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TRUST Oregon: Kelsey Juliana Asks Courts to Recognize her Generation’s Right to a Healthy Atmosphere
Since the world’s key decision makers and our legislature’s refuse to lead us out of our climate crisis and protect our air and water, our youth, between classes, after school and on weekends, are stepping up and asking the courts to recognize and honor their constitutional right to a healthy atmosphere. In Oregon, Kelsey Juliana’s parents taught her not to take the air and water for granted.
October 10, 2012
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TRUST Pennsylvania: America’s Youth Have Solutions to Climate Change, Let’s Follow Their Lead
Over the course of the last year, I have been working with a dynamic, committed and brilliant group of young Americans who don't have trouble imagining a future different from the present. They don’t block out complex problems that lack simple solutions and instead find the solutions.
July 25, 2012
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TRUST: Connecting Catastrophe with Climate Change
My biggest hope is that the media - and then the public - will begin connecting our weather catastrophes with climate change so we will not only hear what the climate is trying to tell us, but will also listen.
June 29, 2012
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TRUST Colorado: Understanding What It Means to Protect Our Atmosphere
Justinian concluded that these essential, common, natural resources belong to everyone and not just the Emperor or the privileged. Consequently, the Roman Empire protected these resources in trust, for the public. This hallowed legal principle, referred to as the Public Trust Doctrine, is perhaps most simply explained by 11-year-old Xiuhtezcatl Martinez...
May 8, 2012
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Stories of TRUST: Celebrating Earth Day with Two Women From Iowa
If we think about it, we can all remember a moment when we realized something was fundamentally wrong with our environment. For me, it was late spring and I was in my front yard in our middle-class neighborhood, in middle America, in the full mid-morning sun. I think I was about nine years old.
April 20, 2012
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TRUST Arizona: Asking Our Leaders to Lead on Climate Justice
Congress and the White House are violating U.S. law. Most all our State Governments are breaking their own state laws too. So our youth are utilizing the last branch of our democracy that may be open to them and asking our judges to listen to their stories, hear their legal argument and make a considered and lawful decision.
February 6, 2012
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Judges in Five States Will Hear Climate Change Cases Filed by Youth
Over the course of the last year WITNESS has partnered with Our Children’s Trust (OCT) and the iMatter Campaign to elevate the voices of youth from across the country who are defending their right to a healthy atmosphere and sustainable future. The youth are taking their case to judges across the country and asking that the courts order the adoption and implementation of scientifically sound Climate Recovery Plans.
January 20, 2012
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Should I Be Imprisoned To Protect Me From My Rapist?
While at the convening of the U.S. Human Rights Network last December I did a pre-release screening of a new documentary co-produced by ECPAT-USA and WITNESS. The video, What I Have Been Through is Not Who I Am, tells the story of Katrina, a formerly sexually exploited teen who was arrested, when she should have been protected.
January 13, 2012
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TRUST: Alaska Youth Call on Our Governments to Restore our Atmosphere
With the international climate talks wrapped in Durban, South Africa the reviews are mixed. World leaders touted their success in reaching the Durban Platform, but observers outside the negotiations are much more skeptical.
December 21, 2011
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Celebrate Thanksgiving by Supporting Our Youth Fighting For a Healthy Atmosphere
As we gather to spend time with families and friends this Thanksgiving, and share stories from the past and hopes for the future, I want to take a moment to share a story about a group of remarkable youth who are taking action to ensure a healthy future for us all. I have been traveling across the United States over the past few months with our partner, the iMatter Campaign, and have met extraordinary youth who are taking big steps to protect our atmosphere and our collective future.
November 21, 2011
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Youth Use Video to Demand U.S. Government Protect the Atmosphere and Their Future
I manage our U.S. partnerships at WITNESS. This year I've had an important opportunity to combine my passions for human rights and the environment while working to produce films with youth across the country and support an unprecedented legal effort. Through our partnership with the iMatter Campaign, I've traversed the country meeting and working with youth that have already been affected by climate change and are standing up to ask the ruling generation for change.
September 28, 2011
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A Rough Cut Screening Example: ECPAT-USA’s Campaign to Protect Exploited Children
Every year in communities across the United States, children are bought and sold through a variety of venues including on the streets, through the internet, in hotel rooms, from semi-to-semi at truck stops or through classified ads.
August 2, 2011
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Joshua Cooper on the Universal Periodic Review of the U.S.
Recently, we brought you a report on the first comprehensive review of the U.S. human rights record on an international stage and shared how video was incorporated, for the first time, as part of the Universal Periodic Review process.
November 22, 2010
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The TESTIFY! Project: U.S. Voices at the Universal Periodic Review
Yesterday we brought you a video report from Eric Tars highlighting the work being done around the UN’s Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of the U.S. human rights record in Geneva, Switzerland. Today, we will highlight how video was incorporated, for the first time, as part of the Universal Periodic Review process. The U.S. Human Rights […]
November 3, 2010
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U.S. Human Rights Record Under Review by the U.N.
This week marks the first comprehensive review of the U.S. human rights record on an international stage. On November 5, 2010 the UN Human Rights Council will question the U.S. about its past human rights record under a process known as the Universal Periodic Review (UPR).
November 2, 2010