Category: Events

Human Rights Educators USA’s annual Training as Action Series (TAAS) is a virtual training series focused on bridging personal and collective action on some of the most critical human rights issues of today. TAAS creates an educational space to connect and collaborate with others in human rights education and training. It also gives participants the skills and information needed to take action on rights issues in their communities. The 2023-2024 training series will celebrate the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) and center on the theme, “Protecting Democracy, Promoting Human Rights.” Sessions will discuss topics such as voting rights, facilitating difficult conversations, organizing an advocacy campaign, communicating with decision makers, protesting, and mental wellness.

Sessions

• Introduction to HRE USA and Human Rights Education (Thursday, September 28th, 7-8 pm ET)
• Protecting Democracy, Promoting Human Rights (Thursday, October 5th, 7-8:30 pm ET)
• Voting Rights: What You Can Do to Combat Voter Suppression(Thursday, October 12th, 7-9 pm ET)
• Calling In: Facilitating Difficult Conversations (Thursday, October 19th, 7-9 pm ET)
• Human Rights in Action: Organizing an Advocacy Campaign (Thursday, October 26th, 7-9 pm ET)
• Communicating with Decision Makers: How to Contact Influential Figures (Thursday, November 2nd, 7-9 pm ET)
• Protest and Beyond: Powerful Ways to Promote Your Message(Thursday, November 9th, 7-9 pm ET)
• Finding Joy: Integrating Mental Wellness into Your Advocacy Strategies (Thursday, November 16th, 7-9 pm ET)

>> Learn more

>> Register

Human Rights Educators USA’s annual Training as Action Series (TAAS) is a virtual training series focused on bridging personal and collective action on some of the most critical human rights issues of today. TAAS creates an educational space to connect and collaborate with others in human rights education and training. It also gives participants the skills and information needed to take action on rights issues in their communities. The 2023-2024 training series will celebrate the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) and center on the theme, “Protecting Democracy, Promoting Human Rights.” Sessions will discuss topics such as voting rights, facilitating difficult conversations, organizing an advocacy campaign, communicating with decision makers, protesting, and mental wellness.

More information about TAAS

Register here

Download flyer

Sessions

• Introduction to HRE USA and Human Rights Education (Thursday, September 28th, 7-8 pm ET)
• Protecting Democracy, Promoting Human Rights (Thursday, October 5th, 7-8:30 pm ET)
• Voting Rights: What You Can Do to Combat Voter Suppression (Thursday, October 12th, 7-9 pm ET)
• Calling In: Facilitating Difficult Conversations (Thursday, October 19th, 7-9 pm ET)
• Human Rights in Action: Organizing an Advocacy Campaign (Thursday, October 26th, 7-9 pm ET)
• Communicating with Decision Makers: How to Contact Influential Figures (Thursday, November 2nd, 7-9 pm ET)
• Protest and Beyond: Powerful Ways to Promote Your Message (Thursday, November 9th, 7-9 pm ET)
• Finding Joy: Integrating Mental Wellness into Your Advocacy Strategies (Thursday, November 16th, 7-9 pm ET)

HRE USA is grateful for the 2023-24 TAAS Co-Sponsors to make this series possible:

In 1993, the United Nations proclaimed May 22 the International Day for Biological Diversity (IDB) to increase understanding and awareness of biodiversity issues. According to UNESCO:

Biodiversity is the living fabric of our planet. It underpins human wellbeing in the present and in the future, and its rapid decline threatens nature and people alike. The main global drivers of biodiversity loss are climate change, invasive species, over-exploitation of natural resources, pollution and urbanization.

The COVID-19 pandemic is a key example of why biodiversity is critically important. In an article we recommend from ProPublica, How Climate Change Is Contributing to Skyrocketing Rates of Infectious Disease, environmental reporter Abrahm Lustgarten explains,

The warming of the climate is one of the principal drivers of the greatest — and fastest — loss of species diversity in the history of the planet, as shifting climate patterns force species to change habitats, push them into new regions or threaten their food and water supplies. What’s known as biodiversity is critical because the natural variety of plants and animals lends each species greater resiliency against threat and together offers a delicately balanced safety net for natural systems. As diversity wanes, the balance is upset, and remaining species are both more vulnerable to human influences and, according to a landmark 2010 study in the journal Nature, more likely to pass along powerful pathogens.

Also, listen to the interview with Ed Young on Democracy Now!, “We Created the Pandemicene”: Ed Yong on How the Climate Crisis Could Spark the Next Pandemic.

