Rosalyn Park (’02) to Lead Women's Human Rights Program
Rosalyn Park, who graduated cum laude from the Law School in 2002, has been appointed director of the Women's Human Rights Program for The Advocates for Human Rights, an international nonprofit organization based in Minneapolis.
Park has been a staff attorney with the Women's Human Rights Program since 2003, and its acting director since June 2014. In these roles, she has worked in Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Tajikistan, Croatia, Mongolia, Serbia, Kazakhstan, and Sierra Leone, as well as at the United Nations, to reform laws and systems to more effectively respond to domestic violence. She has also authored numerous reports and submissions to the United Nations about domestic violence.
"Rose has been an anchor of the Women's Human Rights team as a staff attorney since 2003, and I am excited that she is taking on this new role with her steady and energizing leadership," said Robin Phillips, executive director of The Advocates for Human Rights.
"I am thrilled for the opportunity to lead the Women's Human Rights Program's outstanding team, which is dedicated to ending violence against women throughout the world," Park said. "I am steadfast in my commitment to work for a just and equal world in which women and girls can live free from violence and fully enjoy their human rights."
Over the past 20 years, working with international partners, the program's staff and volunteer attorneys have documented human rights abuses against women; drafted laws promoting the well-being of women; provided commentary on countries' new and proposed domestic violence laws; and trained police, prosecutors, judges, and others to implement new and existing laws. The organization's Stop Violence Against Women website receives at least 20,000 visits each month. The program also leads initiatives to improve community response to sex trafficking. Beginning in 2011, it spearheaded Minnesota's efforts to eliminate the use of juvenile delinquency against trafficked youth and to ensure that comprehensive, victim-centered services are available to meet victims' needs. The efforts culminated in the adoption of a set of trafficking laws, commonly referred to as Safe Harbors, to ensure that children who have been trafficked are treated as victims, not criminals.
