This list is not updated. Find the most updated list of human rights organizations in our big resource directory here!
The directory also includes minority rights organizations for various groups fighting for black, indigenous, LGBTQ+, and people of color causes.
General Human Rights Organizations
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International Human Rights Organizations
Committed to advancing human rights and alleviating unnecessary human suffering. Works to create a world in which everyone has the opportunity to be healthy and live in peace.
Dedicated to promoting free institutions worldwide. Publishes surveys detailing the state of civil liberties, political rights, and economic freedom in every country.
A human rights advocacy group that partners with local activists to challenge injustice and amplify new voices within the global discourse.
Provides comprehensive, innovative programs to help the most vulnerable among us to improve their lives and realize their human rights.
Human Rights Education Associates (HREA)
Supports human rights learning; the training of activists and professionals; the development of educational materials and programming; and community-building through on-line technologies.
Dedicated to defending and protecting human rights. Known for their accurate fact-finding, impartial reporting, effective use of media, and targeted advocacy, often in partnership with local human rights groups.
Human Rights Without Frontiers
Focuses on monitoring, research, and analysis in the field of human rights and promotes democracy and the rule of law.
Investigates the health consequences of human rights violations and works to stop them.
Fights for press freedom and denounces violations of human rights all over the world.
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights
Works for the protection of human rights for all people; helps empower people to realize their rights and to assist those responsible for upholding such rights in ensuring that they are implemented.
UN High Commissioner for Refugees
Leads and coordinates international action to protect refugees and resolve refugee problems.
Uses video and online technologies to empower people to transform personal stories of abuse into tools for justice, promoting public engagement and policy change.
The Advocates for Human Rights
Works to apply international human rights standards in the U.S. and the world. The Advocates also works to educate about human rights and provides free resources for educators.
Investigates and exposes abuses, educates and mobilizes the public, and helps transform societies to create a safer, more just world.
A humanitarian organization with a mission to fight global poverty. The organization places special emphasis on working with and empowering women as a way to help whole families and communities escape poverty.
US Human Rights Organizations
The Advocates for Human Rights
Documents human rights abuses, advocates on behalf of victims, educates on human rights issues, and provides training and technical assistance to address and prevent human rights violations.
American Civil Liberties Union
Works to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties that the Constitution and laws of the U.S. guarantee everyone in this country.
American Friends Service Committee
Carries out service, development, social justice, and peace programs throughout the world.
Investigates and exposes abuses, educates and mobilizes the public, and helps transform societies to create a safer, more just world.
Fights all forms of bigotry in the U.S. and abroad through information, education, legislation, and advocacy.
Center for Constitutional Rights
A non-profit legal and educational organization committed to the creative use of law as a positive force for social change.
Advocates for policies and programs that lift children out of poverty, protect them from abuse, and ensure their access to health care, quality education, and a moral foundation.
Founded to stop the cycle of complacency, to elevate understanding by people in communities throughout the nation, and to organize them so they will be empowered to help make a difference.
The largest national lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender civil rights organization, HRC envisions an America where LGBT people are ensured of their basic equal rights and can be open, honest, and safe at home, at work, and in the community.
Exists to protect and defend the dignity of each individual through respect for human rights and the rule of law.
The nation’s oldest legal defense and education fund dedicated to advancing the rights of women and girls.
Focuses on disaster response, sustainable economic development, and health services. In the U.S., mobilizes youth to help fight against hunger, poverty, and social injustice.
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
Works to ensure the political, educational, social, and economic quality of rights of all persons and eliminate racial hatred and racial discrimination.
National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty
Works to abolish the death penalty in the U.S. and support efforts to abolish the death penalty worldwide.
National Economic and Social Rights Initiative
Promotes a human rights vision for the U.S. that ensures dignity and access to the basic resources needed for human development and civic participation.
The Justice Project is a non-partisan organization dedicated to fighting injustice and creating a more humane and just world.
In the U.S., partners with local groups to tackle the causes of poverty and foster social change to alleviate it.
A nonprofit legal advocacy organization that seeks to enforce and expand the rights of people who suffer injustice because of poverty or discrimination.
