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Human Rights at Home Blog
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The Future of HumanRights.Gov

By humanrightsathome

Many readers of this blog will recall that during presidential transitions, a lot of government information previously available on the internet disappears.  This “clean wipe” is a relatively new internet tradition that seems to have started with the Clinton-Bush transition, when the whitehouse.gov site was redesigned overnight to go live in its new format on January 20.  According to press reports, old information is archived and preserved, but it certainly becomes much less accessible going forward. 

That a new Administration wants to engage in internet branding is no surprise, so come January 20, advocates should be ready. During prior transitions, some advocates were frustrated when agency data was suddenly no longer readily available.  For US human rights advocates, modifications — or even the demise — of humanrights.gov may have consequences.  Humanrights.gov is official US government site for international human rights-related information.  The current site includes, among many other things, a calendar of the US government’s civil society consultations on human rights in 2015 and 2016.  Will that information be stripped from a Trump Administration site?  What other speeches and links will be taken down and rendered less accessible, if not completely inaccessible?

Meanwhile, catch humanrights.gov while you can.  Two current postings are particularly pertinent to US human rights advocates.  First, longtime disability rights advocate and special advisor to the State Department, Judith Heumann, delivers a Tedx Talk that includes a strong statement in support of US ratification of the International Convention on Disability Rights.

Second, the site lays out relevant links and background on the new National Action Plan for Responsible Business Conduct.

Of course, there are other sources for most of this information on the web.  But a one-stop site for factual information on US human rights work, as well as information on the US positions on human rights, has been not only useful but has also facilitated dialogue between advocates and the government.  So, a word to the wise — take screen shots and download important information that you’d like to be able to use in the future while you still can.