Nongovernmental Organizations

Africa and Middle East Refugee Assistance Legal Aid Project
The mission of AMERA is to promote the legal protection of asylum seekers and refugees through increasing access to administrative justice in international and local institutions; providing legal advice on matters relating to asylum determination, resettlement, family reunification, and other matters relating to the enjoyment of the fundamental rights; and educating members of the legal profession in matters relating to the law affecting refugees in Africa and the Middle East.

American Bar Association Rule of Law Initiative
The Rule of Law Initiative is a public service project of the American Bar Association dedicated to promoting legal reform efforts around the globe. The Rule of Law Initiative believes that rule of law promotion is the most effective long-term antidote to the pressing problems facing the world community today, including poverty, economic stagnation, and conflict.

American Non-Governmental Organizations Coalition for the ICC
AMICC is a coalition of non-governmental organizations committed to achieving full United States support for the International Criminal Court (ICC) and the earliest possible US ratification of the Court's Rome Statute. AMICC members believe that strong participation by the US in the ICC is essential to the future of the Court as an effective institution.

Amnesty International
Amnesty International is principally concerned with the dissemination and education of all human rights as outlined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Amnesty International plans research and takes action aimed at preventing and ending grave abuses of these rights, demanding that all governments and other powerful entities respect the rule of law.

Center for Constitutional Rights
The Center for Constitutional Rights is a nonprofit legal and educational organization dedicated to protecting and advancing the rights guaranteed by the US Constitution and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Center for International Environmental Law
The Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL) is a nonprofit organization working to use international law and institutions to protect the environment, promote human health, and ensure a just and sustainable society. CIEL provide a wide range of services including legal counsel, policy research, analysis, advocacy, education, training, and capacity building.

Center for Justice and Accountability (CJA)
The Center for Justice and Accountability is an international human rights legal services organization. Through litigation and other advocacy CJA seeks redress for victims of gross human rights violations and raises public awareness about torture and other abuses.

Center for Justice and International Law (CEJIL)
CEJIL works to ensure full implementation of international human rights norms in the Organization of American States (OAS) through the use of the Inter-American Commission and Court. CEJIL represents victims before the Commission and the Court, assists activists in bringing cases, and provides training and guidance on effectively using the Inter-American human rights mechanisms.

Center for Reproductive Rights
The Center for Reproductive Rights uses the law to advance reproductive freedom as a fundamental right that all governments are legally obligated to protect, respect and fulfill. The Center has strengthened reproductive health laws and policies across the globe by working with more than 100 organizations in 45 nations including countries in Africa, Asia, East Central Europe, and Latin America and the Caribbean.

EarthRights International (ERI)
EarthRights International works to protect humans and their natural environments from abuses occurring in the name of development. ERI has offices in the US and Southeast Asia.

Earthjustice
Earthjustice is dedicated to protecting the environment. Earthjustice strives to bring about far-reaching change by enforcing and strengthening environmental laws on behalf of organizations and communities.

Environmental Law Alliance Worldwide (ELAW)
ELAW is an international alliance of public interest attorneys and scientists dedicated to defending the environment and human rights in their home countries. ELAW US assists public interest advocates around the world in gaining the skills and resources they need to protect the environment through law.

Environmental Law Institute
The Environmental Law Institute is an internationally recognized, independent research and education center that works to advance environmental protection by improving law, policy, and management.

Global Rights
Global Rights is a human rights advocacy group that partners with local activists to challenge injustice and amplify new voices with the global discourse.

Human Rights in China
Human Rights in China (HRIC) is an international, Chinese, non-governmental organization with a mission to promote international human rights and advance the institutional protection of these rights in the People's Republic of China. HRIC's board and staff include Chinese, North American, and European individuals devoted to fostering greater space for democratic reforms and social justice.

Human Rights First
Human Rights First protects people at risk: refugees who flee persecution, victims of crimes against humanity or other mass human rights violations, victims of discrimination, those whose rights are eroded in the name of national security, and human rights advocates who are targeted for defending the rights of others. Human Rights First works to prevent violations against these groups and to seek justice and accountability for violations against them.

