Author's posts
Jun 08 2017
STF Special Screening THIS Wednesday: “Tickling Giants”
STF is hosting a special screening of “Tickling Giants,” a new documentary about freedom of speech, on Wednesday, June 14 at New Roads School in Santa Monica. We want to gather leaders to give us feedback on further use of the film, so this is a select preview screening for STF students, teachers and friends of STF. Please RSVP and let us know if you can make it!
Wednesday, June 14, 2017
5:00pm | Doors open
5:45-8:00pm | Film screening
New Roads School at the Herb Alpert Educational Village
3131 Olympic Blvd.
Santa Monica, CA 90404
Permanent link to this article: https://www.hrwstf.org/wordpress/stf-special-screening-this-wednesday-tickling-giants/
Apr 25 2017
“You Handed Us Our Lifeline”
April 25, 2017: At STF’s Year-End Leadership Workshop, Sara Kruzan, human rights defender and formerly incarcerated youth, shared her heart-rending story of being sex trafficked at age 13 and being sentenced to juvenile life without parole (JLWOP) at 16 for killing her pimp. Through emotions of joy and pain, she reminded her audience why STF’s work is so critical: “When you are incarcerated you are made to feel that you don’t have a place. You begin to question your purpose and value; do you even matter? It is individuals, like you guys (STF has repeatedly worked on juvenile justice issues), who really care, that make the difference. You hand us our lifeline… The work that you’re doing is absolutely amazing. Each of you has the ability to make a change. You may not have the opportunity to see the effects, but you will feel the difference in your heart.”…
Permanent link to this article: https://www.hrwstf.org/wordpress/year-end-workshop/
Apr 24 2017
Partisans for Human Rights
April 24, 2017: STF leaders from Crossroads, New Roads, Palisades Charter and Santa Monica High Schools met with Congressman Ted Lieu (33rd District) to thank him for being an outspoken supporter of human rights and to express concern about how social divisions across the country are affecting the vulnerable populations STFers care about…
Permanent link to this article: https://www.hrwstf.org/wordpress/partisans-for-human-rights/
Mar 10 2017
The Uncondemned
Join us on April 9 for a special screening of The Uncondemned, an extraordinary documentary following a group of lawyers and activists who prosecuted rape as a crime against humanity. This is the story of their fight for the first conviction…
Permanent link to this article: https://www.hrwstf.org/wordpress/the-uncondemned/
Mar 03 2017
STF Unites for Human Rights
March 3, 2017: As part of their Know Your Rights, Protect Our Rights campaign, STF chapters are hosting “Unity Day” events to demonstrate their solidarity for human rights. Inspired by the successful Women’s March in January, STFers hosted die-ins, human chains and art exhibits to call on their campus communities to stand up for human rights in the United States, especially for the protection of LGBT, immigration and women’s rights…
Permanent link to this article: https://www.hrwstf.org/wordpress/stf-unites-for-human-rights/
Feb 14 2017
STF Alumna on PBS Newshour
February 13: PBS News Hour, UC Berkeley, California: The front lines of human rights work have shifted in the digital age and STF Alumna Youstina Youssef, Academy of the Canyons 2015, is there…
Permanent link to this article: https://www.hrwstf.org/wordpress/stf-alumna-on-pbs-newshour/
Jan 26 2017
Know Your Rights, Protect Our Rights
January 26, 2017: “Human Rights Watch is urging President Trump to stop abusive and discriminatory proposals. His campaign rhetoric and the executive decisions he has made since taking office go against our values as human rights advocates. We are here today to use our voices and determine how we can protect human rights. We are not political partisans, we are human rights partisans,” said STF leader Peter Jebsen as he welcomed students, teachers and special guests to the STF Winter Leadership Workshop…
Permanent link to this article: https://www.hrwstf.org/wordpress/know-your-rights-protect-our-rights/
Jan 22 2017
“When Two Worlds Collide:” Environmental Rights are Human Rights
Sunday, January 29, 2016
4:00 pm | Doors open, Meet & Greet with José Miguel Vivanco
5:00 pm | Film Screening, followed by panel discussion
7:00 pm | Reception with drinks and food
Permanent link to this article: https://www.hrwstf.org/wordpress/when-two-worlds-collide-environmental-rights-are-human-rights/
Jan 20 2017
STFers Go to Washington, D.C.
