The Human Rights Watch Chicago Committee, formed in 2004, is part of a network of support committees composed of opinion leaders from a variety of backgrounds in North America and Europe. The committees constitute an informed and engaged constituency that is essential for the defense of human rights. They seek to increase awareness of local and global human rights issues and enlist the public and governments to support basic rights for all. Committee members meet regularly to learn about human rights crises and policies and support Human Rights Watch through outreach, advocacy, and fundraising initiatives.

Members of the Chicago Committee strengthen Human Rights Watch and its global defense of essential liberties by contributing financially to its work, attracting potential supporters, and promoting the organization’s message and concerns locally. Membership in the Human Rights Watch Chicago Committee provides an inside perspective on the most pressing human rights issues of the day. The Committee is focused on outreach, education, and advocacy with assumed fundraising responsibility in Chicago. Members are asked to attend Committee meetings, participate regularly in Committee events, and join a subcommittee.

The Chicago Committee has launched an alternating month Human Rights critical issue briefing series featuring international experts on a wide range of topics, including the crisis in Darfur, the impact of U.S. policies on women’s rights around the world, human rights abuses in the war on terrorism, sustained warlord abuses in Afghanistan, justice and accountability for crimes against humanity in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and juveniles sentenced to life without parole in Illinois.

Chicago Committee
Founded 2004
Chair: Ellen Alberding
Director: Jobi Petersen Cates
Manager: Stephen Steim

Naheed and Javeed Akhter
Lucy Ascoli
Ed Bachrach
Cherif M. Bassiouni
Michael Bauer
Marjorie Benton
Leigh Bienen
Margo Blair
Marshall Bouton
Doug Cassel
Fay Clayton
Judy Cottle
Susan Crown
Peg Duncan
Karen Ehlers
Jonathan F. Fanton
Sunny Fischer
Maya Friedler
Judy Gaynor
Carolyn Grisko
Susan Gzesh
Inamul Haq
Rhona Hoffman
Lynette Jackson
Marilyn Katz
Mike Koldyke
Paul Lehman
Julie Lepri
Susan Manilow
John W. McCarter
Maaria Mozaffar
Colleen Murphy
Zachary Nauth
Grace Newton
Susan and Nicholas Pritzker
Dana Rice
Anna C. Roosevelt
Esther Saks
Jane M. Saks
Bettylu Saltzman
David Scheffer
Julia Stasch
Ellen Stone-Belic
Anne Studzinski
James B. Swinerton
Lynn C. Todman
Judy Wise