The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights

Issues and Strategies

Moving Ahead with a Human Rights Agenda
U.S. Human Rights Fund Most Recent Report
LCCREF created a US Commission on Civil Rights project to undertake research and public education on the reconstitution of the US Civil Rights Commission into a Civil and Human Rights Commission. This restructuring includes the need to expand the mandate of the Commission with a human rights perspective. LCCREF strived to (1) build consensus within the civil rights community about the need for reform of the Commission and the need to expand its explicit mandate to include human rights; and (2) educate Members of Congress that this is the right thing to do. Read More

Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW
LCCREF is coordinating a comprehensive education initiative to inform citizens, the media and decision-makers for responsible US engagement on around the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women and to facilitate informed discourse, which is essential to sound decision-making in a modern democracy. Read More

Bridging Civil Rights in the US and Brazil
Though great strides have been made in Brazil to integrate and recognize the contributions of its minority groups, Afro-Brazilians continue to lag behind in all leading indicators in Brazil, and are among the country's poorest and most disenfranchised people, victims of overwhelming levels of systemic discrimination. LCCREF, in partnership with the Center for Strategic and International Studies will spearhead a pilot project consisting of two day-long interactive seminars that would identify the needs and challenges of the Brazilian civil rights movement while offering the lessons learned in advancing racial equality across different sectors in the United States and Latin America. Read More

Combating Hate Crimes and the Durban Review Conference
In 2001, LCCREF participated in the World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance (WCAR).  It was a landmark event that lead to the adoption of the ground-breaking Durban Declaration and Program of Action (DDPA). The DDPA encompasses far-reaching measures to tackle racism in all its manifestations, including strengthening education, fighting poverty, securing development, improving the remedies and resources available to victims of racism, and bolstering respect for the rule of law and for human rights – all issues directly related to the work of LCCREF.  In April 2009, the Durban Review Conference served as a follow-up to assess the actual implementation of the DDPA by all stakeholders at the national, regional and international levels since 2001, and to identify concrete measures and initiatives for combating and eliminating all manifestations of these destructive circumstances.  Furthermore, the Review Conference provided a critical forum to share best practices among the different entities involved. LCCREF's aim as an NGO participant is to ensure that the Review Conference was a forum for credible discussions on racism and related intolerance and is faithful to the goals established at WCAR in 2001 and reaffirm our commitment to bridging civil and human rights. Read More

Criminal Justice Reform Initiative
Our criminal laws, while facially neutral, are enforced in a manner that is massively and pervasively biased.  The injustices of the criminal justice system threaten to render irrelevant fifty years of hard-fought civil rights progress.  LCCR and LCCREF are leading a public education, communications, grassroots and lobbying campaign to address the areas of particular concern: racial profiling; federal cocaine sentencing disparities; juvenile justice system; and prisoner reentry. Read More