“Attending the inauguration was a moving experience for me. The relatively peaceful transfer of power from one administration to the next is something many countries cannot achieve. I am grateful for the institutions of democracy the U.S. upholds,” says former STF Intern Ijeoma Oti, who currently is a USC student in the university’s D.C. program. Ijeoma received inauguration tickets from Congresswoman Pelosi’s office, and also attended the Women’s March in DC with a majority of the students in her program the day after the inauguration…
Permanent link to this article: https://www.hrwstf.org/wordpress/stfers-go-to-washington-d-c/
Jan 10 2017
Need-to-Knows of Women’s March LA
Please join Human Rights Watch this Saturday, January 21 at the Women’s March LA!
Who: The march is open to everyone who stands for human rights, civil liberties, tolerance of diversity, and compassion for our shared humanity. Speakers include the founder of the Muslim Women Speakers Movement Soraya Deen, LA County Supervisor Janice Hahn, LGBTQ activist Abbe Land, Mayor Eric Garcetti, and many more.
When: Saturday, January 21, 2017 9:00am – 4:00am
Where: We will meet at 9:00am (new, earlier time!) in front of the Canadian Embassy at 550 S. Hope St, Los Angeles, CA 90071. Please let us know if you plan to march with HRW and wear a STF t-shirt or white!
Permanent link to this article: https://www.hrwstf.org/wordpress/march-for-rights-tolerance-compassion-january-21/
Nov 20 2016
STF Rallies for CRC
November 18, 2016: STF’s newest chapter at The Archer School for Girls celebrated Universal Day of the Child by asking students to sign the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) petition to President-elect Trump requesting he send the CRC to the Senate for review in his first 100 days in office.
Members set up a table in the campus courtyard and exchanged signatures for an “I Signed” sticker and a baked good with a flag listing different children rights violations. More than 250 6th-12th graders were eager to sign the petition and show their support for children’s rights!…
Permanent link to this article: https://www.hrwstf.org/wordpress/stf-rallies-for-crc/
Nov 15 2016
STF Applauds Human Rights Defenders
November 15, 2016: Students exchanged their backpacks and sneakers for dresses and ties at the 2016 Human Rights Watch Voices for Justice Dinner. STF leaders, teachers and supporters kicked off the night with a special reception with Yonous Muhammad, recipient of the 2016 Alison Des Forges Award for Extraordinary Activism, and HRW Greece Researcher, Eva Cossé. STFers were empowered by the human rights defenders’ insight into how younger generations can make a difference in the world through awareness and resilience…
Permanent link to this article: https://www.hrwstf.org/wordpress/stf-applauds-human-rights-defenders/
Nov 15 2016
Ask President-Elect Trump to Support the CRC!
This Sunday, November 20, is the 27th anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). The United States remains the only country in the world to not ratify the CRC.
Now that we have a new president-elect, help us collect as many signatures as possible ahead of his inauguration on January 20, 2017, and ask Mr. Trump to send the CRC to the Senate for review during his first 100 days in office.
Permanent link to this article: https://www.hrwstf.org/wordpress/ask-president-elect-trump-to-support-the-crc/
Nov 09 2016
Congrats on Prop 57 Success!
We just received this message from HRW Senior Advocate Elizabeth Calvin to STF:
“A huge congrats on this win for Proposition 57. It was great to work with all of you! Thank you for every piece of it, including getting members to gather signatures and blowing past our goal, as well as the army of STF youth standing up in city council meetings, churches, and school and neighborhood gatherings, visiting college campuses and more. A tremendous, beautiful team effort…
Permanent link to this article: https://www.hrwstf.org/wordpress/congrats-on-prop-57-success/
Nov 03 2016
New Prop 57 Video from Valencia STF!
Check out this video Valencia High School’s STF chapter created to advocate for Prop 57. Please share on your social media accounts!
Click to watch, 0:57
You can also use these additional social media resources to spread the word about Prop 57.
Thank you Valencia STF for creating this video!
Permanent link to this article: https://www.hrwstf.org/wordpress/new-prop-57-video-from-valencia-stf/
Nov 02 2016
The Value of Prop 57
November 1-2, 2016: In the final week before the election, guest speakers, Herminia Galvez and Manuel Barrios, helped Carson and Palisades Charter High Schools STF chapters drive home the value of rehabilitation and education programs like those offered in Prop 57…
Permanent link to this article: https://www.hrwstf.org/wordpress/the-value-of-prop-57/
Oct 25 2016
Giving Voice to Justice for Juveniles
October 24-25, 2016: STF leaders from Santa Clarita Valley, Palisades Charter and El Camino Real High Schools participated in events to educate their communities about Prop 57 and over incarceration in California…
Permanent link to this article: https://www.hrwstf.org/wordpress/giving-voice-to-justice-for-juveniles/
Oct 12 2016
California Needs Prop 57!
