BHRH Lawyers' Network members at the November 30, 2007 meeting.

The "Bringing Human Rights Home Lawyers' Network" encourages U.S. compliance with international human rights law, including through the U.N. and Inter-American Human Rights systems and the development of strategies to use human rights law in U.S. courts and domestic policy-making and debate.

The Network's 250+ members are drawn from domestic social justice organizations, the U.S. programs of international human rights groups and law school human rights programs. HRI convenes the Network through semi-annual meetings and provides coordination on projects as needed.

Based on the principle that all rights are interdependent, many of these strategies crosscut different rights-based movements and respond to a growing need among domestic public interest lawyers to work together to meet common threats, such as the across-the-board attack on federal rights and the roll-back of federal social safety nets. As part of its work to develop the use of U.N. and regional mechanisms by domestic activists, HRI worked with the U.S. Human Rights Network to coordinate and provide technical support for domestic organizations interested in participating in the review of U.S. treaty compliance by the UN CERD Committee.

The BHRH Lawyers' Network serves as a forum for information sharing, strategic discussions and relationship building. The Network held its Spring Network Meeting on June 10, 2009, which addressed issues such as U.S. treaty ratification, U.S. matters before the Inter-American commission and updates on pending cases in U.S. courts. Attending members included representatives from law school human rights programs, international human rights groups and civil rights groups.

The Network will soon hold its annual meeting with staff of the Inter-American Commission for Human Rights (IACHR) to raise a number of issues concerning the processing of U.S. cases and ways to enhance the Commission's impact in the United States.  The meeting will take place in August 2009.