The Advocates For Human Rights

Refugee and Immigrant Rights: The Advocates provides free legal representation to asylum seekers, unaccompanied children, trafficking victims, Afghan evacuees, and detained immigrants in the Upper Midwest. With pro bono assistance from hundreds of attorneys, The Advocates is the primary asylum legal service provider in Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota. During FY2023, The Advocates provided more than 2,000 people with legal help, including 750 Afghan evacuees through a newly established Afghan Legal Clinic. In addition, The Advocates provided approximately 800 people with pro se materials, information, and other resources to advance their immigration case. In addition to legal services, The Advocates collaborates on the Immigration Court Observer Project to engage hundreds of volunteers in monitoring immigration court hearings.

Womens Human Rights: The Advocates has 30 years of experience working with partners in Minnesota and around the world to document problems in the government response to violence against women and responding to the needs of womens human rights defenders. The Advocates works to end violence against women by changing laws and their implementation, as well as through trainings, advocacy, and monitoring and documentation of human rights abuses against women and girls. Through the WATCH court monitoring project, we mobilize volunteers to observe cases of violence against women and children and bring the public eye into the courtroom. We work with partners to enhance protections for women and provide training and technical assistance for The Advocates global womens human rights partners. During FY2023, we undertook research on the anti-gender movement and published a report on the backlash to the Istanbul Convention; we also continue to (Continued on Schedule O)

Research, Education and Advocacy: Research, Education and Advocacy: The Advocates uses a human rights approach to document abuses, provide training and technical assistance to human rights defenders worldwide, engage people who have experienced human rights violations in advancing policy changes, and increase awareness of human rights. The Advocates is a leader in human rights advocacy at the local, national, and international level on our priority issues including death penalty abolition, violence against women and LGBTIQ+ persons, human trafficking, and the rights of noncitizens. The Advocates brings international human rights principles to the community and classrooms through curricular resources, lesson plans, and training manuals; presentations, lectures, conferences, continuing education courses, and public forums; and through two unique websites.

International Justice: The Advocates develops innovative, sustainable strategies to hold governments accountable for human rights abuses and to strengthen institutions in the international justice system. The Advocates engages our clients, diaspora communities, and international human rights partners in monitoring and documenting human rights conditions in countries around the world, and using local, regional, international, and transitional justice mechanisms to improve human rights worldwide. With the assistance of pro bono volunteers, in FY2023 The Advocates partnered with human rights defenders in more than 50 countries on 5 continents to build their capacity to engage in international advocacy to end gender-based violence , the use of the death penalty, and violence and discrimination based on race, religion, ethnicity, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, and/or sex characteristics.

Nepal School Project: Since 1999, The Advocates has partnered with the Sankhu-Palubari community in Nepal to provide the most at-risk children in the area with high-quality education as a genuine alternative to child labor and a pathway to academic success and economic opportunity. The Sanku-Palubari Community School currently provides an entirely free education, including textbooks, uniforms, and a daily meal, to 375 students enrolled in pre-K through grade 10. Fifty-three percent of the students are girls.