Human Rights First

Protecting refugeeshuman Rights First's refugee representation team promotes Human Rights by assisting refugees who are fleeing persecution. We provide legal representation, frequently with pro bono lawyers, to help our clients access legal protections in the united states consistent with u.s. and international law. We also assist our clients in accessing other critical services. We use this experience to advocate for laws and policies that protect refugees.in 2023, volunteer lawyers in the new york, Washington, d.c., and los angeles metropolitan areas provided more than 109,000 hours of in-kind legal services. During that period, we represented more than 2,706 people from 84 countries and won legal protection for 310 clients and family members. We also conducted 31 pro bono attorney and interpreter trainings, equipping over 3,500 attorneys to represent asylum clients and participate in pro se clinics.among the key 2023 policy achievements resulting from our advocacy to protect refugees were the following:1) our research and advocacy helped make the case to finally end the title 42 policy that was used to deny many refugees access to asylum, and helped prevent attempts to enact that or similar policies into u.s. law. Through our research and reports, we tracked over 13,480 reports of torture, kidnapping and other attacks against asylum-seekers and migrants impacted by title 42. 2) our policy analysis and advocacy helped build strong and diverse opposition to a may 2023 rule that would bar some refugees from asylum and deny asylum hearings to people with a significant chance of proving their asylum eligibility. We conducted extensive research, interviews and issued reports that documented the policy's failures from both Human Rights and migration management perspectives.3) our advocacy with partners helped defeat a number of anti-asylum bills, including h.r. 2 (which received a veto threat from the white house after strong opposition from the advocacy community and members of congress) and s. 1473 (the sinema/tillis border bill that would have extended the use of title 42 and eviscerated our asylum system).4) Human Rights First worked with partners to successfully advocate against the resurrection of family detention. We co-led a letter to generate strong opposition by members of congress and a diverse array of nearly 400 civil society organizations to the biden administration's leaked consideration of a restart of family detention.

Innovation labthe innovation lab at Human Rights First was founded in 2019 to develop technology solutions that deliver transformative impact and protect Human Rights in the digital age. Key 2023 achievements include: 1) iterated on a machine-powered tool called docdb, which can be used to search through thousands of documents. 2) optimized our ai detection models for glimpse - a tool that detects violent objects and actions in large video datasets for the purpose of Human Rights investigations - and achieved 90% accuracy on model benchmarking tests. 3) beta tested glimpse with partners investigating state violence against indigenous protesters and the presence of violent white nationalists in social media platforms.4) provided technical advisement for frontline partners in ukraine, including leveraging ai to do voice matching for the purpose of a criminal investigation. We initiated a program to bring technical capacity to frontline partners in ukraine for the purpose of war crimes documentation. 5) developed an ai-powered tool that tracks and maps anti-democratic legislation to help the public better understand the extremist movement and help advocates be more responsive on the state and local level.6) began design on a bot for discreet and secure reporting of Human Rights violations experienced by migrants at the hands of state authorities and cartel members at the us/mexico border.

Accountability and Human Rights defendershuman Rights First works to hold corrupt actors and Human Rights abusers around the world accountable for their actions. Key 2023 achievements resulting from our work include:1) produced the first-ever joint report with civil society counterparts in the u.k., european union, and canada on a framework and case studies to understand the impact of magnitsky-style sanctions for Human Rights abuses and corruption.2) conducted joint advocacy on "multi-lateralizing" these sanctions and addressing omissions, such as abuses against marginalized populations, before u.s. and foreign governments with magnitsky-style sanctions programs.3) successfully advocated for the first-ever use of global magnitsky sanctions in a case involving a single arbitrary detention, for political prisoner vladimir kara-murza.4) produced a follow-up report on the u.s. government's use of the global magnitsky sanctions program over the past year.5) produced a report on the lack of transparency in the u.s. government's use of visa restriction tools as a form of accountability. 6) prepared and submitted several sanctions recommendations to the u.s. government in response to Human Rights violations in el salvador and bahrain.7) participated in international expert panel on state impunity and the northern ireland conflict.8) published dozens of posts and reports on the work of Human Rights defenders in ukraine impacted by russia's full-scale invasion.

General advocacy / vfai / extremism / communications & outreach