A coalition working to restore the American commitment to protect civil liberties and human rights for all people in the U.S.
Dedicated to promoting civil rights and fighting harmful prejudices since 1971.
Urban Justice Center’s Human Rights Project
Documents, monitors, and reports on economic human rights violations in the U.S.
Works to increase the visibility of the U.S. human rights movement, build the capacity of U.S. groups, strengthen links between U.S. activists, and connect them with the global human rights movement.
Provides regularly updated reports on human rights throughout the world and in the United States.
American Civil Liberties Union
Through litigation, lobbying and public education, the ACLU works to extend rights to segments of the U.S. population that have traditionally been denied their rights.
Children’s Rights Organizations
International Children’s Rights Organizations
A non-profit organization that partners with existing grassroots nongovernmental organizations which work with children, parents, and communities to work toward ensuring rights for children.
Child Rights Information Network
CRIN advocates for children’s rights based on the UNCRC. They release reports and news about worldwide and domestic child rights violations and act as a resource for organizations and individuals to remain updated on children’s rights affairs.
Formerly known as Free The Children, WE Charity is an international charity that partners with communities through a holistic, sustainable development model that equips families with the tools and skills they need to lift themselves out of poverty.
An organization aimed at promoting non-violence on a local and global level by connecting Nobel Peace Prize Laureates with youth through mentoring and service-learning.
Voices of Youth is an outlet for children from around the world to exchange their knowledge and ideas, including through child rights forums and examples of how to take action against rights violations.
United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF)
A critical player in child health initiatives. The organization spends the majority of its non-administrative budget on promoting health initiatives, and prioritizes the needs of the world’s most vulnerable children. UNICEF strives to address major health concerns such as HIV and AIDS, maternal and child nutrition, excessive maternal mortality, increasing vaccination rates, among other areas of importance such as gender equality, and child survival and development.
US Children’s Rights Organizations
Administration for Children and Families
A branch of the Department of Health and Human Services, the ACF is in charge of federal programs focused around the economic and social well-being of families, children, individuals, and communities.
American Civil Liberties Union
The ACLU Human Rights Program works to ensure that the U.S. complies with universal human rights principles and the U.S. Constitution. This page is devoted to information on children’s rights.
American Humane is an organization devoted to promoting the safety and well-being of children and animals. They have helped form many policies, curricula, and training programs throughout the U.S. to prevent the cruelty, abuse, neglect, and exploitation of children and animals.
A private charitable organization that fosters public policy and community supports for disadvantaged children and families. They also publish a yearly report entitled, “Kids Count Data Book” that summarizes the status of children across the United States.
Boys and Girls Clubs of America
Provides a safe place for children to play and enhance their development. The Boys and Girls Clubs work to instill a sense of competence, usefulness, belonging, and influence in youth around the country.
Big Brothers Big Sisters of America
The oldest and largest youth mentoring organization in the United States. BBBS has been the leader in one-to-one youth service for more than a century, developing positive relationships that have a direct and lasting impact on the lives of young people.
Advocates for child welfare and reform at the state and federal level and partners with community members and groups on effective child welfare programs. The main focus of this organization is reducing the need for foster care in the United States.
Works to achieve ratification of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child by the US Senate and implement its standards in the US.
Advocates for policies and programs that lift children out of poverty, protect them from abuse, and ensure their access to health care, quality education, and a moral foundation.
The leading policy organization fighting to protect children from commercial sexual exploitation in the United States.
A national advocacy group working in the United States to reform failing child welfare systems on behalf of the hundreds of thousands of abused and neglected children who depend on them for protection and care.
Provides regularly updated reports on children’s rights throughout the world and in the United States.
A non-profit that improves the lives of children in foster care, who often find themselves forgotten and neglected by the public. They collaborate with individuals, companies, and community partners to bring resources to foster youth and use service-learning activities to educate volunteers on issues surrounding the foster care system.
An independent, national nonprofit dedicated to deliver the highest standards of care, advance the science of the developing brain and empower parents, professionals and policymakers to support children when and where they need it most. Their focus is on mental health and learning disorders.
