Leo Nevas Program on Human Rights

The Leo Nevas Program on Human Rights is a UNA initiative that will engage all the organizations’s activities toward mobilizing existing and new resources to help the UN take a more effective role in human rights as well get the US involved more in the UN’s efforts. The program will update Global Classroom’s curriculum on human rights; recognize individuals who are advancing human rights with an annual award; and bring together human rights NGOs to collaborate with UN officials and permanent representatives to the UN on ways to improve the operations of the Human Rights Council and other UN related activities.

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October 23, 2009
UNA-USA Statement on Board Member and Human Rights Task Force Member Betty King's Nomination as US Ambassador to the UN in Geneva. The Board of Directors and members of UNA-USA warmly congratulate Betty E. King upon her nomination as US Representative to the Office of the UN and Other International Organizations in Geneva, Switzerland, with the rank of Ambassador.  Read the full statement.

October 21, 2009
The US Needs an Experienced Ambassador to the Human Rights Council
In his most recent column for The World Bulletin, UNA-USA President Tom Miller explains the importance of having a well-informed, experienced human rights practitioner as the US ambassador to the Council. Read more here. Also, please read Tom's letter to President Obama on the issue here.

Aug. 27, 2009
UNA-USA Mourns the Passing of Leo Nevas, the Association's Longest-Serving Board Member Leo was UNA-USA’s longest-serving board member, a true proponent of the importance of the United Nations’ principles as well as a patriotic American and a dear adviser to many of us. Read the full statement.

May 12, 2009
UNA-USA sees new opportunities to advance a human rights agenda now that the US has been elected to the Human Rights Council UNA-USA hopes that today’s election of the United States to the United Nations Human Rights Council marks the beginning of a period of sustained US participation in the council that will result in significant advancement of the human rights agenda at home and abroad. Read the full statement.

April 1, 2009
UNA-USA Applauds US Decision to Seek Election to Human Rights Council. Read more.

March 11, 2009
UNA-USA urges Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to seek full US participation through competitive elections in the Human Rights Council. UNA-USA joined a group prominent human rights groups in signing a letter encouraging the Obama administration to reinforce that commitment by competing on an open slate within the Western European and Others Group. Read the letter.

February 17, 2009
UNA-USA expresses confidence in US decision to engage in pre-negotiations of World Conference Against Racism. Read more

February 14, 2009
UNA-USA joins human rights leaders in applauding US decision to Engage in World Conference Against Racism. Read more

January 14, 2009
UNA-USA Urges Obama to Re-Establish the US as a Leader on Human Rights
UNA-USA joined a group prominent human rights groups in signing on to a letter urging the Obama administration to seek a seat in the UN Human Rights Council; participate in an upcoming UN conference against racism; and appoint a new full-time Geneva-based US ambassador on human rights. Read the Letter.

Analysis

No US Funds for the Human Rights Commissioner

February 17, 2010
By Barbara Crossette
From the beginning of his administration, moves by President Barack Obama to reintegrate the United States in the human rights work of the United Nations have been welcomed worldwide. The US joined the four-year-old Human Rights Council last year for the first time and has sent people experienced in the field to work with it. Read more.

The US Prepares for Scrutiny on Its Human Rights Record

February 17, 2010
By Amanda Vance
The US will face a review of its own human rights record – flaws and otherwise – in December as part of a universal process in the UN’s Human Rights Council. To prepare for the session, the government has started reaching out to local and national civil society groups to discuss the most pressing issues relevant to the US. Read more.

US Sets Conditions for Joining Racism Review (UNA-USA World Bulletin)

Preventing Genocide: An American and Global Imperative (UNA-USA E-news)

January 7, 2009
By Lawrence Woocher
One can hardly imagine anything at greater odds with the vision of the UN Charter than large-scale and deliberate attacks on civilians based on their identity. Indeed, it is no coincidence that the charter’s call for tolerance, fundamental human rights and the dignity and worth of human beings followed shortly after the horrors of the Holocaust. In just its third session, the General Assembly adopted the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. Tragically, however, the treaty has proven inadequate to the challenge of preventing such acts. Read the full article.

It’s Time to Join the Human Rights Council (UNA-USA E-news)

December 10, 2008
By Lawrence Moss
The new UN Human Rights Council has often disappointed even many of us who strongly supported its creation. While it adopted a strong statement regarding Burma (Myanmar), it failed to call for the strong civilian protection measures needed in Darfur and in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, or at all address numerous other grievous human-rights situations around the world, such as Zimbabwe. Israel alone has been repeatedly singled out for harsh criticism. Some critics claim the US would be on high moral ground to continue the Bush administration’s policy of complete disengagement from the council. That would be a huge mistake. Read more.

The Cairo Declaration Weakens Human Rights (UNA-USA Grassroots Voices)

December 10, 2008
By Cy Chandley
According to Louise Arbour, the former High Commissioner for Human Rights, one of the current “existential issues in international human rights,” she said in the summer 2008 issue of UNA-USA’s The InterDependent, is the “rise of cultural relativism and a pushback against the concept of universality.” The Cairo Declaration of Human Rights in Islam, which the Organization of the Islamic Conference, or OIC, is trying to impose upon the Human Rights Council, is a case in point. Read more.

Clearing the Road for the Child Treaty (UNA-USA Grassroots Voices)

By Richard J. Shore
The multibillion-dollar success of the film series “Pirates of the Caribbean” in the US reflects an enduring fascination with piracy, something that is shared with Somalia, where actual piracy has been much publicized lately, but this is not the only thing the two countries share. Of the 192 members of the United Nations, only two have failed to adopt the Convention on the Rights of the Child — the US and perpetually-at-war Somalia. Continue reading.

February 27, 2009
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navanetham Pillay visited the New York offices of UNA-USA to discuss US engagement with the UN on human rights. Read more.

December 15, 2008
In commemoration of Human Rights Day and the 60th anniversary of the signing of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the United Nations Association of the USA and the Newman’s Own Foundation will present the second annual Leo Nevas Human Rights Award at a luncheon at UN Headquarters on Monday, December 15. Read more.