Advancing Human Rights
Encyclopedia
Advancing Human Rights is an non-governmental organization “dedicated to individual liberty and good governance.” Founded in 2011, AHR is based in New York City and advocates for fundamental freedoms with a focus on “closed societies.”
, and that instead the international human rights community has focused its limited resources disproportionately on democratic states and their behavior in combat. AHR believes there should be a return to focusing on the Universal Declaration in "authoritarian countries without free speech or corrective mechanisms."
AHR argues that domestic human rights groups in democratic countries openly criticize their governments, while non-democratic states are incapable of self-correction because they lack the basic liberties necessary. Instead, as one Human Rights Watch board member confided to the New Republic, open societies become “low-hanging fruit” because of their easy access to information and human rights groups’ need to seek “the limelight.”
AHR “returns to the values outlined in the Universal Declaration while focusing primarily on unfree states” that do not have domestic “means to correct human rights violations.” The organization was started by Robert L. Bernstein
, the founder of Human Rights Watch
, and David Keyes, who is AHR's Executive Director and co-founder of CyberDissidents.org
.
, James Michener, Dr. Seuss
, Toni Morrison
and William Styron
. After being invited to the Soviet Union
as part of a delegation from the Association of American Publishers
, he became interested in writers whose work could not be published in their own countries. Beginning with Andrei Sakharov
and Elena Bonner, he ensured that authors like Václav Havel
, Jacobo Timerman
and Wei Jingsheng
were published at Random House.
After his experience in Moscow in 1973, Bernstein returned to the U.S. and established the Fund for Free Expression, the parent organization of Helsinki Watch
which later became Human Rights Watch
. Bernstein served as the Founding Chair of Human Rights Watch
until 1990 and thereafter as the Founding Chair Emeritus. He is also Chair Emeritus of the largest Chinese human rights organization, Human Rights in China
, with offices in New York
, Hong Kong
and Brussels
.
In October 2009 Bernstein wrote an OpEd for the New York Times criticizing Human Rights Watch
for what he considered its unfair treatment of Israel
. He argued that the organization he founded had "lost its critical perspective on a conflict in which Israel has been repeatedly attacked by Hamas and Hezbollah, organizations that go after Israeli citizens and use their own people as human shields."
Keyes served as coordinator for democracy programs under famed Soviet dissident, Natan Sharansky. In 2010, he spoke in the United States Congress, Italian parliament and Google, and he has been featured on PBS, Bloomberg TV, Voice of America and other forums. He has written for Reuters, The Wall Street Journal, The Daily Beast and many other newspapers. A self-described “Sharanskyite”, Keyes has been a staunch advocate of basic liberties around the world. He often references the legacy of Soviet dissidents including Andrei Sakharov, Andrei Amalrik, Anatoly Marchenko, Elena Bonner and Vladamir Bukovsky. Keyes speaks Arabic, Hebrew and English.
and Straight Talk on Human Rights. CyberDissidents.org promotes freedom of expression for bloggers and online activists in the Arab world
and Iran
. In late 2010, it launched a Blogger Board composed of some of the best-recognized dissidents in the Middle East and North Africa.
CyberDissidents.org has been praised by the director of policy at Google, a former US ambassador to the EU, Natan Sharansky and other leading public figures.
Straight Talk on Human Rights is a platform for common-sense approaches to key questions in human rights. Of particular focus will be freedom of speech, women’s rights, asymmetric war and incitement to genocide.
Profile
AHR was founded on the view that human rights groups have strayed from focusing on the principles of the Universal Declaration of Human RightsUniversal Declaration of Human Rights
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights is a declaration adopted by the United Nations General Assembly . The Declaration arose directly from the experience of the Second World War and represents the first global expression of rights to which all human beings are inherently entitled...
, and that instead the international human rights community has focused its limited resources disproportionately on democratic states and their behavior in combat. AHR believes there should be a return to focusing on the Universal Declaration in "authoritarian countries without free speech or corrective mechanisms."
AHR argues that domestic human rights groups in democratic countries openly criticize their governments, while non-democratic states are incapable of self-correction because they lack the basic liberties necessary. Instead, as one Human Rights Watch board member confided to the New Republic, open societies become “low-hanging fruit” because of their easy access to information and human rights groups’ need to seek “the limelight.”
AHR “returns to the values outlined in the Universal Declaration while focusing primarily on unfree states” that do not have domestic “means to correct human rights violations.” The organization was started by Robert L. Bernstein
Robert L. Bernstein
-Career in Publishing:Bernstein started as an office boy at Simon & Schuster in 1946, moved to Random House in 1956 and succeeded Bennett Cerf as President and CEO in 1966. He served as the President of Random House for 25 years. He published many great American authors, including William...
