Pittsburgh Human Rights City Alliance

Pittsburgh Human Rights City AllianceDignity & Justice for All of us"Human rights don't trickle down...they RISE UP!"

Pittsburgh Human Rights City Alliance works to bring together diverse groups and individuals to help envision and realize a city that maximizes human rights and dignity for all people who live in our region. We work with local struggles to implement people-centered human rights in Pittsburgh.
About the Pittsburgh Human Rights City Alliance

• Join the Human Rights City Alliance email list for updates on events & action opportunities

News & Updates

• UN Official Confronts Governments and Corporations on Housing Rights: Last week, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Adequate Housing, Leilani Farha held a press conference in Copenhagen to speak about letters released (see links below) to governments and corporations around the world including the United States and the Blackstone Group L.P. Ms. Farha spoke out directly against policies and laws which support housing as a commodity. In the letters to various governments, Ms. Farha stated that these policies and laws contradict governments’ international human rights obligations. Letters: UN Special Rapporteur Letter to US Government On Housing Policies as Human Rights Violations, Letter to Blackstone Investment Corporation, Blackstone's response. Campaign links #MaketheShift #HousingisaHumanRight!

• Pittsburgh’s Our Water Campaign goes Global: The current issue of the Open Access Journal of World-Systems Research features a symposium on the problem of corporate power and its implications for local democracy. This project was inspired by the recent inter-city competition to host the Amazon 2nd headquarters. See: "Water is a Human Right! Grassroots Resistance to Corporate Power!" (by local water activist Caitlin Schroering).

• Pittsburgh for CEDAW Coalition helps bring Pittsburgh Human Rights Recognition In March 2019, the NGO Committee on the Status of Women/New York awarded Mayor Peduto the Cities for CEDAW Global Leadership Award for his work to implement sustaining policies which eliminate all forms of discrimination against women at the local level. This award would not have been possible without all the hard work of PGH for CEDAW Coalition members to push for the CEDAW ordinance and to design policy recommendations that would ensure its effective implementation.
• Summary of lessons from Housing Justice Movement-Building work 2016-2019 This document provides a synthesis of ideas from conversations about how to advance the human right to housing and challenge market-oriented policies that continue to displace residents. ‎
• Print Media coverage of Racial Justice Summit- This report highlights our breakout session at the 2019 Summit, "Building an Intersectional Movement for Housing Justice"
• Pittsburgh City Council and Mayor Peduto re-affirm their commitment to human rights at the 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. (See Press Release December 10)
• Annual Report 2017 --See what we accomplished last year!
• National Human Rights Cities Alliance Workshop 2018, Washington DC

Human Rights Budgeting-Ideas and Resources for transforming how our city plans: This page shares links and background resources about how activists around the world are working to change the scripts of local politics to prioritize human rights over economic measures of progress. We believe that urban planning and development should be explicit in its attention to human rights and equity. More democratic budgeting processes are key to making this happen, and that means we all need to learn more about how city budgeting works and how it could be re-organized to engage more of the people who live in our region.

Calendar

April is Fair Housing Month!
Housing Justice Movement Building

Tuesday April 30, 5:30-7:30PM Housing Opportunity Fund Housing Celebration and Resource Fair 412 Blvd. of the Allies, Pittsburgh. Open to all--Free with Food and family friendly.

Thursday May 2, 7:00PM Film & discussion: Separated: Children at the Border Location: Historic Pump House 880 East Waterfront Drive Munhall, PA. PBS Frontline documentary film about the history of immigration policy under both the Obama and Trump administrations. It focuses on what happened to Central American families whose children were forcibly separated from their parents and other relatives at the border. In interviews with parents, government officials, activists, and others, the story of what is happening at the southern border is traced. This history highlights important dates and issues, speaks of legal and illegal immigration, repeats myths, and refutes some of the misinformation that surrounds this issue. Hosted by Battle of Homestead Foundation.

Saturday, May 4 1:30PM Family Separation at the Border: Its Impact on Pittsburgh, a “Welcoming City”, Location: Historic Pump House 880 East Waterfront Drive Munhall, PA. This program, hosted by the Battle of Homestead Foundation, looks at the impact of current U.S. immigration policies on Central American immigrants seeking asylum in the U.S. Like other immigrants before them, today’s immigrants are searching for a better life, freedom from violence, and economic security. Although immigrants in the past were often encouraged to enter the U.S. legally and then become productive citizens, today many face insurmountable obstacles at U.S. borders. Many immigrants are being detained, imprisoned, and deported. Meanwhile, without due process, approximately 5,000 children have been cruelly separated from their families. Speakers: Monica Ruiz, Executive Director of the Casa San Jose, and Guillermo Perez, US Steel Labor Educator and Founder/President of the Pittsburgh Chapter of Labor Council for Latin American Development.

