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Human Rights First believes that building respect for human rights and the rule of law will help ensure the dignity to which every individual is entitled and will stem tyranny, extremism, intolerance, and violence.

Human Rights First protects people at risk: refugees who flee persecution, victims of crimes against humanity or other mass human rights violations, victims of discrimination, those whose rights are eroded in the name of national security, and human rights advocates who are targeted for defending the rights of others. These groups are often the first victims of societal instability and breakdown; their treatment is a harbinger of wider-scale repression. Human Rights First works to prevent violations against these groups and to seek justice and accountability for violations against them.

Human Rights First is practical and effective. We advocate for change at the highest levels of national and international policymaking. We seek justice through the courts. We raise awareness and understanding through the media. We build coalitions among those with divergent views. And we mobilize people to act.

Human Rights First is a non-profit, nonpartisan international human rights organization based in New York and Washington D.C. To maintain our independence, we accept no government funding.

Blog Entries by Human Rights First

Dear DHS: My Husband Is Not a Terrorist -- Can He Come Home?

1 Comments | Posted February 3, 2012 | 2/3/12

By: Julie Hysenaj

The Obama administration is considering exemptions for people who have been mislabeled "terrorists" under U.S. immigration laws. This is Julie's story.

Arben is from Kosovo. When I married him, he was applying for asylum in the United States. When he was told he had to...

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Al-Nashiri Case Will Highlight All That Is Wrong With Military Commissions

Posted November 3, 2011 | 11/3/11

Next week, I'll be on the ground in Guantanamo as Abd al Rahim Hussayn Muhammad al-Nashiri will be arraigned before a U.S. military commission at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba for his alleged role in the USS Cole bombing, the USS The Sullivans attempted bombing, and the bombing of a French civilian...

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The ABCs of Asylum, Post-DSK

Posted July 8, 2011 | 7/8/11


As revelations and speculations concerning the sexual assault case against Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the former head of the International Monetary Fund, continue to play out in the media, some attention has turned to the U.S. asylum system because of allegedly dishonest claims his accuser made...

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Senator McConnell's Guantanamo Rhetoric Needs a Reality Check

Posted June 30, 2011 | 6/30/11

Adam Jacobson
Program Assistant, Law and Security

For the past two weeks, Senator Mitch McConnell (R-KY) has waged a campaign of fear and inaccuracy in an attempt to discredit our nation's federal courts and their ability to try terrorism suspects. He would rather have their trials in the flawed...

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Political Interference With Torture Investigations Is Un-American

Posted June 16, 2011 | 6/16/11

By Melina Milazzo
Pennoyer Fellow, Law and Security Program


Almost a decade after reports of death and abuse of detainees in U.S. custody at Abu Ghraib and other sites came to light, the prosecutor appointed to look into some of these serious, criminal allegations...

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U.S. Government Undermines Abu Ghraib Torture Victims' Right to Remedy

Posted June 13, 2011 | 6/13/11

Melina Milazzo
Pennoyer Fellow, Law and Security

Once again, the Obama administration shirked its legal and moral responsibility to ensure torture victims are provided an enforceable remedy when it advised the U.S. Supreme Court not to hear a case brought by Iraqi detainees tortured by private military contractors...

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Stopping Enablers of Mass Atrocities in Sudan

2 Comments | Posted May 27, 2011 | 5/27/11

By Winny Chen

U.S. Special Envoy to Sudan Princeton Lyman will head to the Sudan this week in an effort to stem renewed fighting between northern and southern forces. As the United States works with international partners to prevent the current crisis from escalating into another full-fledged civil war, it...

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Time is Now to Clarify U.S. Criminal Jurisdiction over Contractors

Posted May 24, 2011 | 5/24/11

By Melina Milazzo
Pennoyer Fellow, Law and Security Program

Recent news that Blackwater founder and bad boy, Erik Prince, is creating an American-led mercenary army in the United Arab Emirates is a bleak reminder of how Blackwater became the poster child for the unaccountable, gun-slinging...

