AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL USA
Amnesty International USA (AIUSA) is the U.S. branch of Amnesty International, a worldwide movement of people who campaign impartially for internationally recognized human rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other international human rights standards to be respected and protected. The organization's mission is to conduct research and take action to prevent and end grave abuses of all human rights. AIUSA is headquartered in New York City and has some 360,000 members in the US and 1800 local and student chapters across the country. Amnesty received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1977.
DAN ARSHACK
Daniel N. Arshack, founding partner of Arshack, Hajek & Lehrman PLLC base in New York, has twenty five years of experience as a criminal defense and civil litigation attorney. A graduate of Brandeis University and the University of Stockholm, Mr Arshack received his law degree from the Antioch School of Law in 1983. Mr. Arshack has successfully handled securities fraud litigation, financial crimes, money laundering, arms dealing, foreign corrupt practices violations, business loss, homicide, sex crimes, conspiracy, and narcotics offenses. Mr. Arshack was U.S. counsel in a case at the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia in the Hague. He regularly consults with lawyers from throughout the world and represents the interests of businesses and individuals. In addition to criminal cases, Mr. Arshack handles a variety of challenging civil actions generally involving protecting the interests of individuals against large institutions or entities. Mr. Arshack was elected President of the New York State Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers in 2007. In addition, he is the elected representative of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL) to the Council of the International Criminal Bar (ICB), a member of the Board of Directors of the International Criminal Defense Attorneys Association — USA (ICDAA), and Co-Chairman of the International Committee of the NACDL and a member of the Board of New York Sun Works.
Dale Needles, Chief Operations Officer, Global Fund for Women
Statement >>
GLOBAL FUND FOR WOMEN
The Global Fund for Women is an international network of women and men committed to a world of equality and social justice. Global Fund for Women advocates for and defends women's human rights by making grants to support women's groups around the world. The Global Fund raises funds from a variety of sources and makes grants to seed, strengthen, and link women’s rights groups based outside the United States working to address human rights issues that include: ending gender-based violence; ensuring economic and environmental justice; advancing health, sexual, and reproductive rights; expanding civic participation; increasing access to education; and fostering social change. Since 1987, GFW has awarded more than $62 million to approximately 3,500 women’s organizations in 169 countries with grants typically ranging from $1,000 to $20,000.
GLOBAL RIGHTS
Global Rights is a human rights advocacy group that partners with local activists to challenge injustice and amplify new voices within the global discourse. Global Rights has nearly 100 employees, approximately 25 of whom are located in the United States; the remaining employees are located in field offices throughout the world. Global Rights works directly with local activists and organizations to create more just societies that respect human rights. To do this, the organization has developed an unparalleled understanding of and responsiveness to the day-to-day realities facing civil society in post-conflict situations, during prolonged transitions to democratic rule, and in cultural environments that resist the promotion and protection of the human rights of women, ethnic or racial groups, and other marginalized groups. In all of their programs, Global Rights emphasizes promoting women's human rights and combating discrimination on the basis of race, ethnicity or sexual orientation.
Chris Hedges, Reporter
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CHRIS HEDGES
Chris Hedges, who graduated from seminary at Harvard Divinity School, worked for nearly two decades a foreign correspondent for The New York Times, National Public Radio and other news organizations in Latin America, the Middle East and the Balkans. He was part of the team of reporters at The New York Times who won a Pulitzer Prize for their coverage of global terrorism. Hedges is a fellow at the Nation Institute and the author of numerous books, including War is a Force That Gives Us Meaning.
HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH
Human Rights Watch (HRW) is a nonprofit, nongovernmental human rights organization made up of over 250 staff members located around the globe. HRW consists of journalists, lawyers, academics, and country experts of many nationalities and diverse backgrounds. Formed in 1978, HRW is known for its accurate fact-finding, evenhanded reporting, effective use of media, and targeted advocacy, often conducted jointly with other human rights groups. Each year, HRW publishes more than 100 fact-based reports and briefings on human rights conditions in some 70 countries, generating extensive coverage in local and international media. With the leverage this brings, HRW meets with government officials and other influential actors to press for justice and for changes in policy and practice to prevent future abuses. Its representatives regularly meet with leading officials at the United Nations, with regional groups like the African Union and European Union, and with individual governments around the world.
INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEYS ASSOCIATION
The International Criminal Defense Attorneys Association (ICDAA) was founded in 1997 and provides a voice for defense lawyers in the international criminal justice system. ICDAA focuses on vigorous advocacy for fair trial rights and the organization of a global network of defense counsel, legal associations, legal educators and other professionals. The core objective of the ICDAA is to create the foundations for a full, fair and well-organized defense in proceedings before the International Criminal Court (ICC) and other international tribunals.
The ICDAA supports defense lawyers and other professionals through training, research, and coaching; contributes to the development of international law, primarily the International Criminal Court, by providing defense perspectives on fair trial procedures, defense methods, and defense organization; and brings together professional associations of defense counsel, bars, and legal educators to advance the pursuit of international justice.
Naomi Klein, Reporter
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NAOMI KLEIN
Naomi Klein is an award-winning journalist, syndicated columnist and author of the bestselling books The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism and No Logo: Taking Aim at the Brand Bullies. In 2004, her reporting from Iraq for Harper's Magazine won the James Aronson Award for Social Justice Journalism. Naomi is a frequent contributor to The Nation.