Saturday May 11, 10:00-11:30AM: Movement-building for a Just and Livable City for All (Carnegie Library/ East Liberty 130 S Whitfield St.) – Help build a broad-based Housing is a Human Right movement to support affordable housing in Pittsburgh. We will advance a tenant bill of rights, and other projects to increase community awareness of the struggles of Pittsburgh’s growing population of residents struggling to remain in the city they call home. This community meeting will aim to develop strategies for advancing housing justice in our region, building on networks and ideas from two housing summits (2016 and 2018) and Racial Justice Summits. We’ll discuss specific projects that can help us link with national and international housing rights advocates and move from reacting to threats towards promoting transformative change. Access to quality housing is a human right and should not be contingent on people’s ability to afford rising market rates. (Refreshments will be available).

Other meetings

• Pittsburghers for Public Transit second Wednesday of each month at 7pm at 1 Smithfield Street (Pittsburgh Health and Human Services Building) downtown.
• Penn Plaza Support and Action Coalition every Monday. For details contact pennplazacoalition@gmail.com.
• Landless People's Alliance Monthly Gathering,Wednesdays at 5:30-7:00PM, Postal Workers Headquarters 841 California Ave, Pittsburgh, PA 15202-2705

Housing Justice

• Housing Justice Pittsburgh Building community power to fight displacement and promote our "Right to the City."
• Housing Summit 2018 Area organizations are working together to build a broad alliance for affordable housing in our region. Mark your calendars for our November 10, 2018 Housing Summit, and watch for a series of events and activities aimed to develop new strategies for addressing Pittsburgh's housing crisis.
• Housing is a Human Right: Slideshow on international treaties and opportunities to promote the human right to housing
  
  

Forged for All? the Amazon HQ2 Debate & the Future of Pittsburgh

Learn more about how Amazon's bid to move to Pittsburgh would affect human rights here. Resources, data, and recordings of community forums.

• View community forums on the question of how an Amazon HQ2 would impact us:
  • "Pittsburgh's Economic Revitalization: Technology, Corporate Power, and Democratic Accountability"
  • 'Human Rights, the Right to the City, and Amazon HQ2: Forged for all?

International Human Rights Monitoring

This page links to work by national and international human rights organizers to use international treaties and United Nations human rights review processes to hold local and national officials in the United States accountable to our international human rights obligations.

Take Action:

• Stop Corporate Givaways--Sign the petition to city for transparency and accountability in deal offered to Amazon for its 2nd headquarters.
• Stop Plan to Increase Policing on Public Transit
• Communication Justice Initiative
• Community Power Movement Among other work, the Community Power Movement is promoting a People's Platform and a petition campaign calling for greater transparency and community benefits in the City's bid to host the Amazon HQ2.

Regularly scheduled meetings/ Local Human Rights Groups

• Landless People's Alliance Monthly Gathering, Wednesdays at 5:30-7:00PM --Sept. 26, Oct. 31, November 28 –Location: Postal Workers Headquarters 841 California Ave, Pittsburgh, PA 15202-2705
  • Every first Wednesday of month: Alliance for Police Accountability 6:30-8:00PM Kingsley Association, 6435 Frankstown Ave. Pgh 15206 (Childcare and food provided)
  • Every 3rd Thursday 7:00-8:30PM Pittsburgh for CEDAW (Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women) meeting, Friends Meeting House, 4836 Ellsworth Ave. Everyone is welcome.

Alerts & Updates

• Campaign to Stop Plan to Increase Policing on Public Transit-- This campaign led by the Alliance for Police Accountability, Casa San Jose, Pittsburghers for Public Transit, and the Thomas Merton Center warns that the Port Authority's planned fare enforcement policy will unfairly impact communities of color, increase the problematic trend of criminalizing young people, and threaten immigrant residents.The campaign is calling for civilian fare enforcers rather than armed Port Authority Police and a citation process rather than a criminal process to deal with fare evasion (See FAQs for more information). Community organizations and individuals are asked to write letters to the Port Authority in support of this campaign (see sample letter).
• PIttsburgh Public Schools Passes Sanctuary Resolution
• Pittsburgh becomes 6th US City for CEDAW A broad coalition of human rights advocates helped advance a new ordinance enacting the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women in our City, December 6, 2016. Stay involved in the work to carry out this commitment to better address needs of women and girls, families and communities in our city! www.pgh4cedaw.org

University-Based Projects

• Pittsburgh area university faculty, staff, and graduate students are invited to join the University Human Rights Network. We invite volunteers from different campuses to help support work on your campus and coordinate with other campuses.
• Pitt Human Rights Initiative
• Campus worker organizing: Pitt faculty, graduate student workers, and other workers are organizing for their rights and to support and protect the right to education. Keep informed about the campaign on their website and Facebook page

How to get involved

• Join the Human Rights City Alliance email list for updates on events & action opportunities

Please get in touch if you're interested in some of these ongoing projects or in efforts to follow-up some of these past initiatives. We are an all-volunteer group and are working to create spaces for residents to work together to envision and build a different kind of city and region. pghrights [at] riseup [dot] net.