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Facebook Faces China Censorship Dilemma

Posted April 21, 2011 | 4/21/11

By Meg Roggensack; Senior Advisory, Business and Human Rights

With President Obama fresh off a visit to Facebook Headquarters in Silicon Valley for a town hall meeting on the role of social media in politics, the social networking company is considering investments in China, a country whose government wants social...

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The Truth Behind U.S. Interrogation Policy

Posted April 19, 2011 | 4/19/11

by Joe Navarro

Has the CIA been displaced from its rightful role as global terrorist jailer and interrogator, a shift that may make the United States less safe as a result? Those reading Ken Dilanian's recent Los Angeles Times story "CIA has slashed its terrorism interrogation role" may have...

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Wanted: More light, less heat about drone attacks

Posted March 18, 2011 | 3/18/11

By Gabor Rona
International Legal Director

Drone strikes conducted by the United States in Pakistan are an increasingly hot flash point in relations between the two countries. This week, a drone strike is reported to have killed approximately 40 people. The New York Times reports that it...

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A Fine Precedent for Obama Military Commissions

Posted March 16, 2011 | 3/16/11

At 10:00 a.m. Thursday, in Courtroom 201 of the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington, a lawyer for the president who campaigned on the closure of Guantanamo and the end to the discredited military commissions will argue to the United States Court of Military Commission Review in support of the...

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Attacks On African Migrants and Refugees in Libya

Posted March 8, 2011 | 3/8/11

The International Community Should Condemn Attacks On African Migrants and Refugees in Libya and Urge Libyan Forces not to Block Departures

On Monday March 7, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) confirmed a steep drop in the number of individuals leaving...

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Allegations of Abuse, Violations of the Law, Shroud Military Commissions Case

Posted February 18, 2011 | 2/18/11

"I have never been a member of al Qaeda or the Taliban." These are the words of Noor Uthman Muhammed, read to a panel of military commission members charged with helping decide his fate as he remains in Guantanamo, where he has been held for almost nine years. Referred to...

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Data Casts Doubt on Glanz and Markoff's Egypt Kill Switch Theory

Posted February 16, 2011 | 2/16/11

In theNew York Times, reporters James Glanz and John Markoff investigate the actions that led to Egypt's Internet shutdown from Jan 27 - Feb 2.  They argue that the primary targets of the Egyptian Government were the international fiber optic connections that connect Egypt with the rest of...

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The World of Accountability for Bush & Rumsfeld

Posted February 8, 2011 | 2/8/11

C. Dixon Osburn
Director, Law and Security

George W. Bush canceled a scheduled speech in Geneva on February 12 at a dinner in honor of the United Israel Appeal. Organizers say they canceled the speech, according to The Washington Post, because "the calls to demonstrate were sliding into...

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Facebook Confuses "Security" and "Privacy"

Posted January 28, 2011 | 1/28/11

By Meg Roggensack,
Senior Advisor, Business and Human Rights Program

Organizers of mass protests against repressive governments in Tunisia and Egypt relied on Facebook to get the word out. Photos of protestors in Egypt showed posters with Mark Zuckerberg as their hero. And then the government turned off the...

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Ghailani Life Sentence Shows Up Military Commission Fans

Posted January 25, 2011 | 1/25/11

Raha Wala
Georgetown Fellow, Law and Security

Proponents of trying individuals in military commissions are all but declaring victory after the Obama administration cleared the way for new cases to be brought in the Guantanamo war crimes tribunals. Marc Thiessen speculates that the case of Ahmed...

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High-tech terrorism or low-tech fear mongering?

Posted December 20, 2010 | 12/20/10

Gabor Rona
International Legal Director

To paraphrase H.L Mencken, no one ever went broke underestimating how low a politician will go to gain an advantage.

Exhibit A: Vice President Joseph Biden, who likens Wikileaks honcho Julian Assange to a "high-tech terrorist."

What...

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Woman Faces Death in Pakistan for Blasphemy--Will the U.N. Support Similar Measures?

Posted December 15, 2010 | 12/15/10

By Pamela Takiff
Advisor, Fighting Discrimination Program

Last month, on November 8, a Pakistani woman from Punjab was sentenced to death by hanging under section 295-C of the country's blasphemy code - which carries a mandatory death sentence for defaming the Prophet Mohammed. Aasia Bibi, a...

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