Scott McKay, Defense Attorney
Joint Statement With David Nevin >>
SCOTT MCKAY
Scott McKay is an accomplished criminal defense and civil litigation attorney. He has a wide breadth of litigation and trial experience and has successfully represented clients in a number of significant cases. Mr. McKay received the Clarence Darrow Award from the American Civil Liberties Union of Idaho for his defense of a Saudi national, Sami Omar Al-Hussayen, acquitted of terrorism charges following a lengthy trial in federal court.
McKay also works on complex civil litigation including pending federal litigation consolidated in New York arising out of the September 11, 2001 attacks. McKay graduated Magna Cum Laude from Gonzaga University School of Law where he served as an associate editor on the Law Review. Following law school he served as a law clerk to the Honorable Byron J. Johnson and the Honorable Linda Copple Trout on the Idaho Supreme Court. He has appeared nationally as a legal commentator on Court TV and has appeared on National Public Radio. He is a member of the Idaho and National Associations of Criminal Defense Lawyers and has served on a number of legal committees including the Judicial Independence and Integrity Committee for the Idaho State Bar and the Electronic Records Committee for the Idaho Supreme Court.
THE NATION
The Nation is a progressive weekly journal dedicated to being the critical, independent voice in American journalism. Founded by Abolitionists in 1865, The Nation has a circulation of nearly 200,000 and bureaus in New York, London, and South Africa. The Nation’s contributors have included prominent figures such as Franklin D. Roosevelt, Martin Luther King, Jr., Albert Einstein, Frank Lloyd Wright, and Pat Buchanan.
Devoted to a critical perspective on current events independent of any political party, The Nation has developed a reputation for journalistic integrity with such achievements as the first reporting on the Bay of Pigs invasion and breaking the Valerie Plame leak scandal. Currently, The Nation reports on issues ranging from protests in Shanghai over a new rail line to an emerging Sunni-Shiite coalition in Iraq.
David Nevin, Defense Attorney
Joint Statement With Scott McKay >>
DAVID NEVIN
David Nevin has been a criminal defense attorney for more than 25 years. He has obtained acquittals in a number of high profile prosecutions, including the 1993 Ruby Ridge case, and the recent terrorism prosecution of a Saudi Arabian graduate student, Sami Omar Al-Hussayen. Nevin graduated from Colorado State University with a BA in English Literature in 1974, and from law school at the University of Idaho in 1978. After law school he served as an Instructor of Law at the University Of Toledo College Of Law in Toledo, Ohio, and as a law clerk for the Hon. Jos. J. McFadden, Justice of the Idaho Supreme Court.
Nevin is a Fellow, and the current Idaho State Chair, of the American College of Trial Lawyers. He is a founder and past President of the Idaho Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, and is the namesake of its annual Nevin Professionalism Award. Nevin serves as an Adjunct Professor of Trial Practice at the University of Idaho College of Law, and has been qualified as an expert witness on the standards for constitutionally effective assistance of counsel in both capital and non-capital cases. He is a frequent lecturer and author on issues involving criminal law and civil rights, including appearances on National Public Radio and Court TV.
PEN AMERICAN CENTER
PEN American Center (PEN) is an association based in New York City of approximately 3,300 authors, editors, and translators committed to the advancement of literature, the protection of writers and freedom of expression, and the unimpeded flow of ideas and information. It is the largest of the 145 centers of International PEN. PEN fulfills its mission and supports its approximately 3,300 members through conferences, readings, educational programs, public forums, and international exchanges. Through its Freedom to Write and Core Freedoms Programs, PEN conducts international and domestic advocacy campaigns to defend writers and free expression and provides direct support and advocacy assistance to hundreds of endangered writers around the world.
SYLVIA ROYCE
Sylvia Royce is a former Assistant U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia and the former Chief of International Prisoner Transfer at the U.S. Department of Justice. Currently in private practice in Washington, D.C., Ms. Royce represents individuals detained at Guantánamo Bay and individuals imprisoned in the U.S. seeking transfer to their home countries. In conjunction with her practice, she also works as a consultant to other lawyers and governments. Ms. Royce is admitted to the bar of the District of Columbia and is admitted to practice in the U.S. Supreme Court.
SERVICE EMPLOYEES INTERNATIONAL UNION
The Service Employees International Union (SEIU) is the fastest-growing labor union in North America. With 1.9 million members in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico, SEIU focuses on uniting workers in the service sectors to improve their lives and the services they provide. SEIU is the nation’s largest health care union, the largest property services union, and the second-largest public employees union.
Today, SEIU is building a 21st-century global union to help ensure that workers all around the world, not just corporations and CEOs, benefit from today's global economy. Through its Global Organizing Partnership division, SEIU works with unions in similar industries in more than 40 countries to raise the standard of living of working people around the world, to challenge multinationals to provide comparable wages and benefits, and to allow workers in every country the freedom to form unions.
With a staff of thirteen based in the U.S. and five countries around the world, SEIU crafts global alliances to take on global employers in order to help workers in both the U.S. and abroad stand up to these employers and to pursue mutual interests. SEIU’s legitimate communications with international labor organizations, global labor federations, and other allies in nations and geographic regions could be targeted under the surveillance program proposed by the United States government.
Joy Olson, Executive Director, Washington Office on Latin America
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WASHINGTON OFFICE ON LATIN AMERICA
The Washington Office on Latin America promotes human rights, democracy and social and economic justice in Latin America and the Caribbean. WOLA facilitates dialogue between governmental and non-governmental actors, monitors the impact of policies and programs of governments and international organizations, and promotes alternatives through reporting, education, training and advocacy. Founded in 1974 by a coalition of civic and religious leaders, WOLA works closely with civil society organizations and government officials throughout the Americas.
