MCHR Members Based in Minnesota

The Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies, established in 1997, serves as a center for information and teaching about the Holocaust and contemporary aspects of genocide, houses a resource library, and provides speakers for events. The Center teaches and provides support for teaching about the Holocaust and genocide around the work, past and present, and the relationship to human rights questions.

The Center for Victims of Torture (CVT) exists to heal the wounds of torture on individuals, their families, and communities and to stop its practice. CVT works locally, nationally, and internationally to build healing communities where torture survivors feel welcomed, protected and healed.

The Center on Housing and Eviction Rights (COHRE) promotes and protects the right to housing for everyone, everywhere. To achieve this, COHRE has developed a varied work program, guided by international human rights law, and designed to reach as may people as possible.

Centro Legal is committed to providing affordable, quality, bilingual and bicultural civil legal representation, education, and advocacy to the low-income Latino community of Minnesota who are underserved due to language, cultural, and economic barriers. Their services are focused on poor and working poor individuals and families on the edges of self-sufficiency, as well as persons who face significant language and cultural barriers to accessing the justice system.

The Council on Crime and Justice, a leader in the field of criminal and social justice for over 40 years, provides an independent voice for a balanced approach to criminal justice. The Council has been at the forefront of many new programs in such areas as offender services, alternative sanctions, victim's rights, and restorative justice. The mission of the Council is to build community capacity to address the causes and consequences of crime and violence through research, demonstration, and advocacy.

The Human Rights Center, located in the University of Minnesota Law School, trains and assists the work of human rights professionals and volunteers through five primary programs including: applied human rights research; educational tools; the Upper Midwest Human Rights Fellowship Program, the Hubert H. Humphrey Human Rights and Law Fellowships and other field and training opportunities; the University of Minnesota Human Rights Library; and through learning communities and partnerships.

The Human Rights Program at the University of Minnesota educates students by connecting them with academic and real-world experience in the field of human rights. The program serves as a connection between the University's students and faculty and the greater local, regional, national, and international human rights communities.

The Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota is a unique non-profit law firm that started out as a legal aid program of Southern Minnesota Regional Legal Services in the late 1970s. Established as an independent non-profit organization in 1996, the ILCM continues to provide help in immigration matters to low-income immigrant and refugee families and individuals in Minnesota.

The International Women's Rights Action Watch (IWRAW) was organized in 1985 at the World Conference on Women in Nairobi, Kenya, to promote recognition of women's human rights under the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW). IWRAW now is the primary international nongovernmental organization that facilitates use of international human rights treaties to promote women's human rights.

The Legal Services Clinic of the Interprofessional Center for Counseling and Legal Services at the University of St. Thomas handles a variety of civil cases, representing low-income or non-profit clients and is divided into three practice groups: Elder Law, Immigration Law, and Community Justice Project. Students from the Schools of Law, Professional Psychology and Social Work provide services under professional supervision grounded in their respective missions, training models, and ethical codes.