They empower the youth community (13-24 years) by building a non-political, non-religious digital “state” to increase awareness, build advocacy and create action against the most pressing current issues that the world faces.
They provide free legal services, supportive programs that create pathways to education and jobs, advocacy, and systemic solutions to ensure that children who experience foster care are able to fulfill their potential.
Education Rights Organizations
International Education Rights Organizations
Promotes policies and programs that provide children with the resources they need to succeed; including programs that lift children out of poverty; protect them from abuse; and ensure their access to health care, quality education, and a moral and spiritual foundation.
Childhood Education International
Create innovative solutions to education challenges by providing training, technical assistance, and consultation services to people working in the education sector around the world. CEI seeks to transform education so that every child has access to quality and equitable learning experiences that uphold their right to an education, their right to learn.
The Right To Education Initiative
A global human rights organisation that seeks to create a world where the right to education for all becomes a reality, from early childhood to adulthood and throughout life, on the basis of the principles of non-discrimination and equality.
US Education Rights Organizations
Helps states raise academic standards and achievement so that all students graduate ready for college, work, and citizenship.
American Association of University Women
Advocates for equity in education for women and girls and fights discrimination and harassment in schools.
American Civil Liberties Union
Through litigation, lobbying and public education, the ACLU works to extend rights to segments of the U.S. population that have traditionally been denied their right to education.
Association for Women in Mathematics
Encourages and supports the involvement of women and girls in the mathematical sciences.
Seeks to improve K-12 public education by reforming the current system, encouraging change, and supporting successful new ideas.
An independent advocate for public education and more effective public schools. They help Americans better understand the role of public education in a democracy and the need to improve the academic quality of public schools.
Works for the high academic achievement of all students at all levels, and for closing the achievement gaps that separate low-income students and students of color from other youth.
A nonpartisan social policy research organization dedicated to learning what works to improve the well-being of low-income people. They seek to enhance the effectiveness of social policies and programs.
National Association for Multicultural Education
Works to ensure that all students receive an equitable education and strives to fight the injustices in our schools and in the community.
National Economic and Social Rights Initiative
Works with organizers, advocates and legal organizations to incorporate a human rights perspective into their work and build human rights advocacy models tailored for the U.S.
National Education Association
A volunteer-based organization that works at the local, state and national levels representing the interests of public schools.
Works in public schools and communities to improve education primarily through encouraging parental involvement.
Quality Education for Minorities
Serves as a national resource and catalyst to help unite and strengthen educational restructuring efforts to the benefit of minority children, youth, and adults, while advancing minority participation and leadership in the national debate on how best to ensure access to a quality education for all citizens.
Healthcare Rights Organizations
International Healthcare Rights Organizations
Provides links to international and regional human rights instruments most relevant to health.
An international human rights nonprofit committed to providing long-term medical care to those who cannot afford it. With over 400 programs in more than 80 countries, this organization is located in war zones, refugee camps and even rural communities. Doctors of the World successfully provides emergency and long-term medical care to those who greatly need it. In doing so, this organization treats those afflicted by poverty, disease, armed conflict, natural disasters or chronic, structural disparities. Doctors of the World helps treat 1.6 million people each year.
A nonprofit organization that strives to improve health care for those living in hard to reach communities. To do so, Medic Mobile builds software to ensure health care workers being able to deliver equitable care to communities everywhere around the world. Moreover, the organization is the core contributor to the Community Health Toolkit. CHT is a software that helps health workers deliver medical items safely, track outbreaks of disease faster, treat illnesses door to door, keep stock of essential medicines and communicate emergencies. Medic Mobile now impacts 14 countries in Africa and Asia, having trained and equipped 24,463 health workers.
A nonprofit organization with a mission based on improving the quality of life by saving lives and relieving suffering through health care training and relief and development programs. Based in the United States and the United Kingdom, International Medic Corps offers training and health care to local populations. The organization also provides medical assistance to those at the most risk. In 2017, International Medic Corps estimated it performed 4.8 million medical consultations, benefitting 8 million people directly and 50 million people indirectly.
