Minnesota Advocates for Human Rights

From the website description

 * Minnesota Advocates for Human Rights is a volunteer-based, non-governmental, non-profit, 501(c)3 organization dedicated to the promotion and protection of internationally recognized human rights.
 * Founded in 1983, Minnesota Advocates is one of the largest Midwest-based non-governmental organizations engaged in international human rights work. Our organization has more than 4,000 members, including more than 600 active volunteers who contribute an estimated $2.8 million annually of in-kind services. Minnesota Advocates also has Special Consultative Status with the United Nations.
 * Minnesota Advocates for Human Rights works locally, nationally, and internationally on human rights issues impacting children, women, refugees & immigrants, and marginalized polulations. 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.

In 1992 they helped set up Partners in Human Rights Education. 

NED connection
Grantor: NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR DEMOCRACY (NED) Grantee: Minnesota Advocates for Human Rights Country(ies): North Korea Region: Asia Subject(s): Human Rights Grant Awarded: 1998 Amount: $45,000 Program Summary: The Minnesota Advocates for Human Rights will conduct research on both the human rights situation in North Korea and on the plight of North Korean refugees in other countries who are still subject to or vulnerable to continued abuse. Minnesota Advocates will produce an authoritative compendium of information from a credible, independent source which can be relied upon by human rights advocates and other actors seeking to alleviate the extreme repression in North Korea.

Episodes

 * In June 1993, Minnesota Advocates praised and helped launch Jadranka Cigelj tour of the United States. Cigelj turned out to be a senior Croatian propagandist and not a "rape camp" victim. (For a longer reference see: Amnesty International, section "Duped Again?")

Major Funders 2005-2006
$25,000 & Up 2006 Annual Report pdf
 * Beverly Foundation
 * Otto Bremer Foundation
 * Jay & Rose Phillips Family Foundation
 * Legal Services Advisory Committee
 * McKnight Foundation
 * Mertz Gilmore Foundation
 * Minneapolis Foundation
 * Oak Foundation
 * Office of Refugee Resettlement
 * Open Society Institute
 * Robins, Kaplan, Miller & Ciresi LLP Foundation for Education, Public Health & Social Justice
 * Saint Paul Foundation
 * United Nations Voluntary Fund for Victims of Torture

Board of Directors (2004)

 * Aviva Breen, President, Former Exec. Dir., Legislative Commission on the Economic Status of Women
 * John Borman, Attorney at Law
 * Jacques Boucal, Client Representative
 * William W. Cameron, Luther, Heckt, Cameron and Mulvahill PLLP
 * Steven E. Carlson, Dorsey & Whitney LLP
 * James E. Dorsey, Fredrikson & Byron PA
 * Wood R. Foster Jr., Siegel, Brill, Greupner, Duffy & Foster PA
 * Hon. Donald M. Fraser, Former U.S. Representative and Mayor of Minneapolis
 * Barbara A. Frey, University of Minnesota Institute of Global Studies
 * Mark Girouard, Ratwik, Roszak & Maloney PA
 * Hon. Samuel L. Hanson, Minnesota Supreme Court
 * Samuel D. Heins, Heins, Mills & Olson PLC
 * Hon. Hubert H. Humphrey III, Tunheim Partners Company
 * Marlene Kayser, Community Organizer
 * Hyder Khan, Physician
 * Mark Lindberg, Otto Bremer Foundation
 * James P. Martineau, Lindquist & Vennum PLLP (retired)
 * Dipankar Mukherjee, Pangea World Theatre
 * David L. Parker, M.D., Minnesota Department of Public Health
 * Eric Peck, Lindquist & Vennum PLLP
 * Mary S. Ranum, Fredrikson & Byron PA
 * Jacqueline Regis, Attorney, The St. Paul Companies
 * Jeffrey F. Shaw, Briggs and Morgan PA
 * Roberta Walburn, Robins, Kaplan, Miller & Ciresi LLP
 * David S. Weissbrodt, University of Minnesota Law School
 * Samual Kofi Woods II, Foundation for International Dignity
 * Scott Wright, Faegre & Benson LLP

Contact

 * Web: http://www.mnadvocates.org