• Housing Summit-Resources & Links
• Uniting Against Hate: Immigrant Rights, Racial Justice and the U.S. Prison System
• Annual report 2016--See what we accomplished last year!
• International Decade of People of African Descent 2015-2025--Recognition, Justice and Development
• Discussion Guideto Sherman Alexie's The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian prepared for use around Indigenous Peoples Day 2017, but this resource can be used anytime to facilitate discussion and dialogue around themes of institutionalized racism, internalized oppression, and the historical and contemporary experiences of Indigenous communities and other communities of color in the United States.

• VOLUNTEERS NEEDED: Teach-In: Uniting Against Hate: '''How the prison industrial complex impacts our communities & what we can do to change it: A working group is organizing an event to raise consciousness on this critical human rights issue.

NEW Research on Pittsburgh and Human Rights Organizing:
Responding to Globalization and Urban Conflict: Human Rights City Initiatives Studies in Social Justice

Dangerous Times: Defending Human Rights
Values are fragile. Because the values of human rights depend foremost on the ability to empathize with others”to recognize the importance of treating others the way we would want to be treated ”they are especially vulnerable to the demagogue's exclusionary appeal. A society's culture of respect for human rights needs regular tending, lest the fears of the moment sweep away the wisdom that built democratic rule. Human Rights Watch "World Report 2017: Demagogues Threaten Human Rights-Trump, European Populists Foster Bigotry, Discrimination."

• Truth-Telling for Reconciliation: Remembering Victims of Slavery & the Slave Trade-March 25th is the International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade--Ideas: convene a group to discuss an article or book such as The Case for Reparations, by Ta-Nehisi Coates or Michael Dyson's Tears We Cannot Stop: A Sermon for White America. UN initiatives to fight racism and xenophobia: Together (respect, safety and dignity for refugees and migrants) Let's Fight Racism", and "Stand Up for Someone's Rights Today," in addition to the International Decade for People of African Descent.
• Human Rights in Danger (Youth and public education resource) Human Rights Watch 2017 Report The Dangerous Rise of PopulismGlobal Attacks on Human Rights Values
• Local strategy working paper: Moving from Shallow to Deep Democracy
  Teaching Tolerance: Talking with kids and adults about human rights "Speak up for civility"--Human Rights Educators USA
• Building a society that works for all: This election showed the urgency of people's need for major changes in the basic structure of our economy and government policies. Neither presidential candidate offered that. There is a need to build grassroots movements for economic and social transformation rather than allowing elites to determine what kind of society we live in. "Politicians from both parties lionize the entrepreneur, casting poverty ...as an individual shortcoming, a narrative that erases ...the structurally racist policies that have continued to maintain [white privilege]."
• See examples of legislation passed in Human Rights Cities of Washington DC and Eugene Oregon's Inclusive Community Resolution.
• Strategies for Improving Local Implementation of Human Rights--Lessons from around the World

Defend Pittsburghers' Right to Stay in their City! Housing Justice
**Affordable Housing Initiative:** **Pittsburgh Housing Summit** (Resources and links to recordings of plenary sessions) "Don't evict Pittsburgh!" Housing is a human right! The essence of our city is people and communities--not buildings, businesses, and tourist attractions.Homes for All Pittsburgh

*The Human Rights City Alliance works to promote and support activities of all human rights advocates around the region. Please contact us about relevant events/activities to share: pghrigts [at] riseup.net .