This is why we have a campaign to Teach Climate Justice. We offer free lessons and recommendations of books, films, and readings for K-12 classrooms. Young people around the world are organizing to demand an end to the policies and practices that are causing climate change, such as Zenile Ngcame of Masiphumelele High School and her peers who protested for action against climate change outside Parliament in Cape Town in 2019.

More classroom resources

Join us on Sunday, May 7 at 1:30 PM ET for a special Teacher Appreciation Week kickoff event!
RSVP to receive a reminder to tune in on Sunday, May 7 from 1:30-2:30 PM ET on Facebook live.

>> Take action

Date & Time: May 2, 9am – 12pm CT

Livestream the event here: https://umn.zoom.us/j/94155044128

What: The United Nations is coming to Minneapolis! During this meeting with civil society on May 2, they will hear from Black directly impacted community members regarding police violence and systemic racism against people of African descent. The UN will also, separately, meet with government officials and other stakeholders.

Themes: Youth, Solitary Confinement and the School-to-Prison Pipeline, Families of Victims of Police Violence.

MINNEAPOLIS UN VISIT ORGANIZED BY:

Families Supporting Families Against Police Violence, Atlas of Blackness, Urban League Twin Cities/Minneapolis, RFK Human Rights, University of Minnesota, Center for Victims of Torture, Advocates for Human Rights, and UN Antiracism Coalition (UNARC).

*Please note that all testimonies have already been selected by community members, so there is no opportunity to testify during the event.

The International Independent Expert Mechanism to Advance Racial Justice and Equality in the context of Law Enforcement (EMLER) will visit the United States of America from April 24 – May 5, 2023. During the mission, the Expert Mechanism will travel to different cities around the country to meet with national stakeholders, including government officials, law enforcement authorities, civil society organisations, United Nations representatives, academics, lawyers, survivors of police violence and families of victims.

Background: After the killing of George Floyd, advocates (including the families of those killed by police and George Floyd’s brother) went to the UN Human Rights Council to ask for an investigation into the killing of Black people in the U.S. by law enforcement and the targeting of protestors. At the time, advocates did not get what they wanted, but UNARC founding members strategized and pressured the UN to create a mechanism to specifically address this issue and also to include the root causes (colonialism and the Transatlantic slave trade). As a result of this advocacy, EMLER was created.

United States: Now, nearly three years after advocates, alongside George Floyd’s brother and many of the victim’s families, pleaded for the UN to come to the U.S., EMLER is conducting an in-person country visit to the United States (April 24-May 5, 2023).

• The experts will visit Washington, DC, New York City, Atlanta, Chicago, Minnesota and Los Angeles.
• Meet the United Nations Antiracism Coalition (UNARC) team here.
• Meet the Experts here.

APRIL 27, 2023: 5:30 PM CT

What is intercultural learning? How does it advance human rights? In this session, participants will learn how to create impactful intercultural learning experiences to cultivate a culture of peace and human rights in their schools and communities. We will explore examples of how intercultural learning is applied and its connection to human rights in both formal and informal education. See workshop flyer for more information.

Register here

On Monday, April 24, Linda Villarosa will be in conversation with Jesse Hagopian to discuss her book, Under the Skin: The Hidden Toll of Racism on American Lives and on the Health of Our Nation. REGISTER!

Villarosa pays particular attention to environmental racism, challenging programs that attribute illnesses in Black communities to individual patients’ habits while ignoring the refinery next door.

For an introduction to her work, read Pollution Is Killing Black Americans. This Community Fought Back.

This 90-minute event will start at 4 pm PT / 7 pm ET on Monday, April 24.

ASL interpretation provided.

Professional development credit certificate provided upon request.

 Merrill Collins’ composition “Every Living Soul” will be premiered at Saint Joseph Notre Dame High School , Kelly Gymnasium, 1011 Chestnut St. Alameda on Thursday April 27 Spring Concert 6:30.  Admission is free. 

The song includes recitations of all 30 articles of the UDHR and will include various languages to be prepared by the students. 

This is the first time the orchestration will be performed by a High School orchestra working in tandem with the choir.

Four doctoral advisees of Joachim Savelsberg, and co-advisees with Alejandro Baer, will present their research on the legal, cultural, and political processing of mass violence. Each presenter will speak for 15 minutes, followed by a Q&A period.

Virtual and in person at CHGS Library, 710 Social Sciences Building, University of Minnesota

Thursday, April 27, 5:30-7:30 PM CST

>> Register

APRIL 27, 2023: 5:30 PM CT

What is intercultural learning? How does it advance human rights? In this session, participants will learn how to create impactful intercultural learning experiences to cultivate a culture of peace and human rights in their schools and communities. We will explore examples of how intercultural learning is applied and its connection to human rights in both formal and informal education. See workshop flyer for more information.

Register here