HUMAN RIGHTS FIRST
75 Broad Street Fl 31, New York, NY 10004 www.humanrightsfirst.org

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Organizations Filed Purposes: Human Rights First is an independent advocacy and action organization that challenges America to live up to its ideals. We believe American leadership is essential in the global struggle for human rights, so we press the U.S. government and private companies to respect human rights and the rule of law. When they fail, we step in to demand reform, accountability and justice. Around the world, we work where we can best harness American influence to secure core freedoms. We know it's not enough to expose and protest injustice, so we create the political environment and policy solutions necessary to ensure consistent respect for human rights. Whether we are protecting refugees, combating torture, or defending persecuted minorities, we focus not on making a point, but on making a difference. For more than 40 years, we've built bipartisan coalitions and teamed up with front line activists and lawyers to tackle global challenges that demand American leadership.

To ensure that the United States is a global leader on human rights.

PROTECTING REFUGEESHuman Rights Firsts Refugee Representation team promotes human rights by assisting refugees fleeing persecution. We achieve this goal by providing 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 2019, volunteer lawyers in the New York, Washington, D.C., Houston, and Los Angeles metropolitan areas provided more than 100,000 hours of in-kind legal services. During that period, we won legal protection for 116 clients and family members and represented more than 1,600 people from 89 countries. We also conducted 16 pro bono attorney trainings, during which we equipped nearly 300 attorneys to represent asylum clients.Among the key 2019 policy achievements resulting from our advocacy to protect refugees were the following:-We were instrumental in preventing Congress from placing legislative limits on asylum.-Secured 4,000 special immigrant visas for Afghans who worked with American military and civilian personnel.Donated Legal and Related Expenses: $56,090,613

ADVANCING A VALUES-BASED FOREIGN POLICYIn 2019, we worked to contain a U.S. retreat from global leadership on human rights while holding the worlds most corrupt actors and human rights abusers accountable for their actions, countering authoritarianism in Europe, the Middle East, and Asia, fighting a rise in antisemitism, and protecting human rights defenders.Among the key 2019 achievements resulting from our advocacy to strengthen the role of human rights in U.S. foreign policy were the following:-The U.S. government issued sanctions designations against nearly 100 individuals and entities involved in serious human rights abuses or corruption under the Global Magnitsky Act.-The UK and EU moved closer to joining the U.S. in establishing targeted sanctions programs concerning human rights violations and acts of significant corruption. -Congress included provisions in the annual National Defense Authorization Act seeking accountability for the murder of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi. -Hundreds of human rights non-government organizations and scholars, led and coordinated by Human Rights First, publicly objected to the U.S. State Departments Commission on Unalienable Rights as a threat to longstanding U.S. government policy concerning human rights. -Members of Congress publicly expressed concern over democracy and human rights backsliding in Hungary, Poland,and Hong Kong.Donated Legal and Related Expenses: $766,416

NATIONAL SECURITY We have worked for more than two decades to challenge U.S. national security policies that violate human rights and undermine U.S. global leadership. In 2019, we pursued several objectives, including: 1) Strengthen the domestic and international law restrictions on the use of counterterrorism war powers that enable extrajudicial killings, indefinite detention, and military tribunals; 2) Secure additional transparency, accountability, oversight, and rule of law protections for the U.S. targeted killing program; 3) Close the detention facilities at Guantanamo, and ensure that the U.S. policies of indefinite detention and trial by military commission are limited and ultimately ended; and 4) Solidify a durable, bipartisan consensus against torture and cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment by closing loopholes that could allow detainee abuse.Among the key 2019 achievements resulting from our advocacy to bring U.S. national security policy into compliance with human rights norms were the following:-We successfully prevented the transfer of new detainees to the detention facilities at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.-We successfully secured legislation providing additional transparency regarding the legal and policy frameworks for U.S. counterterrorism operations.-We prevented passage of a new, expansive Authorization for the Use of Military Force that would undermine human rights in the counterterrorism context.Donated Legal and Related Expenses: $1,998,261

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