Member structures
Members of the US Human Rights Network (USHRN) will find a number of opportunities to engage in the struggle to advance human rights in the US along with other Human Rights Defenders.
The USHRN facilitates monthly membership meetings, semi-annual regional membership meetings and a bi-annual membership conference.
Monthly membership meetings are held by phone conference and offer members the opportunity to meet one another as well as keep abreast of the latest developments in human rights news and issues in the US. Regional membership meetings allow for face-to-face meetings among USHRN members in an informal setting. The bi-annual membership conference is a major gathering that helps set the agenda for the Network for the following two year cycle.
The next bi-annual conference is scheduled for early December 2019 and a full schedule of events can be found on our Events Calendar.
Additionally, members have access to many types of Human Rights Education in a broad range of formats, such as online tools, webinars and in person presentations at events. Human Rights Education is coordinated and produced by the USHRN Human Rights Education Department.
Individual members and member organizations are linked through various member structures, such as Mechanism Specific Taskforces, Issue Area Working Groups, Member Initiated Action Teams (MIATs) and the International Mechanisms Coordinating Committee (IMCC).
USHRN Taskforces coordinate civil society engagement with specific international human rights mechanisms (ICCPR, CERD, CAT, & UPR) to advance a human rights agenda at home and abroad (currently dormant until review cycles begin again in 2017). In the Spring of 2016 we launched 12 implementation focused Issue Area Working Groups - we merged the working groups on similar issue areas from all the Taskforces and Reviews - ICCPR, CERD, CAT, and UPR - to help them coordinate on implementation and to facilitate sharing of information and resources among a broader network of activists.
The International Mechanisms Coordinating Committee (IMCC) is an oversight body to make sure the U.S. government is implementing human rights mechanisms recommendations and to coordinate broad human rights education around treaty reviews, connecting the dots between different Working Groups and issue areas.
Member Initiated Action Teams allow members to collaborate with other USHRN members and partners within and across thematic human rights issue areas while Planning Committees advise the overall agenda and program.
Taskforces, MIATs, and Planning Committees serve as great and active ways for people to fully immerse themselves into building and promoting a people-centered movement for human rights.
USHRN members can keep up with the different structures by joining the USHRN Listserve, joining a structure directly or starting a new structure themselves.