Human Rights Watch (HRW)
HRW is the largest US-based international human rights organization. Through its reporting and advocacy campaigns it seeks to publicize abuses committed by governments and exert pressure on national governments and international entities.

Immigrant and Refugee Appellate Center
The Immigrant and Refugee Appellate Center (IRAC) is a public interest immigration law firm. It is dedicated to representing persons from throughout the world in immigration matters.

International City/County Management Association
Founded in 1914, the International City/County Management Association (ICMA) is the professional and educational association for more than 8,000 appointed administrators and assistant administrators serving cities, counties, other local governments, and regional entities around the world. ICMA's mission is to create excellence in local government by developing and fostering professional local government management worldwide.

International Commission of Jurists
The International Commission of Jurists is dedicated to the primacy, coherence and implementation of international law and principles that advance human rights. It is impartial, objective and authoritative legal approach to the protection and promotion of human rights through the rule of law. The ICJ provides legal expertise at both the international and national levels to ensure that developments in international law adhere to human rights principles and that international standards are implemented at the national level.

International Crisis Group
The International Crisis Group is an independent, non-profit, multinational organization with over 80 staff members on five continents, working through field-based analysis and high-level advocacy to prevent and resolve deadly conflict.

International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights
The International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights is a self-governing group of non-governmental, not-for-profit organizations that act to protect human rights throughout Europe, North America, and the Central Asian republics formed from the territories of the former Soviet Union. A primary specific goal is the monitor compliance with the human rights provisions of the Helsinki Final Act and its Follow-up Documents.

International Institute of Humanitarian Law
The International Institute of Humanitarian Law is an independent, non-profit humanitarian organization founded in 1970. The main purpose of the Institute is to promote international humanitarian law, human rights, refugee law and related issues.

International Justice Mission
International Justice Mission is a human rights agency that secures justice for victims of slavery, sexual exploitation and other forms of violent oppression. IJM lawyers, investigators and aftercare professionals work with local officials to ensure immediate victim rescue and aftercare, to prosecute perpetrators and to promote functioning public justice systems.

International Law Institute (ILI)
The ILI is an independent, non-profit educational institution serving an international constituency of government officials, legal and business professionals and scholars from its headquarters in Washington, D.C. ILI's mission is to raise levels of professional competence and capacity in all nations so that professionals everywhere may achieve practical solutions to common problems in ways that suit their nations' own needs.

International Republican Institute
The International Republican Institute is a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting democracy and the rule of law throughout the world.

International Rescue Committee (IRC)
The IRC helps people worldwide who are fleeing racial, religious, and ethnic persecution as well as those uprooted by war and violence. IRC staff and volunteers work in some of the most economically devastated, politically unstable places in Africa, Asia, and Europe, including the former Yugoslavia, Rwanda, and the former Soviet Union. Its activities include providing medical services, food and shelter, and public health and sanitation assistance in refugee emergencies.

International Service for Human Rights
The International Service for Human Rights (ISHR) is an international non-governmental organization serving human rights defenders. ISHR's vision is the development, strengthening, effective use and implementation of international and regional standards and mechanisms for the protection and promotion of human rights.

Minnesota Advocates for Human Rights
Minnesota Advocates for Human Rights is dedicated to the promotion and protection of internationally recognized human rights. Minnesota Advocates documents human rights abuses, advocates on behalf of individual victims, educates on human rights issues, and provides training and technical assistance to address and prevent human rights violations.

National Democratic Institute for International Affairs
The National Democratic Institute for International Affairs (NDI) is a nonprofit organization working to strengthen and expand democracy worldwide. Calling on a global network of volunteer experts, NDI provides practical assistance to civic and political leaders advancing democratic values, practices and institutions. NDI works with democrats in every region of the world to build political and civic organizations, safeguard elections, and to promote citizen participation, openness and accountability in government.

Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC)
The NRDC is dedicated to protecting the global environment and preserving natural resources through litigation. Its staff includes resource specialists, scientists, and attorneys.

Open Society Institute
The Open Society Institute works to build vibrant and tolerant democracies whose governments are accountable to their citizens. To achieve its mission, OSI seeks to shape public policies that assure greater fairness in political, legal, and economic systems and to safeguard fundamental rights.