Pittsburgh Human Rights City Alliance

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

About Us

Pittsburgh Human Rights City Alliance works to bring together diverse groups and individuals to encourage the realization of our City Council's 2011 Proclamation declaring Pittsburgh a "human rights city". We strive to foster a human rights culture that maximizes human rights and dignity for all people who live in our region (See Human Rights Cities Principles). We help network leading community organizations and concerned residents to advance people-centered human rights in Pittsburgh. We cannot wait for leaders in Washington to protect our basic rights! It takes engaged and creative efforts of community residents to "bring human rights home"!

• About the Pittsburgh Human Rights City Alliance
• Coordinating Committee
• Advisory Board.

Ways to Get Involved

Subscribe

• Subscribe to our newsletter to receive email updates on events & action opportunities!
• We also have a Pittsburgh Area University Human Rights Working Group. Faculty members, staff and graduate students can subscribe here to join our (low-volume) email list.
• Follow us on Facebook and Instagram

Join a Working Group

We currently steward four working groups that convene on a regular basis. Additional working groups may be formed as our work evolves and to support campaigns or special projects as needed. To learn more about each one, click on the links below. All are welcome to get involved! For more information and meeting links, please contact Maddy McGrady at madeline@theglobalswitchboard.org

Housing Rights

This working group seeks to expand public awareness that housing is a human right and to advance policy changes to expand access to safe, stable, adequate, and affordable housing in our region.

• Next meeting Tuesday, October 1, 6PM-7PM (Online)
• Have you seen our Tenant Bill of Rights?

Community Safety & Policing

This working group works to promote a human rights-based approach to law enforcement, drawing from global laws and standards that prohibit racial discrimination and promote community-centered alternatives to police.

• Next meeting Tuesday, October 8, 2-3 pm (Online).

Communications, Education and Outreach

This working group helps to shape and support our overall communication strategy. Volunteers can support in a variety of ways such as assisting with our newsletter, creating promotional materials, and reviewing and editing content, among other key tasks. This group is growing and we welcome folks with a variety of interests and skills to help us grow our capacity and get the word out about human rights.

• Next meeting Tuesday, October 15, 6-7pm (Online).

Policy, Legislation, & Governance (PLuG)

This working group is designing a Human Rights Blueprint & Scorecard to help advance and monitor local policies through a human rights lens.

• Next meeting Thursday, October 3, 5:30-6:30 pm (Online).

Calendar

PUSH Documentary Screening - Monday, September 30th, 6-8pm, Barco Law Building (3900 Forbes Ave, Pittsburgh, PA 15260)

PUSH tells the story of how global banks and investment firms are turning our communities into sources of private profit, taking control of residential housing around the world, and pushing out low-income residents. The film tells another story too: residents and city officials are coming together to demand that housing be protected as a human right.

RSVP here (encouraged, not required). Food will be provided

Contact Us
All are welcome to join our work to make Pittsburgh a Human Rights City! For more information or to get involved, please contact us at hrca@theglobalswitchboard.org.

Current Areas of Focus

HRCA's work continues to evolve. Our current work focuses on the following issue areas, which were identified by community members and organizers as key regional priorities. Our working groups correspond with these areas of focus.

Housing Rights & Justice

HRCA is an active member of the Pittsburgh Housing Justice Table, a coalition of allied local organizations and independent advocates who believe that housing is a human right and that everyone should have access to the housing they need. Our Housing Rights Working Group supports the work of the Housing Justice Table through related events, education and advocacy efforts.

Through community engagement and conversations with Housing Justice Table coalition partners, HRCA developed A Human Rights-based Housing Strategy and Action Plan for Pittsburgh, PA which serves as a guiding document for our housing advocacy. We want our goals and strategy to reflect the needs and perspectives of our community, which is why we invite residents to review the document and share input with us so that we can strengthen it. Send your comments to hrca@theglobalswitchboard.org or join us for our next working group meeting!

You can learn more about the history behind our research and strategy conversations by reviewing our resource page, Building Pittsburgh's Human Rights Housing Strategy

Relevant Events & Actions

• (April 4-7, 2022), Leilani Farha, the former UN Special Rapporteur on the Human Right to Adequate Housing, visits Pittsburgh. Check out our visit summary highlighting insights and recommendations from our discussions with Ms. Farha, who now leads global housing rights organization, The Shift. Here you’ll also find helpful links to learning resources and legal tools to help us advance housing as a human right. (Download report PDF)

Racial Equity & Justice

HRCA is active as part of a broad coalition of community members and organizations committed to ending and redressing long-standing racial inequalities, inequities, and discrimination in the Pittsburgh region and beyond, recognizing that Freedom from Racial Discrimination is a Right, Not a Privilege.