, the founder of Human Rights Watch
Human Rights Watch
Human Rights Watch is an international non-governmental organization that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. Its headquarters are in New York City and it has offices in Berlin, Beirut, Brussels, Chicago, Geneva, Johannesburg, London, Los Angeles, Moscow, Paris, San Francisco, Tokyo,...
, and David Keyes, who is AHR's Executive Director and co-founder of CyberDissidents.org
CyberDissidents.org
CyberDissidents.org is a human rights organization dedicated to promoting the voices of pro-democracy Internet activists in the Arab world and Iran...
.
Key staff
Bernstein served as the President of Random House for 25 years. He published many great American authors, including William FaulknerWilliam Faulkner
William Cuthbert Faulkner was an American writer from Oxford, Mississippi. Faulkner worked in a variety of media; he wrote novels, short stories, a play, poetry, essays and screenplays during his career...
, James Michener, Dr. Seuss
Dr. Seuss
Theodor Seuss Geisel was an American writer, poet, and cartoonist most widely known for his children's books written under the pen names Dr. Seuss, Theo LeSieg and, in one case, Rosetta Stone....
, Toni Morrison
Toni Morrison
Toni Morrison is a Nobel Prize and Pulitzer Prize-winning American novelist, editor, and professor. Her novels are known for their epic themes, vivid dialogue, and richly detailed characters. Among her best known novels are The Bluest Eye, Song of Solomon and Beloved...
and William Styron
William Styron
William Clark Styron, Jr. was an American novelist and essayist who won major literary awards for his work.For much of his career, Styron was best known for his novels, which included...
. After being invited to the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
as part of a delegation from the Association of American Publishers
Association of American Publishers
The Association of American Publishers is the national trade association of the American book publishing industry. AAP has more than 300 members, including most of the major commercial publishers in the United States, as well as smaller and non-profit publishers, university presses and scholarly...
, he became interested in writers whose work could not be published in their own countries. Beginning with Andrei Sakharov
Andrei Sakharov
Andrei Dmitrievich Sakharov was a Soviet nuclear physicist, dissident and human rights activist. He earned renown as the designer of the Soviet Union's Third Idea, a codename for Soviet development of thermonuclear weapons. Sakharov was an advocate of civil liberties and civil reforms in the...
and Elena Bonner, he ensured that authors like Václav Havel
Václav Havel
Václav Havel is a Czech playwright, essayist, poet, dissident and politician. He was the tenth and last President of Czechoslovakia and the first President of the Czech Republic . He has written over twenty plays and numerous non-fiction works, translated internationally...
, Jacobo Timerman
Jacobo Timerman
Jacobo Timerman was an Argentine publisher, journalist, and author who was persecuted and honored for confronting the atrocities of the Argentine military regime's Dirty War...
and Wei Jingsheng
Wei Jingsheng
Wei Jingsheng is a Chinese activist known for his involvement in the Chinese democracy movement, most prominent for authoring the document Fifth Modernization on the "Democracy Wall" in Beijing in 1978. He is generally known for getting arrested and spending 15 years in prison due to the document...
were published at Random House.
After his experience in Moscow in 1973, Bernstein returned to the U.S. and established the Fund for Free Expression, the parent organization of Helsinki Watch
Helsinki Watch
Helsinki Watch was a private American NGO devoted to monitoring Helsinki implementation throughout the Soviet bloc. It was created in 1978 to monitor compliance to the Helsinki Final Act...
which later became Human Rights Watch
Human Rights Watch
Human Rights Watch is an international non-governmental organization that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. Its headquarters are in New York City and it has offices in Berlin, Beirut, Brussels, Chicago, Geneva, Johannesburg, London, Los Angeles, Moscow, Paris, San Francisco, Tokyo,...
. Bernstein served as the Founding Chair of Human Rights Watch
Human Rights Watch
Human Rights Watch is an international non-governmental organization that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. Its headquarters are in New York City and it has offices in Berlin, Beirut, Brussels, Chicago, Geneva, Johannesburg, London, Los Angeles, Moscow, Paris, San Francisco, Tokyo,...
until 1990 and thereafter as the Founding Chair Emeritus. He is also Chair Emeritus of the largest Chinese human rights organization, Human Rights in China
Human Rights in China
Human Rights in China is a New York-based international, Chinese, non-governmental organization with a mission to promote international human rights and advance the institutional protection of these rights in the People's Republic of China....
, with offices in New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
, Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
and Brussels
Brussels
Brussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union...
.
