Human Rights First

Human Rights First

Human Rights First is a non-profit, nonpartisan international human rights organization based in New York and Washington D.C. It aims to build "respect for human rights and the rule of law." It accepts no government funding.

Lawyers' Committee on Human Rights

Human Rights First was originally known as the Lawyers' Committee on Human Rights (LCHR). It was an organization that works with legal side of human rights protection, "promoting respect for the legal protections promised in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and subsequent international or multipartite human rights legal documents."

With the Reebok Human Rights Foundation, the LCHR sponsored the Witness Program (which provides simple multimedia tools, such as camcorders, to human rights activists to use).

Staff

The following are staff at Human Rights First, as of March 4, 2010:

• Elisa Massimino, President and CEO
• Eleanor Acer, Director, Refugee Protection Program
• Lori Adams, Staff Attorney, Refugee Protection Program
• Vanessa Allyn, Interim Staff Attorney
• Tori Andrea, Georgetown Fellow
• Troi D. Bailey, Network and Systems Engineer
• Kelly Bassett, Donor Relations & Special Events Manager
• Jesse Bernstein, Pennoyer Fellow/Senior Associate, Refugee Protection Program
• Lisa Besa, Chief Operating Officer
• Stephen Brownell, Video Producer
• Cynthia Burns, Policy and Program Department Manager
• Devon Chaffee, Advocacy Counsel, Law and Security Program
• Ann-Louise Colgan, Senior Associate, Crimes Against Humanity Program
• David Danzig, Deputy Program Director, Primetime Torture Project Director
• Stephanie DiBello, Program Assistant, Government Advocacy
• Ruthie Epstein, Researcher & Advocate, Refugee Protection Program
• Daphne Eviatar, Senior Associate, Law and Security Program
• Sara Faust, Program Associate/Legal Assistant, Refugee Protection Program
• Joëlle Fiss, Pennoyer Fellow - Combating Hate Crimes, Fighting Discrimination Program
• Katie Fourmy, Office Manager/Program Assistant
• Julia Fromholz, Director, Crimes Against Humanity Program
• Carly Beth Goodman, Campaign Coordinator
• Sarah Graham, Production and Design Supervisor
• Innokenty (Kes) Grekov, Program Associate, Fighting Discrimination Program
• Neil Hicks, International Policy Advisor
• Andrew Hudson, Senior Associate, Human Rights Defenders Program
• Anwen Hughes, Senior Counsel and Deputy Director, Refugee Protection Program
• Nick Humen, Director of Finance
• Kathy Jones, Executive Coordinator, Special Projects
• Sharon Kelly McBride, Director of Communications
• Hannah Kozik, Development Assistant, Development
• Reagan Kuhn, Communications Associate
• Paul LeGendre, Director, Fighting Discrimination Program
• Melina Milazzo, Pennoyer Fellow, Advocacy
• Gabriel Nichols, Web & Database Senior Manager
• Brittany Nuttall, Development Systems Manager
• Kurt Pacquette, Financial Controller, Finance and Administration
• Dawn Reel, Web & E-Communications
• Gabor Rona, International Legal Director and Interim Director, Law and Security Program
• Raechel Sadler, Operations Manager
• Shereen Santalesa, Director of Human Resources
• Renée Schomp, Program Associate, Law and Security Program
• Ethan Simonowitz, Temporary Receptionist/HR Assistant
• Amy Sobel, Chief of Staff
• Brenda Bowser Soder, Media Relations Director
• Anne E. Sovcik, Advocacy Counsel, Refugee Protection Program
• Tad Stahnke, Director of Policy and Programs
• Deborah Stewart, Information Services Analyst
• Matthew Tallarico, Project Coordinator/Analyst
• Andrew Thomas, Program Associate/Legal Assistant, Refugee Protection Program
• Claudia Toloza, Program Assistant, Human Rights Defenders Program
• Isabel Toolan, Program Associate/Legal Assistant, Refugee Protection Program
• Tim Wierzbicki, Chief Development Officer
• Alexandra Wisotsky, Managing Attorney, Refugee Protection Program
• Carolyn Zander, Executive Assistant to President/CEO, WDC

Board of Directors

The following are the members of the Human Rights First Board of Directors, as of March 4, 2010:

• Chair: William D. Zabel, Schulte Roth & Zabel LLP
• Vice-Chairs:

• Tom A. Bernstein, President, Chelsea Piers Management, Inc.
• Kenneth R. Feinberg, Feinberg Rozen, LLP