About the Human Rights City Alliance

• See the summary of our Human Rights Cities Conference, hosted at the University of Pittsburgh
• 2017 Annual Report
• 2016 Annual Report: See what we've done in the past year as we look forward to strengthening Pittsburgh activism for human rights in the year ahead!
• 2015 Annual Report
• International Human Rights Day 2017 Press Conference at the City County Building

How to Get Involved

• Sign up for our email list to learn about upcoming events
• Community Outreach: Please invite groups you work with to be part of the Human Rights City Alliance's work! Help us invite groups around our city to link their work with the vision of building a human rights city. This letter is addressed to community leaders and invites them to reflect on actions they can take "because we're a human rights city." This letter invites congregations/church leaders to lift up human rights concerns in their churches-particularly around December 10/Human Rights Day.
• Are you a faculty or staff member or graduate student at an area university? Join our Pittsburgh Area University Human Rights Network
• Share the word and help us carry out the Human Rights City Action Plan

Resources

Link to more resources--toolkits, reports, and organizations supporting local human rights work

People-Centered Human Rights: Analyses from Around the Nation and World

• Statement of Principles- National Human Rights City Alliance and People-Centered Human Rights
• Pittsburgh edition of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (Booklet format--PDF)
• Working Draft of An Action Plan for building a Human Rights City (PDF Version)
• Human Rights Recommendations to the United States: A Desk Reference for State and Local Human Rights Agencies
• Resources for State and Local Human Rights Implementation
• Sanctuary Cities: Boston Principles on the Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights of Noncitizens
• Pitt Students work with Homewood residents on new resource website: I Am Homewood--this project reflects what can happen when we create networks among the various residents in our city. The Human Rights City Alliance helped bring creative and energetic folks together to enhance local knowledge and advance human rights advocacy work.
• Local Initiatives to Counter Violence-Promoting Political Extremism-- This document from the Swedish Association of Local and Regional Authorities was produced following violence at a 1995 white-supremacy concert organized by a growing right-wing movement. Examples of local initiatives can guide work in other communities to counter the exclusionary and hateful messages of such groups.
• Housing is a Human Right: Slideshow on international treaties and opportunities to promote the human right to housing

OSHER Lifelong Learning Institute-Human Rights in Pittsburgh and Beyond, Resource Page

Past events

World Food Day 2015: Watch video recording of October 2015 panel on the Right to Food
International Workers Day March for Immigrant Rights 2016 Statement of Unity and Solidarity


Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. --Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Website: pghrights.org Facebook: pghrights

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e-mail: pghrights [at] riseup.net

Universal Declaration of Human Rights booklet with Pittsburgh's Human Rights City Proclamation

YWCA Pledge Stand against racism

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• Communication Justice Initiative
• Forums on Amazon HQ2 and the Right to the City
• Frequently Asked Questions

• About the Pittsburgh Human Rights City Alliance
• Archive
• Book Discussions
• Bringing Human Rights Home
• Call for Artists
• Communication Justice Initiative
• Communications, Education and Outreach
• Community Safety & Policing
• Coordinating Committee
• Educator Outreach
• Events
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• Forums on Amazon HQ2 and the Right to the City
• Frequently Asked Questions
• Health, Human Rights, and Cities Initiative
• Health is a Human Right
• Housing Justice
• Housing Justice Coalition Table
• Housing Justice Pittsburgh
• Housing Rights
• Housing Rights Resources Page
• Housing Summit
• Housing Summit Resources
• How to get involved
• Human Rights Budgeting Resource Page
• Human Rights City Action Plan
• Indigenous Peoples Day in Pittsburgh
• International Human Rights Monitoring
• Jackies Homepage
• Learning from COVID-19:Shaping a Health and Human Rights Agenda for our Region
• Main Page
• Making the Global Local-Human Rights Cities Workshop
• Media Advisories
• Model Letter supporting Pennsylvania Fairness Act
• National Human Rights Cities Alliance Workshop 2018, Washington DC
• OSHER Lifelong Learning Institute-Human Rights in Pittsburgh and Beyond, Resource Page
• Outreach Material
• Participants Partners and Allies
• Past Actions & Events
• Past Working Group Activities and Reports
• Past events
• Pitt Human Rights Initiative
• Pittsburgh Human Rights City Alliance
• Pittsburgh Human Rights Housing Strategy
• Pittsburgh delegation to Human Rights Cities Leadership Summit in Atlanta, May 2023
• Police Reform
• Policy, Legislation, & Governance (PLuG)
• Preliminary Schedule
• Recordings & Documentation
• Reparations Resource Guide
• Reports to UN Human Rights Bodies
• Resources
• Schedule
• Speakers
• Statement of principles
• Steering Committee
• Taking Back our Human Rights! Building a Black Regional Agenda for Justice
• Task Forces
• Teach-In
• U.S. Human Rights Network UDHR Campaign
• UPR Pittsburgh
• University Human Rights Network
• University Human Rights Working Group
• Washington DC 2016 Human Rights Cities Convergence
• Washington DC 2016 Human Rights Cities Convergence Documentation
• Workshop Human Rights Cities 2015 Making the Global Local
• Workshops
• Youth-led Candidate Forum
• Z Human Rights Days of Action 2015
• Z Human Rights Days of Action Spring 2015
• Zero Evictions Days 2020