Advancing Human Rights

Advancing Human Rights (AHR) is an American international nongovernmental organization focused on human-rights research, advocacy, and practical support for activists operating in closed or repressive societies. Its stated approach is to use democratic institutions, communications technology, and networks of professional expertise to strengthen the work of dissidents and other people seeking greater political and civil freedom. The organization was created in 2010 by Robert L. Bernstein and David Keyes. Bernstein was the founder of Human Rights Watch and a longtime president and chief executive of Random House. Keyes was associated with online dissident advocacy and helped shape AHR's emphasis on digital tools and direct support for activists. AHR's work is connected to several rights concerns, including freedom of expression, women's rights, religious freedom, open education, Internet activism, LGBT rights, and accountability within the human-rights sector. The organization has also identified hate speech as an issue requiring attention in the broader human-rights environment. AHR's principal programs have included CyberDissidents.org, Dissident Squared, and Movements.org. CyberDissidents.org was designed to preserve and amplify the work of online dissidents. It archived and catalogued writings by bloggers and other digital activists from different countries, creating a public outlet for voices that might otherwise be restricted by censorship or political repression. Dissident Squared is an advocacy campaign centered on symbolic street renamings near diplomatic missions of closed societies. Its purpose is to draw public attention to imprisoned or killed dissidents by associating their names with prominent locations in front of embassies. In 2014, the campaign received congressional support for the proposed renaming of the street outside China's embassy in Washington, D.C., as Liu Xiaobo Plaza. Movements.org originated in 2007 as a platform intended to support online human-rights activists. In 2012, a grant from Google enabled the project to come under AHR's management. During the same year, Movements.org collaborated with Al Jazeera on an interactive tool tracking defections from the government of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad. The tool followed reported defections by senior military officials, members of parliament, and diplomats. In July 2014, Movements.org was relaunched as a marketplace-style platform through which dissidents in closed societies could seek legal, public-relations, and technology assistance from professionals in more open societies. AHR therefore operates less like a consumer-facing product company than like a programmatic advocacy platform. Its offerings consist of research, information archives, digital networks, campaign mechanisms, and connections between activists and outside experts. The organization’s public identity is closely associated with technology-enabled solidarity: it seeks to make expertise and communications resources available to people whose ability to organize, publish, or seek assistance is constrained by censorship or state repression. Available reference material does not establish a detailed current organizational structure, revenue profile, headquarters address, or list of present executives. Those details remain unspecified here rather than inferred.

Advancing Human Rights was established in 2010 by Robert L. Bernstein and David Keyes as an international human-rights organization centered on advocacy in closed societies. Bernstein brought experience from the institutional human-rights movement as the founder of Human Rights Watch, as well as from his long career leading Random House. Keyes contributed to the organization’s emphasis on online activism and support for dissident voices. AHR's central theory of change is that activists confronting censorship and political repression can become more effective when they have access to democratic institutions, technology, public visibility, and specialized assistance. Rather than limiting its work to conventional reporting, the organization has developed or supported programs intended to preserve dissident expression, connect activists with outside expertise, and create public campaigns around individual cases and broader freedoms. Its stated concerns include freedom of speech, women's rights, religious liberty, open education, Internet activism, LGBT rights, and accountability among human-rights organizations. The organization has also treated hate speech as a relevant issue within discussions of rights and democratic participation. One of AHR's programs, CyberDissidents.org, focused on online dissidents. It archived and catalogued writings by bloggers and other digital activists from around the world. The archive was intended both to document online expression and to provide an additional outlet for voices that faced censorship or other restrictions in their home countries. This work reflected AHR's broader interest in using communications technology to help activists reach audiences and maintain access to information. Dissident Squared developed a more symbolic form of advocacy. The campaign sought to rename streets in front of embassies representing closed societies after dissidents who had been imprisoned or killed. In June 2014, members of Congress supported the campaign's proposal to call the street in front of the Chinese embassy in Washington, D.C., Liu Xiaobo Plaza. The campaign used a visible civic naming dispute to focus attention on the treatment of Liu Xiaobo and on political repression in China. Movements.org predates AHR. It was founded in 2007 to support online human-rights activists. In 2012, a Google grant allowed the platform to come under AHR's management. Movements.org then collaborated with Al Jazeera on an interactive tracker covering reported defections from Bashar al-Assad's Syrian government. The tracker included senior military officers, members of parliament, and diplomats, and was distributed through Al Jazeera. In July 2014, Movements.org adopted a marketplace-style model that connected dissidents in closed societies with professionals offering legal, public-relations, and technology expertise in open societies. These initiatives show the evolution of AHR's work from documenting and amplifying dissident expression toward building practical service networks around activists. The organization’s public programs combine archival work, campaign advocacy, data presentation, and expert matchmaking. The available reference material does not provide enough information to describe later leadership, funding, program closures, or current operating scale with confidence. Accordingly, the organization’s present status and detailed institutional history remain only partially documented in this dossier.