This work includes raising awareness of the U.S. government's legal obligation to address racial discrimination under international law. For example, the U.S. ratified the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD) in 1994 and has thus legally agreed to comply with and implement its requirements.

Recent events & actions:

• (November 2023) HRCA members prepared an Executive Summary of the UN Expert Mechanism's Report on Racial Discrimination in Law Enforcement for local elected officials to raise awareness of the UN's investigation, conclusions, and recommendations following its U.S. Country Visit in April & May 2023.

• (October 2023) HRCA organized a panel discussion of UN recommendations to end racially discriminatory policing and uphold human rights in the context of law enforcement. Event Panelists: Brandi Fisher (Alliance for Police Accountability), Tanisha Long (Abolitionist Law Center), Muhammad Ali Nasir (MAN-E) (1Hood Media), Laura Perkins (Casa San Jose). Read the UN reports: U.S. Country Visit 2023 & Reimagining Policing 2023. Event recording: UN Report Condemns Racial Discrimination in U.S. Law Enforcement: How does this relate to Southwest PA?

• (April 2023) HRCA joined the Alliance for Police Accountability and other advocates in submitting a report on policing and racial discrimination in Pittsburgh and Allegheny County to the UN's International Independent Expert Mechanism to Advance Racial Justice and Equality in the context of Law Enforcement (EMLER) ahead of its visit to the US from April 24 to May 5, 2023. (Full report: Treatment of People of African Descent by Law Enforcement Agencies in Pittsburgh and Allegheny County, Press release: Local Advocates File Report on Police Discrimination in Allegheny County to UN Fact-Finding Body on Law Enforcement and Racial Justice)

• (November 2022) HRCA assisted to facilitate a listening session with Justin Hansford, Professor of Law at Howard University School of Law and an elected founding member of the UN Permanent Forum on People of African Descent. For more details, review our summary Taking Back Our Human Rights: Black Pittsburgh's Appeal to the World and our background page for the event.

• (July 2022) HRCA prepared and submitted a Shadow Report to the United Nations CERD Committee (Full report: Racial Discrimination & Equity in the United States: Evidence from Pittsburgh, Summary report: Summary Document)

Creating a Human Rights City

In 2011, the City of Pittsburgh issued a Proclamation declaring Pittsburgh the 5th Human Rights City in the U.S.. While this represents a step in the right direction, much work remains to strengthen and actually realize the City's commitment and to create a City in which everyone can thrive. We’re drawing from examples in other cities such as Atlanta to bring stronger human rights commitments along with processes for monitoring and setting targets for advancing equity and protecting the rights of all residents.

Relevant Documents

• Draft Resolution to Renew and Update Pittsburgh’s Human Rights City Status

• Bringing a Human Rights Perspective to Mayor Gainey’s Transition Report 2022
• Message to Mayor-Elect Gainey on International Human Rights Day 2021 (Dec. 10)

• Pittsburgh Delegation Attends Human Rights Cities Leadership Summit in Atlanta, May 2023 - As part of our work with human rights cities and human rights advocates around the country and around the world, we brought a team of more than two dozen Pittsburgh activists, youth, and policy experts to Atlanta to learn, share, and network.

Human Rights Education & Outreach

A key focus of HRCA is raising awareness among civil society and elected officials of the international human rights framework, and how we can (and should) use this framework to advocate for, monitor, and uphold "people-centered human rights" at home. This work includes building a movement of human rights enforcers and educating elected and government officials about their obligations under international human rights laws.

Relevant Documents

• Universal Declaration of Human Rights
• International Bill of Human Rights

Bringing Human Rights Home

Universal Periodic Review (UPR)

*UPR Pittsburgh Bringing Global Human Rights Home: Pittsburgh's Human Rights Assessment & the United Nations Together with human rights defenders around the country, Pittsburgh residents are working to bring the stories and accounts of human rights conditions in our region to the United Nations through the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) process. Over 2019-2020, the United States human rights record will be reviewed by international representatives and human rights experts, and the UN will issue a formal report with recommendations to the US government for improving respect for the country's international human rights obligations. A key to the UPR's effectiveness is engagement from civil society, and we're working to provide opportunities for residents to learn about human rights and the UPR process as we generate ideas for how we can make Pittsburgh and Southwest PA places where human rights thrive.

