The Voices for Justice Dinners celebrate an extraordinary human rights defender from around the world who puts their life at risk to protect the rights and dignity of others. Please join us as we honor one such courageous individual in San Francisco on Thursday, November 15, 2012 or at the first ever, Silicon Valley Dinner on Wednesday, November 14, 2012. TWO BAY AREA LOCATIONS, TWO OPPORTUNITIES TO HONOR ONE EXTRAORDINARY DEFENDER: SILICON VALLEY: Wednesday, November 14 at 6:00 PM at the Four Seasons Palo Alto SAN FRANCISCO: Thursday, November 15 at 6:00 PM at Yoshi’s San Francisco

If you were moved by the viral video Kony 2012, and the recent landmark guilty verdict at the International Criminal Court of rebel leader Thomas Lubanga Dyilo for recruiting and using child soldiers in Congo, learn more about the African Great Lakes region and what Human Rights Watch and partner organizations have been doing on the ground to help promote and end to the brutal conflicts.

The 2012 Human Rights Watch International Film Festival will be held every Thursday from March 1-29 at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts. The films will also be featured at a special 3-day screening from March 29-31 at The University of San Francisco. Every year Human Rights Watch presents a selection of powerful films with distinctive human rights themes. This year's films put a human face on threats to individual freedom and dignity, and celebrate the ability of the human spirit and intellect to prevail.

Human Rights Watch Executive Director, Ken Roth, spoke on President Obama's human rights record at the Stanford University Program on Human Rights at the Center for Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law on April 13, 2011.

You may have seen the Pulitzer prize winning play by Lynn Nottage, Ruined, at Berkeley Repertory Theatre - now read how Human Rights Watch is working with the Congolese Coalition for Transitional Justice to hold perpetrators of serious human rights abuses to account and end a culture of impunity in Congo.

There is new evidence that state governments are finally understanding what a tragic mistake they made during the 1990s when they began trying ever larger numbers of children as adults instead of sending them to the juvenile justice system. Support an end to Juvenile Life Without Parole in California by visiting: http://www.fairsentencingforyouth.org/.

In August, Senate Bill 9 was JUST ONE VOTE short of passage. It will be voted on again very soon. Legislators need to hear that you support this bill, and that you support fair sentencing for youth in California. Call or write your Assemby Member and the Governor today!

For more than twenty years, Human Rights Watch has worked to protect and empower women. On the ground, and at the highest levels of power, we ensure women's voices are heard. Join us in our global campaign for women's rights.