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Advocacy Program: Building Leaders in Human Rights
Every fall semester, respected human rights leaders from around the world make New York City and Columbia University their home, immersing themselves in policy debates, networking, and advanced training. Their goal is to build on their skills, knowledge and contacts, and return home ready to resume the fight for human rights. That is what Columbia’s Human Rights Advocacy Program is intended to help them achieve.
It is their first time in the United States for many of the advocates, and many are involved in intense study for the first time in their life. The Human Rights Advocacy Program is a four-month capacity building program, developed and run by Columbia's Center for the Study of Human Rights. The advocates represent a number of areas such as labor rights, public health, the environment, corporate abuse, and more. Issues are examined with special regard to how they intersect with gender, race, ethnicity, sexual identity or other sources of marginalization.
Advocate Mary Akrami (HRAP 2009) is executive director of the Afghan Women’s Skills Development Center, the first women’s shelter in Kabul, Afghanistan. Women in that country who have run away from home or spent time in prison are often spurned by their families and society. Ms. Akrami’s shelter serves those women who do not feel safe returning home.
“The view of women’s rights between the United States and Afghanistan is so different,” she says. “In Afghanistan, we’re fighting for basic rights for women. As an activist, it’s good to learn about other ideologies and take that knowledge back home with me.”
Many grassroots leaders find it difficult to fight for their causes simply because of their physical and symbolic distance from the power centers. In recent years, the Human Rights Advocacy Program has focused on globalization and its effect on those with the least access to decision-makers.
“The design is to help level the playing field for those lacking the access, skills, or knowledge to lobby for their causes,” says Stephanie V. Grepo, who leads capacity building activities for the Center for the Study of Human Rights. “We want to strengthen their individual skills and to provide the tools necessary for the advocates to build and grow their organizations.”
Former advocate Miriam Ruiz Mendoza from Mexico says the program empowered her. “The most important gain for me has been the possibility of being able to put my organization’s work in a broader context of the political scene and the international human rights scene,” said Mendoza (HRAP 2006). “On a very personal level, I feel transformed with a new vision about the global scenario for human rights and its actors.”
Karyn Kaplan is a U.S. citizen who has lived in Thailand for more than twenty years, working on HIV and human rights issues. “I think the fact that the program is in New York City is really important,” said Kaplan (HRAP 2009). 
“There’s a real diversity of advocacy targets at the United Nations and donor organizations, all of whom could benefit from learning about the work of human rights advocates from the different countries. It’s an extraordinary experience to be in such a culturally and ethnically resource-rich city.”
Karyn Kaplan’s full interview is available here: Text | Audio 
“It’s been a great privilege to be involved in the Human Rights Advocacy Program,” says Mary Akrami. “Human rights workers around the world need this type of support. It’s powerful to see the perception people have of Afghanistan. That makes for a great opportunity for me to be able to advocate for Afghanistan, and what is happening there now. There are so many changes, so it’s a great opportunity to get our voices heard.”
Click here to learn more about Columbia’s Human Rights Advocacy Program.
12/11/2009