Commission on Unalienable Rights: Resources
The following is a list of formal, written submissions received by the U.S. State Department’s Commission on Unalienable Rights from civil society organizations, human rights experts, and members of the academic community since the body’s establishment in May 2019.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has described the Commission’s work as an effort to identify which human rights are “unalienable” and which are “ad hoc,” in apparent contravention of America’s legal obligations and decades of bipartisan policy and practice. The letters below demonstrate broad-based concern within the human rights community over the Commission’s mandate and purported objectives, as well as the potential harm that may arise from the Commission’s work.
The submissions of the listed groups and individuals can be found at the hyperlinks below.
- Signed by 180 human rights, faith-based, civil liberties, professional, academic, and social justice organizations, as well as 250 former senior government officials, foreign policy experts, scholars, and religious leaders
- Signed by 167 human rights organizations, scholars, defenders and activists
Formal Submissions from NGOs and Law School Human Rights Clinics
- Human Rights First
- American Jewish World Service
- American Jewish World Service Organized Letter of Jewish Clergy
- Amnesty International
- Campaign for Youth Justice
- Center for Health and Gender Equity (CHANGE)
- Center for Reproductive Rights
- Champions of Global Reproductive Rights
- CREEJ, Columbia Human Rights Institute, and The Leadership Conference Education Fund
- Crude Accountability
- Dignity USA and over 125 Catholic theologians, community leaders, and activists
- Duke Law School’s International Human Rights Clinic and Individual Scholars Affiliated with human rights clinics at law schools including Columbia, Harvard, Northwestern, NYU, Stanford, UCLA, and Yale
- Global Justice Center
- International Women’s Health Coalition
- Ipas
- MPact Global Action for Gay Men’s Health & Rights
- NARAL Pro-choice America
- Never Again Coalition
- PAI
- Planned Parenthood Federation of America
- Safeguard Defenders
- The Advocates for Human Rights
- The Council for Global Equality
- The Fenway Institute
- The Heartland Initiative
- Affiliates of the International Justice Clinic at UC Irvine Law School of Law
- Affiliates of the Williams Institute and the Promise Institute for Human Rights at the University of California at Los Angeles School of Law
- The UN Association of the United States of America
- VOICE (Vietnamese Overseas Initiative for Conscience Empowerment) and VOICE Australia
Formal Submissions from Individual Scholars, Diplomats, and Advocates
- Brian Citro (Clinical Professor of Law, Northwestern University)
- Ambassador Daniel Baer
- Deena Hurwitz
- Dr. Debbie Sharnak (Professor, Rowan University)
- Gabor Rona (Visiting Professor, Cardozo School of Law)
- Gerald Neuman (Professor, Harvard Law School)
- Jean Quataert (Professor, Binghamton University)
- Martin Flaherty (Professor, Fordham University School of Law)
- Mary Alice Cater (Equity Forward)
- Sarah Snyder (Professor, American University School of International Service)
