Our Voices
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From Access to Belonging: How Mentorship Changes the Way Young People See Themselves
Tags Share Some of the most important lessons I learned did not come from a classroom or a textbook. They came from folding clothes at Abraham’s, a local clothing store in Indianola, Mississippi, and serving customers during a Chick-fil-A lunch rush. Long before I had a title or a clear plan for the future, I
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Protecting Local Democracy in Queens
Tags Share Often hailed as the world’s borough, Queens is one of the most diverse places in the United States. Walking through Diversity Plaza, it is easy to hear a few dozen of the hundreds of languages spoken in Queens. It is also the perfect place to indulge in jhol momos, watch a traditional Filipino
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Outgrowing the Yard: The Reality of Off-Campus Life at Howard University
Tags Share Every spring at Howard University, a familiar anxiety returns for rising juniors and seniors: the Fall Housing Application. For many, this moment signals the end of living within the relative stability of university-managed housing and the beginning of a scramble to secure safe, affordable, and accessible off-campus accommodations. Students often enter this process
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Uganda: The Kennedy Human Rights Center Condemns the Suspension of Chapter Four Uganda Amidst Escalating Restrictions on Civic Space Ahead of January 15 Elections
Tags Share The Robert & Ethel Kennedy Human Rights Center strongly condemns the decision by Uganda’s National Bureau for Non-Governmental Organizations (NGO Bureau) to suspend the operations of Chapter Four Uganda, a leading human rights organization, in a move that further undermines civic space and democratic participation ahead of Uganda’s elections scheduled for January 15.
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WIVB4: ICE agents will no longer have access to detainees’ mail at Batavia facility
Tags Share WIVB4 reports that ICE agents working at the Buffalo Federal Detention Facility in Batavia will no longer have access to confidential mail belonging to detainees following a court settlement. The lawsuit was originally brought against the Department of Homeland Security and the Batavia facility following allegations that the facility revised its policy to
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PIX11: What happens after an ICE arrest?
Tags Share Speaking with PIX11, our Vice President of Advocacy and Litigation, Anthony Enriquez, explains the systems of abuse and power that underlie ICE arrests. Enriquez explains that when people are arrested and processed, they are often moved, and “that power is abused to punish people.” “What we really need to do is take a
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Kennedy Human Rights Center Submits Input to the UN Human Rights Committee to Inform General Comment No. 38 on Freedom of Association
Tags Share The Kennedy Human Rights Center’s General Comment 38 submission provides a comparative analysis of freedom of association, offering an overview of the issues facing the right to freedom of association around the globe and the state of international human rights law on the right. It focuses in particular on country experiences and human
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Latin America: The Most Dangerous Region to Defend the Planet
Tags Share For over a decade, Latin America has remained the most dangerous region to fight against extractive projects and defend the environment and land. The highest proportion of cases involving violence against environmental human rights defenders (EHRDs) documented in 2024 (82%) has taken place in Latin America, according to the latest report of Global
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As Reza Khandan Marks One Year in Prison, Human Rights Organizations and Lawyers Join Call for his Release in Iran
Tags Share On the anniversary of activist Reza Khandan’s arrest, the Robert & Ethel Kennedy Human Rights Center, PEN America, and the NYC Bar Association jointly call for his immediate release. Khandan, the husband of internationally renowned human rights activist, lawyer, and 2011 PEN America Freedom to Write Awardee Nasrin Sotoudeh, has long campaigned for
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Prensa Libre: Guatemala apologizes for the forced disappearance of 4 indigenous activists in 1989
Tags Share Decades after the Guatemalan government forcibly disappeared four indigenous human rights defenders, the country has offered a public apology to the victims’ families. Speaking in a ceremony on December 12, the President of Guatemala, Bernardo Arévalo, apologized and acknowledged that the Guatemalan state failed to fulfill its obligations to investigate, prosecute, and punish
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El Paìs: Arévalo apologizes for the forced disappearances during Guatemala’s Civil War
Tags Share Partnering with CERJ, the Kennedy Human Rights Center represented four forcibly disappeared indigenous human rights defenders in Guatemala. After the November 2024 ruling by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights found the government responsible, the President of Guatemala, Bernardo Arévalo, offered public apologies during a formal ceremony in December 2025. El Paìs reports
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