San Francisco

In 2004, Human Rights Watch was the first international human rights organization to create a dedicated program of research and advocacy on LGBT rights. This year, we had the opportunity to celebrate the past two decades of extraordinary work and impact. At a brunch fundraiser hosted by our San Francisco Committee co-chair on June 1, we were joined by division leaders Kyle Knight and Rasha Younes, and our special guest, Lebanese drag pioneer and activist Anya Kneez!

Over the past 20 years, the LGBT Rights Division has conducted groundbreaking investigations and advocacy on the most pressing human rights abuses facing LGBT people and activists. In deep collaboration with partner groups, the division has created positive, long-lasting impact and helped improve the lives of LGBT people around the world. 

The program included moving stories from Kyle and Rasha, along with an overview of the LGBT Global Circle, a network of core supporters from cities around the world. 

On May 2, 2024, San Francisco hosted our annual gathering, Meeting the Moment, at The Pearl. In an illuminating conversation between HRW’s Executive Director Tirana Hassan and Digital Investigations Lab Managing Director Sam Dubberley, they explored how we can address the most urgent human rights challenges of our time. We learned more about the work that HRW’s Digital Investigations Lab is undertaking to combat climate change, alleviate global crises and conflicts, and protect human rights in the United States. 

From the beautiful opening piece by poet Julia Segre, to Sam’s innovative work and Tirana’s vision of a just future, the evening reinforced our collective ability to make change in the world. Thanks to you, HRW continues to elevate voices not previously heard and hold those in power accountable. 

We welcomed HRW’s US Program Director Tanya Greene to San Francisco in November 2023 with a lovely event at Bar Agricole. Tanya has spent the last year building out a team of impressive researchers and a robust strategy to tackle some of the most challenging issues facing the US today.

In a conversation moderated by chair emerita Joy Alferness, Tanya shared with us the bold work and ambitious goals of HRW’s US Program, which seeks to protect and promote the fundamental rights and dignity of all people subject to the authority of the US government. In this next year, the division will be focused on three main priorities—Democracy Research and Advocacy, Immigrants’ Rights/Border Policy, and Criminal Justice—with an overarching theme of racial justice and equity.

Thanks to all who attended, and to our fantastic co-hosts, Ipek Burnett, Marty Krasney, and Joy Alferness. 

On April 26, 2023, we hosted our annual celebration at Fort Mason’s Gallery 308. It was our first time gathering again as a large community in three years, and it was a joy to see so many new and old faces. 

We hosted a panel discussion with Women’s Rights Director Macarena Sáez, Americas Researcher César Muñoz, and Russia Associate Director Tanya Lokshina, moderated by our newly appointed executive director Tirana Hassan. The talented Barbara Bogatin, cellist with the San Francisco Symphony, performed a piece for our guests. We hope our program was able to educate, inspire, and revitalize all those who attended! 

Thank you for helping us build this powerful community moving human rights forward. Your generosity enables our researchers to continue their life-saving work in the US and around the world, investigating and exposing the most entrenched human rights violations and pressing for meaningful change. 

If you would like to get more involved, join our Committee, or learn more, please reach out to us! 

Book Club event with Take My Hand author Dolen Perkins-Valdez in conversation with Human Rights Watch Women's Rights Division Researcher Annerieke Smaak Daniels

Tuesday, October 18th, 2022 at 5pm PT
Register here

About the Book: Montgomery, Alabama, 1973. Fresh out of nursing school, Civil Townsend intends to make a difference, especially in her African American community. At the Montgomery Family Planning Clinic, she hopes to help women shape their destinies, to make their own choices for their lives and bodies.

But when her first week on the job takes her along a dusty country road to a worn-down one-room cabin, Civil is shocked to learn that her new patients, Erica and India, are children—just eleven and thirteen years old. Neither of the Williams sisters has even kissed a boy, but they are poor and Black, and for those handling the family’s welfare benefits, that’s reason enough to have the girls on birth control. As Civil grapples with her role, she takes India, Erica, and their family into her heart. Until one day she arrives at their door to learn the unthinkable has happened, and nothing will ever be the same for any of them.

Decades later, with her daughter grown and a long career in her wake, Dr. Civil Townsend is ready to retire, to find her peace, and to leave the past behind. But there are people and stories that refuse to be forgotten. That must not be forgotten.

Because history repeats what we don’t remember.

