Senate Confirms Human Rights First Founding Executive Director As New Assistant Secretary Of State For Democracy, Human Rights, And Labor

Posner Brings Three Decades of Experience to Obama Administration Post

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Washington, DC – Today, the United States Senate confirmed Human Rights First founding executive director Michael Posner as the nation’s next Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor. Elisa Massimino, Human Rights First’s Chief Executive Officer, praised Posner’s 30 year career at the forefront of the human rights movement and observed that his ability to build consensus and successfully navigate tough challenges will serve him well in his new post.

Massimino stated, “Mike has a deep commitment to human rights and understands the real-world impact on peoples’ lives when those rights are violated.  His keen intellect and breadth of experience in the trenches will make him a strong voice for human rights inside the Obama Administration, and we look forward to working with him as he assumes his new post.”
Since Posner founded Human Rights First in 1978, the organization has earned a reputation for leadership by protecting refugees, advancing a rights-based approach to national security, challenging crimes against humanity, combating discrimination and supporting frontline rights activists around the world. In 1980, Posner played a key role in proposing and campaigning for the first U.S. law providing for political asylum, which became part of the Refugee Act of 1980. Human Rights First now runs the largest program providing volunteer legal representation to asylum seekers in the United States, representing more than 1,000 refugees from more than 80 countries.

In 1992, Posner proposed, drafted, and campaigned for the Torture Victim Protection Act (TVPA) that was adopted by Congress and signed into law in 1992. This critical piece of legislation gives victims of the most serious human rights crimes anywhere in the world access to a remedy in U.S. courts. More recently, in 1998, Posner led the Human Rights First delegation to the Rome conference at which the statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC) was adopted. He participated actively in these negotiations, as well as the ensuing phase of insuring signatures and ratification. The ICC is the first international tribunal to prosecute violations for genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes.

Posner spearheaded Human Rights First’s efforts in support of fair, decent, and humane working conditions in factories throughout the global supply chain. As a member of the White House Apparel Industry Partnership Task Force, he helped found the Fair Labor Association (FLA), an organization that brings together corporations, local leaders, universities, and NGOs to promote corporate accountability for working conditions in the apparel industry.

Most recently, in 2004, Posner led Human Rights First in launching its End Torture Now Campaign, a public education and advocacy effort that challenged U.S. policy and practice allowing coercive interrogation techniques and unlimited, secret detention of those in U.S. custody in violation of U.S. and international law. As part of the campaign, Human Rights First organized a group of retired admirals and generals to speak out publicly on this issue and led the advocacy efforts in support of the McCain Amendment to reinforce the ban on cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment of prisoners in U.S. custody. The McCain Amendment won broad congressional support and was signed into law in December 2005.

Massimino concluded, “Throughout his career at Human Rights First, Mike has demonstrated a principled pragmatism focused relentlessly on getting results.  Whether he is advancing legal protections for persecuted refugees, helping to build a system of monitoring and accountability of private corporations who violate the rights of their workers, creating structures to prevent antisemitic and other hate crimes, or ensuring that human rights defenders on the frontlines have a safe space in which to do their work, Mike has been an innovative leader. The Obama Administration will benefit greatly from Mike’s ability to find workable solutions to human rights challenges and make progress in seemingly intractable situations. I can’t think of anyone better suited to take on this challenge at such an important moment—when the need to rebuild U.S. moral authority on human rights is so pressing—than Mike Posner.”

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