Refugee and Migrant Rights Fellow (18-Month Fixed Term)

Amnesty International USA (AIUSA) is the global organization’s presence in the United States. We engage people in the U.S. to fight injustice all around the world, while we also work to protect people’s human rights here in the U.S. Amnesty International USA has more than one million members and activists in all 50 states, who are part of a larger global movement of 10 million people in 150 countries. We are a democratically governed, grassroots membership organization, which means that our members vote on key policy issues and elect our Board of Directors. Some of our members are experts on specific human rights issues, parts of the world, or advocacy areas, and they serve as volunteer leaders. Others are volunteer leaders of local or student groups in towns, universities, states, or regions of the country. Amnesty International USA’s elected Board members, staff, and members work together to lead the organization.

The Refugee and Migrant Rights (RMR) Fellow will be housed in AIUSA’s Programs Unit, reporting to the Director of the Refugee and Migrant Rights Program. The Fellowship is full-time and requires an 18-month commitment.

Programs are ongoing bodies of work on human rights issues staffed by experts who create and implement strategies to win human rights victories and make long-term human rights impact. Programs help build the foundation for successful campaigns, which are shorter-term, highly focused, time-bound, and winnable projects that advance long-term programmatic work.

The RMR Fellow will have the opportunity to work on federal advocacy on human rights issues in the Washington, D.C. office (hybrid) of AIUSA. The Fellow will also have one long-term project completed over the fellowship. Focus issues for the Refugee and Migrant Rights program currently include protecting the right to asylum at the border, advocating for protections for immigrants at risk, building support for a robust system of welcome, fighting against mass deportations, and ending the immigration detention system as we know it.

The Fellow will gain and strengthen their expertise in human rights research and advocacy including, but not limited to, developing and implementing advocacy strategies and materials, contact with governmental bodies and officials, conducting legislative research, drafting memoranda and blogs, managing databases, analyzing emerging areas of relevant law and government policy, tracking the progress of legislation in the United States Congress, and learning about the international human rights framework.