Dear USHRN Members, Partners, and Community, 

We are writing today with important news: 

The US Human Rights Network is relaunching! 

 
Happy New Year! After a long operational hiatus, it is our great pleasure to announce that the US Human Rights Network (USHRN or Network) is relaunching! Some of you are past members. Most of you have contributed to the collective work on building a people-centered human rights movement. We invite you to join us in this new phase of the work.

It is public knowledge that the Network has faced organizational challenges, staff transitions, and a slowdown in operations that impacted our ability to serve the membership. But our mission — to build a people-centered, grassroots-led human rights movement in the United States — has never been more urgent. 

 
In preparation for a Relaunch, the previous USHRN Board of Directors put out a call to several human rights defenders last March inviting them to consider joining a new Board of Directors. That new Board has been working diligently towards a Relaunch. After careful reflection, board restructuring, and conversations with members and allies, USHRN is officially entering a Relaunch Phase designed to restore our programs, rebuild capacity, and re-engage our national community.  

 
Why We Are Relaunching 

The human rights landscape in the United States is shifting rapidly. Communities across the country are facing: 

• Increased state violence and repression
• Corrupted government bodies attempting to erase Black history, undermining progress on racial justice, denying women their bodily autonomy, targeting immigrants and their families with violence, fomenting anti-Muslim sentiment, and victimizing and heightening the vulnerability of the trans community
• Erosion of basic freedoms, democratic participation, and the rule of law
• Growing inequality and structural and environmental racism
• A global retreat from human rights norms and multilateral engagement 

The political moment calls for strong, people-centered leadership; the kind of leadership that USHRN has a long history of supporting. 

Please Join Us! 

In this transition, we take a moment to also acknowledge the principled human rights work that continued in the Network’s absence. USHRN has always been a collective project and must remain one. We invite you to join us in reestablishing a USHRN community dedicated to building a people centered grassroots led human rights movement.

Wishing you each a happy and healthy start to the New Year. 

 
In solidarity,

USHRN Board Members:

Molefi Askari (Co-Chair)  

Siya Hegde (Co-Chair)  

Asha Tillman (Secretary)  

Chhaya Chhoum (Treasurer)  

Delana Karimi-Tavakol  

Crista Noel  

Vincenzo Pasquantonio