HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDERS

Defending indigenous lands and the environment from development projects constructed without free, prior and informed consent put Bettina Cruz and her community in danger in Oaxaca México. GRA represents her before the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights and achieved a precautionary measure. 

GRA director reported a trend of attacks to human rights defenders in the United States and was granted a public hearing before the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights in collaboration with immigrants rights organizations. Read the submission here 

Defending immigrants detained at the Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma put Maru Mora Villalpando on the spot for retaliation and threats of deportation. GRA walked with her to the United Nations and the IACHR seeking successfully an urgent appeal and a communication to the US from several UN Special Procedures. The UN not only requested the US to avoid her deportation, but also provide information on the human rights conditions at the Center and corporation's role in running of their operations. 

She is the founding Director of the University of Washington Center for Human Rights (UWCHR) and the Helen H. Jackson Chair in Human Rights. Under Professor Godoy’s leadership, the UWCHR exposed immigrant rights abuses in WA through cutting edge research. When she requested public information about immigrant children detained in a juvenile jail in Cowlitz County, WA, she was sued by the county and the Department of Homeland Security (ICE). GRA reported this judicial harassment to the IACHR and the United Nations, and supports her defense of immigrants' rights. The IACHR Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression reported  that the refusal to provide the information has hindered professor’s GODOY  academic freedom and investigative public interest work.