• 2014

  Congressional support for Liu Xiaobo Plaza campaign

  [1]Advancing Human Rightsen.wikipedia.org

  Members of Congress supported Dissident Squared's proposal to rename the street outside China's embassy in Washington, D.C., Liu Xiaobo Plaza.

• 2014

  Movements.org launches expert marketplace

  [1]Advancing Human Rightsen.wikipedia.org

  Movements.org launched a marketplace connecting dissidents with legal, public-relations, and technology professionals.

• 2012

  Movements.org joins AHR's program portfolio

  [1]Advancing Human Rightsen.wikipedia.org

  A Google grant enabled Movements.org to come under the management of Advancing Human Rights.

• 2012

  Syrian defection tracker launches

  [1]Advancing Human Rightsen.wikipedia.org

  Movements.org collaborated with Al Jazeera on an interactive tracker covering reported defections from the Syrian government.

• 2010

  Advancing Human Rights is created

  [1]Advancing Human Rightsen.wikipedia.org

  Robert L. Bernstein and David Keyes founded Advancing Human Rights as an organization focused on supporting human-rights advocates in closed societies.

• 2007

  Movements.org is founded

  [1]Advancing Human Rightsen.wikipedia.org

  Movements.org was established as a platform supporting online human-rights activists.

A technology-oriented human-rights advocacy organization that supports dissidents and civil-society actors in closed societies through research, public campaigns, archives, and access to professional expertise.

• Digital human-rights archive and activist-support program

  CyberDissidents.org

  CyberDissidents.org supported online dissidents by collecting, archiving, and cataloguing writings from international bloggers and other digital activists. The program was intended to preserve dissident expression, provide an additional channel for publication, and help counter the effects of censorship in countries where online speech was restricted.

• Human-rights advocacy campaign

  Dissident Squared

  Dissident Squared is a campaign using public street naming as a form of human-rights advocacy. It seeks to name streets near embassies of closed societies after dissidents who were imprisoned or killed, turning prominent civic spaces into reminders of political repression and individual cases.

• Activist-support network and expert marketplace · 2007

  Movements.org

  Movements.org was founded to support online human-rights activists and later operated under Advancing Human Rights. Its activities included collaboration with Al Jazeera on a Syrian defection tracker and, from 2014, a marketplace model connecting dissidents in closed societies with legal, public-relations, and technology specialists in open societies.

• 2014Liu Xiaobo Plaza

  United States · China

  Dissident Squared advocated renaming the street in front of the Chinese embassy in Washington, D.C., after Liu Xiaobo, the Chinese writer and dissident. The campaign used a highly visible public-space issue to draw attention to imprisonment and political repression.

  Outcome. Members of Congress supported the campaign, but the available reference material does not establish that the proposed renaming was completed.

  Source

• 2014

  Movements.org launches its expert marketplaceProduct launch

  Background

  AHR sought to provide activists in closed societies with practical resources beyond publicity and documentation.

  Action taken

  Movements.org launched a marketplace through which dissidents could connect with legal, public-relations, and technology professionals in open societies.

  Aftermath

  The platform broadened Movements.org's role from an activist-support site into a service-connection network.

  Source

• 2012

  AHR assumes management of Movements.orgM&A

  Background

  Movements.org had been operating since 2007 as a platform for online human-rights activists. A Google grant supported its transition into the management structure of Advancing Human Rights.

  Action taken

  Advancing Human Rights incorporated Movements.org into its program portfolio rather than treating it as an entirely separate initiative.

  Aftermath

  Movements.org continued developing digital tools and later launched a platform connecting dissidents with professional advisers.

  Source

1. 1Advancing Human Rightsen.wikipedia.org
2. 2Advancing Human Rights official websiteadvancinghumanrights.org