A unique nonprofit organization dedicated to employ, train and help to empower HIV-positive women as community health workers in Africa. The “Mentor Mothers” work in local African communities and understaffed health facilities. They provide advice, essential health education and support to other HIV-positive mothers on how to protect their babies from HIV infection. Mothers 2 Mothers also works to ensure women and families are getting proper health advice and medication, are linked to the right clinical services and are supported on their treatment journey. Since 2001, Mothers 2 Mothers has reached over 10.5 million women and children. In 2017, the organization reported it had served 1 in 6 of the world’s HIV-positive women.
An organization committed to helping those struggling without medical services in Africa. To do so, the organization uses the Africa Mercy, a floating hospital ship with volunteer medical teams and sterile operating rooms. As a result, Mercy Ships directly aids those who would otherwise receive no care. Aboard the Africa Mercy, medical treatments are free of charge, such as removing tumors, correcting clefts and straightening legs. Since being founded in 1978, Mercy Ships has reported it has performed more than 100,000 surgeries.
United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF)
A critical player in child health initiatives. The organization spends the majority of its non-administrative budget on promoting health initiatives, and prioritizes the needs of the world’s most vulnerable children. UNICEF strives to address major health concerns such as HIV and AIDS, maternal and child nutrition, excessive maternal mortality, increasing vaccination rates, among other areas of importance such as gender equality, and child survival and development.
The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria
An international financing institution that invests the world’s money to save lives.
Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS)
An innovative partnership that leads and inspires the world in achieving universal access to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support.
A vital source of financial and technical assistance to developing countries around the world to fight poverty, including making investments to improve health.
Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) Global Health Policy Center
Bridges foreign policy and public health communities by creating a strategy for U.S. engagement on global health.
A coalition of companies and organizations serving as a hub for business engagement on the world’s most pressing global health issues.
Columbia University’s resource that brings together the people and tools needed to address some of the world’s most difficult problems, from climate change and environmental degradation, to poverty, disease and the sustainable use of resources.
Global Alliance for Chronic Diseases (GACD)
An alliance of research funders to support clear priorities for a coordinated research effort that will address this growing global health crisis.
The leading membership organization supporting and connecting advocates, implementers and stakeholders around global health priorities worldwide.
Global Health Technologies Coalition (GHTC)
A group of more than 30 nonprofit organizations working to increase awareness of the urgent need for technologies that save lives in the developing world.
Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) U.S. Global Health Policy
An online gateway for data and information on the U.S. role in global health.
Addresses African development and policy issues by working in partnership with African people to build sustainable, healthy and productive communities. (Africare merged with the Accordia Global Health Foundation in 2016.)
Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
Guided by the belief that every life has equal value, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation works to help all people lead healthy, productive lives.
Links the UN’s work with others around the world, mobilizing the energy and expertise of business and non-governmental organizations to help the UN tackle issues including climate change, children’s health, peace and security, and poverty eradication.
A global charitable foundation dedicated to achieving extraordinary improvements in health by supporting the brightest minds.
Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME)
The IHME is an independent global health research center at the University of Washington that provides rigorous and comparable measurement of the world’s most important health problems.
Population Services International (PSI)
A nonprofit organization that takes a business approach to saving lives by breaking the traditional development model and addressing the most challenging health problems by using proven business practices such as marketing and franchising. PSI helps build strong health systems in the private and public sector by using the expertise of over 8,900 local staff located in more than 65 countries globally.
US Healthcare Rights Organizations
An independent non-profit organization, we accomplish this by raising private funds and creating public-private partnerships to support the mission of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
A non-profit child advocacy organization that has worked for 35 years to help America’s children. CDF advocates for health care coverage for all children.
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality
Operated by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, provides extensive research and data as well as information for patients.
Established in 1982 with a mission to “promote high-quality, affordable health care for all Americans.” Includes information on various current health care issues and a resources section.
Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation
Includes numerous studies on health care in America and contains a wealth of information, particularly from the Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the uninsured. It also offers a news service providing updates on critical health policy developments.
National Coalition on Health Care
The nation’s largest and most broadly representative alliance working to improve America’s health care. Members are united in the belief that we need and can achieve better, more affordable health care for all Americans.
