Helen Foster for the historic introduction of the Human Rights in Government Operations Audit Law (Human Rights GOAL). Human Rights GOAL is a human rights bill that would ensure that the City combats racial and gender discrimination proactively in all its employment, budgetary and service delivery practices. Please Call Speaker Quinn at 212-564-7757 and demand swift passage of Human Rights GOAL. The time to act is now! See Press Release.
Organizing for Racial Justice: a report back from Geneva
On Thursday, March 6th, the Human Rights Project at the Urban Justice Center and the Women of Color Policy Network hosted a screening of the UN CERD Committee review of United States. As a signator to the International Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD) the US is under obligation to comply with the provisions outlined in the treaty. NYC activists who were recently in Geneva to participate in the review of the US by the UN on its compliance with CERD discussed the review process and how it could be used to implement human rights obligations locally. RSVP to http://wagner.nyu.edu/events/ICERD.php
United Nations demands more from US in combating Racism
In February, an unprecedented number of United States NGOs traveled to Geneva to participate in the United States government review by the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD Committee). HRP and other NYC activists were present to tesify in holding the United States accountable on its dismal record in combating racism. See update on week in Geneva. Also see Questions from the CERD Committee and Answers by the US Delegation here.
NYC Human Rights Activists Release Report on Racial Discrimination
On International Human Rights Day, December 10th 2007, the Human Rights Project of the Urban Justice Center and the Women of Color Policy Network were joined by New York State Senator Bill Perkins, Councilmember Helen Foster, attorney Michael Hardy and human rights advocates from across the city to release a new report -- Race Realities in NYC -- on widespread racial disparities in New York City and the government’s responsibility to address them. Please see Press Release, as well as Executive Summary (also see Resumen Ejecutivo) of Race Realities in NYC.
Campaign for Victor Toro
Protest Against ICE & DHS in Support of Victor Toro on Friday, January 18, 2008 at 9:00 am outside of 26 Federal Plaza, the corner of Worth & Lafayette!
Join us at 10 a.m. on Tuesday, January 15, 2008 for a Press Conference at the Urban Justice Center, 123 William Street, 16th Floor. Please see Press Release.
Victor Toro speaking on Dec 10, 2007 at the release of the NYC CERD Report
Victor Toro at home in the South Bronx
Why Victor Toro is important to us?
Brief history of Victor Toro's story in Pinochet’s military concentration camps
How you can help: Sign this letter in support of Victor's campaign
HRP and NYCHRI launch 60-Day Human Rights Campaign to celebrate UDHR — The New York City Human Rights Initiative (NYCHRI), a coaltion of over 100 local human rights groups coordinated by the Human Rights Project, launched a 60-Day Human Rights Campaign to commemorate the 60th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) on October 10th. The 60-Day Human Rights Campaign will end on December 10th, International Human Rights Day. The December 10th event will celebrate the need for human rights in NYC and demand an agenda for human rights from the next administration. Check out the NYCHRI Blog, and stay tuned for more information.
Human Rights and Family Court — HRP worked with the Voices of Women Organizing Project on the production of a human rights documentation report looking at the experiences of survivors of domestic violence within the family court system in New York City. The report, Justice Denied: How Family Courts in NYC Endanger Battered Women and Children, was released in May 2008.
HRP Human Rights Forum — This forum aims to serve as a resource for groups interested in sharing knowledge on local implementation of human rights. Sign on today!
CERD FAQ & Overview of the U.S. Report to CERD — HRP recently added a CERD FAQ to its Tools page. HRP also released a Brief Overview of the United States Report to the CERD Committee on June 12th, intended to help summarize the 121 page document into a short easy-to-read format. While it is by no means an exhaustive summary, we hope it will inspire many to read the report, or at least sections that are of interest. More importantly, we hope readers will be motivated to submit additional on-the-ground information to fill in gaps in the Government's report, by participating in the shadow reporting process. The Human Rights Project is drafting a full summary of the Report for distribution in early July.
HRP supports the International Tribunal on Hurricanes Katrina and Rita — HRP is proud to support the People's Hurricane Relief Fund's efforts to demand that the US government be made accountable for the crimes it perpetrated against the marginalized and oppressed peoples of the Gulf Coast – people African descent, Indigenous Peoples, migrants, and the poor - during and after Hurricane Katrina. Please click on International Tribunal website for more information.
December 10th - Human Rights Day 2006: “Fighting Poverty, a matter of Obligation not Charity! — HRP welcomes you to join us in a campaign that will connect local organizations fighting to eradicate poverty with human rights mechanisms towards fulfilling the promise of the 2006 theme of Human Rights Day -- “Fighting Poverty, a matter of Obligation not Charity!” Over the next ten months leading up to the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty in October 2007, we hope to work together to promote concrete steps informed by the human rights system that will advance the fight against poverty.
HRP now has Special Consultative Status with the United Nations! — HRP has been granted special consultative status in the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) at the United Nations. HRP was granted ECOSOC status through the Urban Justice Center. We will continue to work within and outside the UN system to hold the government accountable to universally accepted human rights standards.
NYC Participatory Budgeting Initiative — HRP is a founding partner and institutional home for the New York Participatory Budgeting Initiative (NYCPBI), a new coalition of organizations, activists, and otherwise interested individuals working towards economic security and fulfillment of human rights by increasing accountability and participation in the city budget process and other public budgets. NYPBI is coordinated by HRP, the New York City AIDS Housing Network, and City Project, and is committed to public education on the budget, facilitating direct involvement in the budget process, and serving as a public watchdog and catalyst of public participation. If you are interested in joining the NYPBI listserv, please sign up at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NYPBI/.
Participatory budgeting is a democratic process in which city residents decide how to allocate part of a municipal or public budget. The Brazilian city of Porto Alegre initiated the first full participatory budgeting process starting in 1989, developing an annual process of neighborhood, district, and citywide assemblies in which residents identify public spending priorities and vote on projects to implement. Participatory budgeting is now practiced in hundreds of cities around the world, in municipalities, schools, public housing, and other institutions.
The Right to Education Project — The Right to Education Project trained New York City public high school students to document violation of the right to education in their schools. The project gives youth a means to participate in their own advocacy by them to be human rights monitors, and in the process provides them with job opportunities.