Human Rights

The ACLU Human Rights Program (HRP) is dedicated to holding the United States accountable to international human rights laws and standards as well as the rights guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution.

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What you need to know

G20
The United States has ratified or acceded to fewer key human rights treaties than all other countries in the G20 group.
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The United States is the only country in the world that has yet to ratify The Convention on the Rights of the Child.
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The United States is the one country in the world that continues to commit children to die in prison through life sentences without the possibility of parole.

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In 1948, the United Nations adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), the foundational document of the modern human rights system. Since then, the United States has provided global leadership on many human rights issues. But its embrace of the rights enshrined in the UDHR has been partial and selective.

The ACLU Human Rights Program (HRP) is specifically dedicated to holding the U.S. government accountable to universal human rights principles and rights guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution. HRP is part of a reemerging movement of U.S.-based organizations that use the international human rights framework in domestic rights advocacy.

To this end, HRP conducts human rights research, documentation, and public education, and it engages in advocacy and litigation before U.S. courts and international bodies, including the United Nations and regional human rights mechanisms (such as the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights).

By invoking international human rights norms and strategies, the ACLU has been able to make advances where concerns had previously been dismissed by the courts. Having adopted an integrative approach to human rights advocacy that incorporates human rights documentation, international advocacy, and coalition building, in ad­dition to utilizing domestic litigation and legisla­tive strategies, HRP is strengthening ACLU work to advance human rights in the United States.

In 1948, the United Nations adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), the foundational document of the modern human rights system. Since then, the United States has provided global leadership on many human rights issues. But its embrace of the rights enshrined in the UDHR has been partial and selective.

The ACLU Human Rights Program (HRP) is specifically dedicated to holding the U.S. government accountable to universal human rights principles and rights guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution. HRP is part of a reemerging movement of U.S.-based organizations that use the international human rights framework in domestic rights advocacy.

To this end, HRP conducts human rights research, documentation, and public education, and it engages in advocacy and litigation before U.S. courts and international bodies, including the United Nations and regional human rights mechanisms (such as the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights).

By invoking international human rights norms and strategies, the ACLU has been able to make advances where concerns had previously been dismissed by the courts. Having adopted an integrative approach to human rights advocacy that incorporates human rights documentation, international advocacy, and coalition building, in ad­dition to utilizing domestic litigation and legisla­tive strategies, HRP is strengthening ACLU work to advance human rights in the United States.
a hand holding an American flag and a rainbow flag in front of the supreme court building
a crowd of people with fists in the air

Credit: Michelle Frankfurter, Jacquelyn Martin / AP Photos

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