In October 2009 Bernstein wrote an OpEd for the New York Times criticizing Human Rights Watch
Human Rights Watch
Human Rights Watch is an international non-governmental organization that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. Its headquarters are in New York City and it has offices in Berlin, Beirut, Brussels, Chicago, Geneva, Johannesburg, London, Los Angeles, Moscow, Paris, San Francisco, Tokyo,...
for what he considered its unfair treatment of Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
. He argued that the organization he founded had "lost its critical perspective on a conflict in which Israel has been repeatedly attacked by Hamas and Hezbollah, organizations that go after Israeli citizens and use their own people as human shields."
Keyes served as coordinator for democracy programs under famed Soviet dissident, Natan Sharansky. In 2010, he spoke in the United States Congress, Italian parliament and Google, and he has been featured on PBS, Bloomberg TV, Voice of America and other forums. He has written for Reuters, The Wall Street Journal, The Daily Beast and many other newspapers. A self-described “Sharanskyite”, Keyes has been a staunch advocate of basic liberties around the world. He often references the legacy of Soviet dissidents including Andrei Sakharov, Andrei Amalrik, Anatoly Marchenko, Elena Bonner and Vladamir Bukovsky. Keyes speaks Arabic, Hebrew and English.
Programs
AHR currently runs two programs: CyberDissidents.orgCyberDissidents.org
CyberDissidents.org is a human rights organization dedicated to promoting the voices of pro-democracy Internet activists in the Arab world and Iran...
and Straight Talk on Human Rights. CyberDissidents.org promotes freedom of expression for bloggers and online activists in the Arab world
Arab world
The Arab world refers to Arabic-speaking states, territories and populations in North Africa, Western Asia and elsewhere.The standard definition of the Arab world comprises the 22 states and territories of the Arab League stretching from the Atlantic Ocean in the west to the Arabian Sea in the...
and Iran
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
. In late 2010, it launched a Blogger Board composed of some of the best-recognized dissidents in the Middle East and North Africa.
CyberDissidents.org has been praised by the director of policy at Google, a former US ambassador to the EU, Natan Sharansky and other leading public figures.
Straight Talk on Human Rights is a platform for common-sense approaches to key questions in human rights. Of particular focus will be freedom of speech, women’s rights, asymmetric war and incitement to genocide.
Issues
- Freedom of speechFreedom of speechFreedom of speech is the freedom to speak freely without censorship. The term freedom of expression is sometimes used synonymously, but includes any act of seeking, receiving and imparting information or ideas, regardless of the medium used...
- Women’s rights
- Religious freedom
- Open educationOpen educationNot to be confused with Open educational resourcesOpen education is a collective term that refers to educational organizations that seek to eliminate barriers to entry. Such institutions, for example, would not have academic admission requirements. Such universities include Open University in...
- Internet activismInternet activismInternet activism is the use of electronic communication technologies such as e-mail, the World Wide Web, and podcasts for various forms of activism to enable faster communications by citizen movements and the delivery of local information to a large audience...
- Hate speechHate speechHate speech is, outside the law, any communication that disparages a person or a group on the basis of some characteristic such as race, color, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, nationality, religion, or other characteristic....
- Human rights groups’ accountability
Board
- Robert L. BernsteinRobert L. Bernstein-Career in Publishing:Bernstein started as an office boy at Simon & Schuster in 1946, moved to Random House in 1956 and succeeded Bennett Cerf as President and CEO in 1966. He served as the President of Random House for 25 years. He published many great American authors, including William...
- David KeyesDavid KeyesDavid Keyes is the Executive Director of Advancing Human Rights and co-founder of CyberDissidents.org. He served as coordinator for democracy programs under Soviet dissident Natan Sharansky and assisted a former UN ambassador...
- Colonel Richard Kemp
- Joseph Birman
- Lori Evans Bernstein
- Scott Greathead
- Stephen Apkon
- Yelena BonnerYelena BonnerYelena Bonner was a human rights activist in the former Soviet Union and wife of the noted physicist and dissident Andrei Sakharov. During her decades as a dissident, Bonner was noted for her characteristic blunt honesty and courage.-Youth:...
- Irwin CotlerIrwin CotlerIrwin Cotler, PC, OC, MP was Canada's Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada from 2003 until the Liberal government of Paul Martin lost power following the 2006 federal election. He was first elected to the Canadian House of Commons for the constituency of Mount Royal in a by-election...
- Anthony JuliusAnthony JuliusAnthony Julius is a prominent British lawyer and academic, best known for his actions on behalf of Diana, Princess of Wales, Deborah Lipstadt and more recently Heather Mills...
- Stuart Robinowitz