• For more details see UPR Cities Project

Pittsburgh City Council Passes Zero Evictions Proclamation in Solidarity with Global Movement for Housing Justice

Housing Justice

• Housing is a Human Right-Letter to Officials The UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Adequate Housing, Leilani Farha, recently directed letters to governments and corporate leaders around the world, pointing out how prevailing policies violate international human rights obligations. This page has details and a template for contacting your local leaders to remind them of their international legal obligations.
• Housing Justice Pittsburgh Building community power to fight displacement and promote our "Right to the City."
• Housing Summit 2018
• 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.

News & Updates

• UN Official Confronts Governments and Corporations on Housing Rights: Recently, 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!
  • We're working to get this message to Mayor Peduto and other public officials: If your organization wants to sign this *letter to public officials* please contact us at pghrights[at]riseup[dot]net or via Facebook PGHrights. For more details see Housing is a Human Right!

• 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)
• 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.

Resources

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

Other meetings

• Pittsburgh's Gender Equity Commission For more information and to join the next meeting, please contact pgh4cedaw@gmail.com.
• Pittsburghers for Public Transit
• Penn Plaza Support and Action Coalition
• Pittsburgh Union of Regional Renters

Pittsburgh

• 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)
• Research on Pittsburgh and Human Rights Organizing: Responding to Globalization and Urban Conflict: Human Rights City Initiatives Studies in Social Justice
• Local strategy working paper: Moving from Shallow to Deep Democracy
• 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.
• The Case for Human Rights Today (February 2021)

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

• “Unmasking the hidden power of cities”. (LA-A New Economy for All LAANE, Partnership for Working Families, In the Public Interest) June 2018.
• Statement of Principles - National Human Rights City Alliance and People-Centered Human Rights
• 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
• 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

Dangerous Times: Defending Human Rights

• The Dangerous Rise of Populism: Global Attacks on Human Rights Values: "2017 World Report by Human Rights Watch" reminds us that "Values are fragile. Because the values of human rights depend foremost on the ability to empathize with others and "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."
• 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
  • Relevant reading
    • The Case for Reparations by Ta-Nehisi Coates
    • 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", "Stand Up for Someone's Rights Today," and 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
• 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.
• 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.

Past Actions & Events

Actions HRCA Has Supported

• (2018) Communication Justice Initiative
• (2018) HRCA stood with the Community Power Movement and other advocates in calling for greater transparency and a commitment to community benefits from developers receiving public subsidies, including Amazon.
• (2017)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 would unfairly impact communities of color, increase the problematic trend of criminalizing young people, and threaten immigrant residents. The campaign called 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).
• (2017) Pittsburgh Public Schools Passes Sanctuary Resolution
• (2016) 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.

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

Past Events

• (2024) 10th Annual Human Rights Cookout and Potluck - Sunday, August 25th, 2024. Around 60 human rights supporters and advocates came together to enjoy food, music and updates about human rights work happening in Pittsburgh.
• (February 2021) Advancing the Human Right to Housing in our Cities Multi-city dialogue with organizers from Pittsburgh, Atlanta, and New York- View recording here

Co-Sponsors: Pittsburgh Human Rights City Alliance, Atlanta Housing Justice League, Organization for Human Rights & Democracy, University of Pittsburgh Global Studies Center & Urban Studies Program, Student Human Rights Task Force- Pitt & The New School (NYC) Collaboration.

Further background and recordings at:Zero Evictions Days Resource page and webinar recordings Featuring dialogues with Leilani Farha, former UN Special Rapporteur on the Human Right to Adequate Housing.)

• (2020) International Human Rights Day Public/Media Statement:Pittsburgh Joins Global Efforts to Target Systemic Racism, Bring Human Rights Home [1]
• See the summary of our Human Rights Cities Conference, hosted at the University of Pittsburgh
• Housing Summit 2016 & 2018
• (2017): Uniting Against Hate: Immigrant Rights, Racial Justice and the U.S. Prison System
• (2017) International Human Rights Day 2017 Press Conference at the City County Building
• (2016) International Workers Day March for Immigrant Rights 2016 Statement of Unity and Solidarity
• (2015)World Food Day Watch video recording of October 2015 panel on the Right to Food
• OSHER Lifelong Learning Institute-Human Rights in Pittsburgh and Beyond, Resource Page
• Teach-In: Uniting Against Hate: How the prison industrial complex impacts our communities & what we can do to change it.

Annual Reports

• 2019 Annual Report
• 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

Archive

• Archive
• (December 2023) Peoples Campaign for Reparations and Black Self-Determination- held a community forum on this theme to help organize and build a Reparations Commission for Black Residents of Pittsburgh.

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

Website: pghrights.org Facebook: pghrights

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https://www.facebook.com/groups/pghrights/
#pghrights
e-mail: pghrights [at] riseup.net

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

All Pages

• 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
• Films
• 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
• Steel City Cooperative Housing
• 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