Human Rights First

Previously known as Lawyers Committee for Human Rights, and now rechristened as Human Rights First. Founded in 1977 by Jerome Shestack.

• Winner of the 1984 Arthur C. Helton Human Rights Award
• NGO Advisory Council, Fair Labor Association

HFS Events

One of the principal events that HFS organizes is its annual awards ceremony which as a means to promote HFS's favorite human rights advocate, and as a networking opportunity so that HFS's rich funders can meet lawyers who have signed up for HFS. The list of the principals and the pet-human-rights-defender-of-the-year can be found in thislist

Staff and Principals

Board of Directors
William D. Zabel – Chair Schulte Roth & Zabel LLP	Tom A. Bernstein – Vice-Chair President, Chelsea Piers Management, Inc.	Kenneth R. Feinberg – Vice-Chair Feinberg Rozen, LLP
Gail Furman – Vice-Chair Psychologist	Roberta Karp – Secretary Attorney	Lynda Clarizio – Treasurer Chief Executive Officer, Invision Inc.
Elisa Massimino – President Chief Executive Officer, Human Rights First	J. Adam Abram James River Group, Inc.	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
Alston Gardner Fulcrum Ventures	Leslie Gimbel Bernard F. and Alva B. Gimbel Foundation	R. Scott Greathead Wiggin & Dana LLP
Myrna K. Greenberg Founder, City Lights Youth Theatre	John D. Hutson Dean Emeritus RADM JAGC, USN (Ret.)	Lewis B. Kaden Vice Chairman & Chief Administrative Officer, Citigroup, Inc
Kerry Kennedy RFK Center for Justice and 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	Lev A. Sviridov The City College of New York-CUNY	Richard R. Verma Steptoe & Johnson, LLP
Damian Williams Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP	James W. Ziglar Senior Fellow, Migration Policy Institute Senior Counsel, Van Ness Feldman	James D. Zirin Sidley Austin LLP
Emeritus
Michael Posner Founding Executive Director 1978-2006, President 2006-2009	M. Bernard Aidinoff	Michael Davis
Phil Lacovara	James R. Silkenat	Rose Styron
In Memoriam
A. Whitney Ellsworth (1936-2011)	Marvin E. Frankel Chairman Emeritus (1920-2002)	Louis Henkin (1917-2010)
Robert Joffe (1943-2010)	Jerome Shestack (1923-2011)
Board of Advocates
James J. Benjamin Jr. New York, NY	Eric Biel Washington, DC	Cathleen Collins New York, NY/Los Angeles, CA
Brigadier General James Cullen, USA (Ret.) New York, NY	James R. Dugan II New Orleans, LA	Terry Friedman Los Angeles, CA
Jennifer S. Geetter Washington, DC	Marcy Harris New York, NY	Virginia Joffe New York, NY
Steven J. Kolleeny New York, NY	Marc Lawrence-Apfelbaum New York, NY	James Leitner Wyckoff, NJ
David P. Matthews Houston, TX	Tatiana Maxwell Boulder, Colorado	Marcellus McRae Los Angeles, CA
Julie A. North New York, NY	David Rudenstine New York, NY	Lynn Savarese New York, NY
Steven H. Schulman Washington, DC	Robert D. Sloan New Orleans, LA	Mary Ann Stein Washington, DC
Debra Brown Steinberg New York, NY
Source
Human Rights First: About Us

Staff 2012
Elisa Massimino President and CEO	Eleanor Acer Director Refugee Protection Program	Lori Adams Managing Attorney Refugee Protection Program
Vanessa Allyn Staff Attorney Refugee Protection Program	Troi D. Bailey Network and Systems Engineer	Kelly Bassett Donor Relations & Special Events Manager
Duncan Breen Senior Associate Refugee Protection Program	Michaela Brown Exec. Asst. to President/CEO	Stephen Brownell Video Producer
Cynthia Burns Program Operations Manager	Winny Chen Pennoyer Fellow/Senior Associate Crimes Against Humanity Program	Gina Del Chiaro Leon Levy Fellow Refugee Protection Program
Marc Jayson Climaco Program and Communications Asst.	Brian Dooley Director Human Rights Defenders Program	Frédérique Drouin Program Associate/Legal Asst. Refugee Protection Program
Corinne Duffy Media Relations Asst.	Ruthie Epstein Researcher & Advocate Refugee Protection Program	Daphne Eviatar Senior Associate Law and Security Program
[[Jo&umle;lle Fiss]] Senior Associate Fighting Discrimination Program	Rob Friedlander Major Gifts Officer Development	Sarah Graham Production and Design Supervisor
Innokenty (Kes) Grekov Program Associate Fighting Discrimination Program	Sadia Hameed Director Crimes Against Humanity Program	Patrick Hanley Program Associate Law and Security Program
Mary Hedahl Director of Development	Neil Hicks International Policy Advisor	Justin Howard Web Publisher
Anwen Hughes Senior Counsel and Deputy Director Refugee Protection Program	Nick Humen Director of Finance	Adam Jacobson Program Asst. Law and Security Program
Kathy Jones Director of Special Projects Development	Yasmin Khan Director of Foundations	Sharon Kelly McBride Director of Communications
Pam Kingpetcharat Chief Administrative Officer	Paul LeGendre Director Fighting Discrimination Program	Robyn Lieberman Senior Advocacy Strategist
Carla Medina Receptionist / Office Services Asst.	Melina Milazzo Pennoyer Fellow Law and Security Program	Nikki Minard Web & New Media Manager
David Mizner Senior Writer/Editor	Gabriel Nichols Web & Database Senior Manager	Brittany Nuttall Development Systems Manager
Quinn O'Keefe Senior Associate Human Rights Defenders Program	C. Dixon Osburn Director Law and Security Program	Kurt Pacquette Financial Controller Finance and Administration
Kathryn Plummer Office Manager/Program Asst. Government Advocacy	Liszette Reyes Facilities/Operations Manager	Meg Roggensack Senior Advisor Business and Human Rights Initiative
Gabor Rona International Legal Director	Dennis Rosensteel IT Support Associate	Alison Searle Administrative Asst. for Advocacy
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	Pamela Takiff Advisor Fighting Discrimination Program
Claudia Toloza Program Associate/Legal Asst. Refugee Protection Program	Isabel Toolan Program Associate/Legal Asst. Refugee Protection Program	Lauren Trinka Development Asst.
Raha Wala Advocacy Counsel Law and Security Program
Source
Human Rights First: Staff

Former Human Rights First Principals and Staff

Funding

Human Rights First: Funding

Contact details

Human Rights First

333 Seventh Avenue

13th Floor

New York, NY 10001-5004

Tel: (212) 845 5200

Email: communications AT humanrightsfirst.org

Web: www.humanrightsfirst.org

Resources and articles

Related Sourcewatch

• Andrew Hudson
• Mary Holland

External Resources

• Nabeel Abraham, et al.; International Human Rights Organizations and the Palestine Question, Middle East Report (MERIP), Vol. 18, No. 1, Jan.-Feb. 1988, pp. 12 – 20. The article reviews the history and the coverage of Palestinian human rights by ten different organizations – one of them is HRF (under its previous name). It clearly indicates that several organizations were biased. It is a seminal article in the analysis of what is now called "the politics of human rights."