Setting Priorities for U.S. Human Rights Communications

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A comprehensive report from the US Human Rights and Communications meeting convened by Breakthrough, with support from the US Human Rights Fund. This day-long meeting on June 28, 2006, addressed communications strategies on human rights in the United States. Approximately 40 people, representing human rights activists, funders and communication professionals, attended the meeting.

The agenda was designed to meet two broad objectives:

1. To develop a communications process to "mainstream" the core idea that the U.S. should be accountable to human rights standards domestically.

2. To identify priority steps to be taken and critical needs that must be met to strengthen the capacity of human rights organizations to use communications strategies effectively.

The meeting did not aim to resolve what messages would be employed by the field or how they should be conveyed. Instead the focus was on drafting a blueprint for communications collaboration among funders, activists and advocates. Special attention was paid to construct a meeting format that would elicit ideas and feedback about a potential process to implement sector-wide communications strategies.

Download setting_priorities.pdf