National Economic and Social Rights Initiative
Publishes numerous resources on economic and social rights in the U.S., including the right to health as well as resources pertaining to the health and human rights network.
National Organization on Disability
Advocates for the full involvement of individuals with disabilities and publishes educational information about disability in America.
The National Health Law Project
Provides resources for health care consumers and advocates. A particularly good resource on health care issues affecting low-income families and the uninsured. Provides links to a comprehensive list of organizations and agencies around the country.
National Partnership for Women & Families
Dedicated to promoting public policies and business practices that expand opportunities for women and improve the well-being of our nation’s families. They promote fairness in the workplace, access to quality and affordable health care, and policies that help women and men meet the dual demands of work and family.
National Senior Citizens Law Center
Covers Medicare, Medicaid, long-term care, nursing homes, and other issues affecting seniors.
Division of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Includes numerous statistics and other resources related to minority health in the U.S.
A comprehensive information on the uninsured, including a glossary, tough questions to answer, and interviews with health experts.
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
Seeks to improve the health and health care of all Americans. Their efforts focus on improving both the health of everyone in America and their health care—how it’s delivered, how it’s paid for, and how well it does for patients and their families.
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Offers a vast selection of health-related resources including information about specific conditions and resources for specific populations.
Food Rights Organizations
International Food Rights Organizations
Feed the Children International
Feed The Children has U.S. and international programs. The U.S. program focuses on distributing food to families in need. The international program works with vulnerable and at-risk children, their caregivers, and communities to cultivate the social, economic, cultural, and environmental conditions needed for families to thrive.
Brings innovative and sustainable self-help solutions to the fight against chronic hunger and poverty. Together with local partners, they equip families with resources they need to build futures of health, hope and dignity.
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
Committed to helping build a world without hunger, focusing especially on rural areas.
A Jewish citizens’ movement that works in the U.S and around the globe to bring critical relief to millions of hungry families.
An international relief and development organization that creates lasting solutions to poverty, hunger, and injustice. Oxfam saves lives, helps people overcome poverty, and fights for social justice.
A leading advocate for innovative, community based solutions to hunger and poverty. Their work challenges society to confront these problems by advancing models that create self-reliance, economic justice, and equal access to nutritious and affordable food.
US Food Rights Organizations
A collective Christian organization that urges U.S. decision makers to end hunger at home and abroad. By changing policies, programs and conditions that allow hunger and poverty to persist, they provide help and opportunity for many communities.
Trains leaders about the causes of and solutions to hunger and homelessness, and the appropriate humanitarian responses; facilitates collaborative efforts among organizations critical to the design of policies aimed at ending hunger in the U.S. and abroad; and increases public awareness about the nature, root causes, and solutions to hunger.
The nation’s leading domestic hunger-relief charity. Their mission is to feed America’s hungry through a nationwide network of member food banks and engage our country in the fight to end hunger.
Food Research and Action Center (FRAC)
The Food Research and Action Center (FRAC) is the leading national non-profit organization working to improve public policies and build public-private partnerships to eradicate hunger and undernutrition in the U.S.
Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy
The Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy promotes resilient family farms, rural communities and ecosystems around the world through research and education, science and technology, and advocacy
Works toward the social, physical, nutritional, and economic betterment of vulnerable Americans. Their programs provide nutritious meals and other services to the elderly, homebound, disabled, frail, or at risk to improve their quality of life and postpone early institutionalization.
National Family Farm Coalition
Provides a voice for grassroots groups on farm, food, trade and rural economic issues to ensure fair prices for family farmers, safe and healthy food, and vibrant, environmentally sound rural communities in the U.S. and around the world.
An affiliate of Oxfam International, Oxfam America is an international relief and development organization that creates lasting solutions to poverty, hunger, and injustice. Oxfam saves lives, helps people overcome poverty, and fights for social justice.
The United Way works to create lasting positive changes in communities and people’s lives through helping communities identify the underlying causes of their most significant issues, develop strategies and pull together financial and human resources to address them. Alleviating hunger in the U.S. is one of the main issues addressed by the United Way.
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SOURCES: FIC at the National Health Institute, Borgen Project, The Advocates For Human Rights, AMSA
