2009 Membership Meeting Report (PDF)

2009 Membership Meeting Article (PDF)

Greetings USHRN Members and Supporters,

The USHRN Coordinating Office would like to thank all the members and supporters who attending our first ever Membership Meeting in Miami, Florida December 10th – 13th, 2009. The meeting was a resounding success and a major step towards building a genuine “people-centered” human rights movement in the United States

Over 100 members, supporters, and affiliated allies from over 20 states and the District of Columbia, including allies from the Grassroots Global Justice (GGJ) and Right to the City (RTTC) alliances, were in attendance. Considerable strides were made towards the fulfillment of the primary objectives of the Membership Meeting (see below), in large part due the depth and richness of the collective experience assembled at the meeting rooted in its diverse, but broad composition.

The three primary objectives of the meeting were as follows: 
Examining the present strengths and weaknesses of the domestic human rights movement
Explore how we can collectively navigate the opportunities and challenges confronting this emerging movement
Developing concrete plans of action for working collectively on pressing human rights issues

A few momentous outcomes of the Membership Meeting include:

• The expansion of the Training Committee to include Sister Song and the International Indian Treaty Council
• The Launching of the National Take Back the Land Campaign in partnership with the Miami chapter of the Right to the City Alliance’s “the Big Payback” action December 10th
• The launching of the new CERD Task Force and national campaign
• The expansion of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) Working Group
• The initiation of new Working Groups and Caucuses including Sexuality and Gender, Workers/Labor Rights, and the Southern Region
• The formation of an action team to develop a human rights training and workshop track at the US Social Forum in Detroit, Michigan in June
• The welcoming and introduction of new Board Members

All this and more will be outlined in the full report on the Membership Meeting that will be issued Wednesday, January 27th. This report will include notes from all of the varied sessions of the Membership Meeting and will provide contact information and recommendations regarding how organizations and individuals can join the various structures engaging all of the critical areas of work. Also, we will be sharing a 10 minute compiled video of the Membership Meeting being produced by Moving Forward Gulf Coast, Inc. that will be shared via the Networks website and Youtube page to share with all the membership to help link and ground our collective work in 2010.

The Network Coordinating Center would like to also thank the US Human Rights Fund and all of our individual donors for their support of the Membership Meeting. With your support we were able to grant full or partial scholarships to over 20 grassroots leaders to attend the Membership Meeting.

Build the Movement!
USHRN Coordinating Staff