As part of the Fair Sentencing for Youth campaign, we are advocating for Proposition 57. Here are some reasons why California needs Prop 57:
- In the U.S., every year as many as 200,000 youth are put into the adult criminal justice system, most of them for nonviolent offenses.
- Over the last several decades, California has built 22 prisons and only 4 universities, passed more than 1,000 crime bills, and increased incarceration rates by more than 5 times.
- Youth who are prosecuted in the adult system are 34% more likely to recidivate and with more violent offenses than those handled by the juvenile system. Over 6,500 peoplecurrently in California prisons were under the age of 18 at the time of their crime.
- There are approximately 7,000 inmates in state custody who would be eligible for parole consideration under Prop 57…
Permanent link to this article: https://www.hrwstf.org/wordpress/california-needs-prop-57/
Oct 05 2016
Californians Want…
Proposition 57 accomplishes this by:
- Providing Incentives for Inmates to Complete Rehabilitation.
- Permitting Parole for Rehabilitated Inmates with Nonviolent Convictions.
- Preventing Prosecutors from Transferring Youth to Adult Court.
Permanent link to this article: https://www.hrwstf.org/wordpress/californians-want/
Sep 27 2016
Today is National Voter’s Registration Day!
September 27, 2016: This year, National Voter Registration Day is September 27, 2016 and hundreds of events are being planned across the nation. Get started registering your friends, family, teachers and others who are eligible to vote today!
Permanent link to this article: https://www.hrwstf.org/wordpress/today-is-national-voters-registration-day/
Italy is erasing #lesbian moms from their children's birth certificates.
Part of a broader state attack on the rights of #LGBT families, 33 children in northern #Italy are having their birth certificates reissued with one parent's name missing.
https://www.hrw.org/news/2023/07/24/italys-mounting-attack-lesbian-parents
Monday at #HRC53: Looking forward to this great panel on how we can strengthen the right to free education and why it's so important. With @srpoverty @dsengeh @UNESCO @MalalaFund @hrw, SR on right to education.
UN Secretary-General @antonioguterres has failed Palestinian children again. From 2015-2020, the UN attributed over 6,700 child casualties to Israeli forces. He has just verified 975 more in 2022. Yet he still omits Israel from his "list of shame."
https://www.reuters.com/world/un-adds-russia-list-shame-killing-children-ukraine-2023-06-22/
Every child belongs in school - no matter their gender, country or means
It’s their right & vital for society's wellbeing
But 🌎 crises are forcing 1 in 10 into child labour
On #WorldDayAgainstChildLabour, I urge Govts: protect free/compulsory education for all
#SocialJustice
Today, members of US Congress are introducing legislation to help address the longstanding problem of child labor on US farms. Their move, on #NoChildLabour Day, comes as the US grapples with a rise in child labor. More from @MargaretWurth:
https://www.hrw.org/news/2023/06/12/us-lawmakers-move-protect-child-farmworkers
Today, members of Congress are introducing legislation to address the longstanding problem of child labor on US farms. Their move, on #WorldDayAgainstChildLabour, comes as the US grapples with a rise in child labor. 🧵👇https://www.hrw.org/news/2023/06/12/us-lawmakers-move-protect-child-farmworkers
The UN says Israeli defense forces have killed or injured over 6,700 Palestinian children from 2015 to 2020, yet the UN SG has never included the IDF on his "list of shame" for violations against children in armed conflict. Will he this year? NGO letter:
https://watchlist.org/wp-content/uploads/2023-open-letter-to-sg-guterres-caac.pdf
Russian politicians are trying to fully ban gender-affirming health services. And they've smuggled in an exception for medically unnecessary surgeries on intersex children. Sounds a lot like right wing politicians in the US.
https://www.hrw.org/news/2023/06/02/russia-moves-ban-trans-health-care
This new op-ed from @Ezequiel_Heffes explains why its crucial that UN SG @antonioguterres includes a complete and accurate list of perpetrators of violations against children in his upcoming annual report on children and armed conflict.
https://www.ipsnews.net/2023/05/protecting-children-war-no-time-wait/
"The journalism students said they were disappointed in the adults who ran their schools, their city and the smoke shops & they hoped that bringing attention to the issue would finally prompt the authorities to act"
@nytimes on kids' on easy access
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/26/nyregion/nyc-marijuana-kids-schools.html
