Beyond projects, Advocates seeks to support activism efforts on global human rights issues. Our current advocacy goals are as follows:
- To utilize Advocates’ institutional position to elevate marginalized voices and advance causes that address human rights issues and systemic injustice both domestically and abroad.
- To provide HLS students with opportunities to become more actively involved in human rights advocacy through direct action.
- To institutionalize social justice work as a core tenet of Advocates.
- To cultivate a stronger human rights culture at HLS.
In the past, Advocates has worked closely with Rayhan Asat, a Uyghur human rights lawyer and Harvard Law School’s first Uyghur graduate, in her fight to free her brother Ekpar from a Xinjiang concentration camp. Ekpar Asat is a Uyghur entrepreneur and philanthropist who has been unjustly detained since 2016 by the People’s Republic of China. Charged with “inciting ethnic hatred and ethnic discrimination,” Ekpar was sentenced to 15 years in prison after participating in the prestigious International Visitor Leadership Program in the United States. His case is emblematic of the grave human rights violations facing the Uyghur community. Our initiatives included organizing impactful panel discussions, drafting open letters to the U.S. government, and engaging with international human rights bodies to demand Ekpar’s immediate and unconditional release.
In addition to our work with Rayhan, Advocates also sought to bring attention to the fate of four Yemeni journalists detained since 2015 and sentenced to death in April 2020.