• Treasurer: Lynda Clarizio, CEO, INVISION, Inc.
• Secretary: A. Whitney Ellsworth, Publishing Consultant
• J. Adam Abram, James River Group, Inc.
• M. Bernard Aidinoff, Sullivan & Cromwell LLP
• Mark Angelson, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, World Color Press
• Raymond M. Brown, Greenbaum, Rowe, Smith & Davis LLP
• Craig Cogut, Pegasus Capital Advisors, L.P.
• Dan Doctoroff, Bloomberg LP
• Donald Francis Donovan, Debevoise & Plimpton LLP
• Gail Furman, Psychologist
• Leslie Gimbel, Bernard F. and Alva B. Gimbel Foundation
• R. Scott Greathead, Wiggin & Dana LLP
• Myrna K. Greenberg, Founder, City Lights Youth Theatre
• Louis Henkin, Columbia University School of Law
• John D. Hutson, President and Dean, Franklin Pierce Law Center, Rear Admiral, JAGC, USN (Ret.)
• Lewis B. Kaden, Vice Chairman & Chief Administrative Officer, Citigroup, Inc
• Kerry Kennedy, RFK Memorial Center for Human Rights
• Jo Backer Laird, Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler LLP
• Robert Todd Lang, Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP
• Westley Moore, Citigroup Global Markets
• Alberto Mora, Mars, Incorporated
• Michael K. Rozen, Feinberg Rozen, LLP
• Barbara A. Schatz, Columbia University School of Law
• Sigourney Weaver, Actor
• Elisa Massimino, Chief Executive Officer and President
• Michael Posner, Founding Executive Director 1978-2006, President 2006-2009, Appointed Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, October 2009
• Marvin E. Frankel, Chairman Emeritus (1920 – 2002)

Councils

Washington DC Council

The following are the members of the Human Rights First Washington, DC Council, as of March 4, 2010:

• Eric Biel, Burson-Marsteller
• Patrick J. Carome, Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale & Dorr LLP
• Bertram W. Carp, Williams & Jensen PLLC
• Joseph Eldridge, The American University
• William T. Garcia, Howrey LLP
• Daryl A. Libow, Sullivan & Cromwell LLP
• Ronald I. Meltzer, Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale & Dorr LLP
• Frank H. Menaker, Jr., DLA Piper
• Thomas H. Milch, Arnold & Porter LLP
• Jerold Oshinsky, Dickstein Shapiro LLP
• Raymond Paretzky, McDermott Will & Emery LLP
• Susan Rappaport, North Ireland/Middle East-Project for Vital Voices
• Margaret Ellen Roggensack, Free the Slaves
• Steven H. Schulman, Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP
• Ralph Steinhardt, George Washington Univ.
• Donald B. Verrilli, Jr., Jenner & Block LLP
• Philip J. Ward, Williams & Connolly LLP

National Council

The following are the members of the Human Rights First National Council, as of March 4, 2010:

• Chair: Talbot D'Alemberte, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL
• Robert L. Bernstein, New York, NY
• Jeffrey L. Bleich, Munger Tolles & Olson L.L.P., San Francisco, CA
• David Brink, Minneapolis, MN
• James J. Brosnahan, Morrison & Foerster L.L.P., San Francisco, CA
• Benjamin Civiletti, Venable L.L.P., Baltimore, MD
• James P. Clark, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher L.L.P., Los Angeles, CA
• William K. Coblentz, Coblentz Patch Duffy & Bass L.L.P., San Francisco, CA
• Jerome B. Falk, Jr., Howard Rice Nemerovski Canady Falk & Rabkin PC, San Francisco, CA
• Frances Farenthold, Smothers Bruni Foundation, Houston, TX
• Larry A. Hammond, Osborn Maledon, Phoenix, AZ
• Mark Harrison, Osborn Maledon, Phoenix, AZ
• Paul H. Irving, Manatt, Phelps & Phillips L.L.P., Los Angeles, CA
• Helene Kaplan, Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom L.L.P., New York, NY
• Johh W. Keker, Keker & Van Nest L.L.P., San Francisco, CA
• Robert Kerrigan, Kerrigan, Estess, Rankin, McLeod & Thompson L.L.P, Pensacola, FL
• Paul Liebenson, Tellabs Inc., Northbrook, IL
• Abner J. Mikva, University of Illinois, Chicago, IL
• Samuel R. Miller, Sidley Austin L.L.P., San Francisco, CA
• Patrick G. Moran, Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal, Chicago, IL
• Steven A. Nissen, NBC Universal, Inc, Los Angeles, CA
• Duane C. Quaini, Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal, Chicago, IL
• Bruce Rabb, Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel L.L.P., New York, NY
• Randall S. Rapp, Woods Equipment Co., Chicago, IL
• W. Reece Smith, Carlton Fields, P.A., Tampa, FL
• Jerold S. Solovy, Jenner & Block, Chicago, IL
• Rose Styron, Roxbury, CT
• Stephen D. Susman, Susman Godfrey L.L.P., Houston, TX
• Steven T. Walther, Federal Election Commission Washington, DC
• Michael W. Zavis, Boca Raton, FL

External links

• Human Rights First website
• Lawyers' Committee on Human Rights information website
• About Witness Program
• Witness Program

References