Inspired by true events and brimming with hope, Take My Hand is a stirring exploration of accountability and redemption. (Excerpt from Penguin Random House Website)

Please consider purchasing this book from our partners at Green Apple Books.

Looking for your next page turner? HRW San Francisco has partnered with local bookstore Green Apple Books to share a list of HRW researchers' favorite reads. You can check out the whole list here!

Register and join us from 6:00 to 6:30 PM PT on December 9, the eve of Human Rights Day, as we celebrate the success of our Future We Build Together Global Challenge. This year has tested us all, but we have come together in solidarity with one another and will celebrate our collective work to advance human rights and dignity for all.

In this global virtual event, Executive Director Kenneth Roth and Chief Programs Officer Tirana Hassan will address our community on how the world has changed, and why this moment is unlike any other for the human rights movement. The staff and supporters of Human Rights Watch will speak to our shared vision for a more just, equitable world—one we are building together. The program will also include a special surprise musical performance to celebrate our Future We Build Together Global Challenge.

Please join us on Monday, November 9th for a US elections debrief to unpack what happened on election day and to discuss the future of human rights in the US. We will discuss the events and outcome of the election, the challenges we face in the months to come, and what we need to do to ensure that human rights are at the forefront of the next administration’s policies.

We are holding this conversation twice to accommodate global interest, so please feel free to join at the time that is most convenient for you.

First offering: 9:00am - 10:00am PST
Second offering: 4:00pm - 5:00pm PST

Our first offering will feature HRW Executive Director Ken Roth in conversation with US Program Executive Director Nicole Austin-Hillery at 9:00am PST.

Our second offering will feature Nicole Austin-Hillery in conversation with HRW experts at 4:00pm PST. 

Please RSVP here to join.

Early voting has begun in California, and over the next month, voters will have the opportunity to protect human rights in the most populous state in the United States. Basic rights are at stake in at least four measures on this year’s ballot. Human Rights Watch has studied each of these four ballot proposals and recommends the following votes:

Yes on Proposition 17, which would restore voting rights to people disenfranchised while serving a prison term as soon as they complete their sentence.

No on Proposition 20, which seeks to roll back California’s recent criminal legal system reforms. 

No on Proposition 22, an initiative that would create a third, substandard regulatory category for app-based workers in California, falling between employees and independent contractors.

No on Proposition 25, which, if passed, would replace the unjust money bail system with an even more discriminatory system.

Read more here.

We invite you to join us on Thursday, June 28th at 9:15 am at our office (or by phone) for “Journey to Raqqa: Human Rights Watch Investigates Life after ISIS” -- a discussion with our Acting Director for Emergencies Priyanka Motaparthy. The discussion will focus on Priyanka's recent trip to Northern Syria, where she visited displaced persons’ camps, former ISIS detention centers, and mass graves. This research is the basis of an upcoming report documenting the stories of those detained and disappeared by ISIS, and their families’ quest to learn what happened to them after ISIS was driven from the area.

Please RSVP to craigmi@hrw.org.

How far have we come since the groundbreaking Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities?

We hope you'll join us for a conversation with Kriti Sharma on Wednesday, June 6th, 2018 at 12 pm at the HRW SF office to learn more about the work of the Disability Rights Division and the progress of disability rights worldwide. Please RSVP to craigmi@hrw.org.

On Wednesday, April 11th at 7 pm at Dolby Cinema, Human Rights Watch, in partnership with the San Francisco International Film Festival and co-hosts Natasha and David Dolby, will host a screening of The Rescue List, a documentary charting the courageous efforts of a local safe house to rescue children enslaved to fishermen on Ghana's Lake Volta.

Through a character-driven approach and a riveting vérité style, The Rescue List charts the unfolding drama of rescue operations alongside a moving portrait of the boys’ recoveries. By doing so, the film tells a cinematic story of friendship and courage—a story that transcends the trope of victimhood and truly illustrates what it means to love and to survive.

This event will feature a post-film Q&A with the filmmakers, Zachary Fink and Alyssa Fedele; Brad Adams, Asia Director at Human Rights Watch; and Professor Cathy Zimmerman, a behavioral and social scientist who lectures on migration and health, human trafficking, and gender-based violence.

Tickets can be purchased and more information can be found here: https://www.sffilm.org/2018-sffilm-festival/festival-calendar/the-rescue-list