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Human Rights

The John Merck Fund's Human Rights Program was eliminated at the end of 2009. See below for a recent history of grants made in that program.

2009 Grants

Grants in or Related to Latin America

Asociacion Civil por la Igualdad y la Justicia	$77,500
To enable impoverished people in Buenos Aires to have access to adequate education, public services and housing.

Asociacion por los Derechos Civiles	$60,000
To promote public policies that reduce inequality in access to public education in the city and province of Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Asociacion Pro Derechos Humanos	$97,500
To promote and defend human rights in Peru, through investigation and litigation of cases of human rights violations.

Center for Justice and International Law	$100,000
To promote and defend human rights throughout Latin America by litigating cases of violations before the Inter-American System of Human Rights, focusing on Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, and Peru.

Centro de Derecho, Justicia y Sociedad	$93,750
To promote human rights and the rule of law in Colombia using research, analysis, advocacy, training and dissemination.

Centro de Derechos Humanos Miguel Agustin Pro Juarez	$25,000
To defend and promote human rights in Mexico with an emphasis on citizen security and criminal justice through litigation, media outreach, documentation and analysis, international advocacy and public education.

Centro de Estudios Legales y Sociales	$120,000
To defend and promote human rights in Argentina using documentation of abuses and litigation, and to strengthen the organization.

Comision Colombiana de Juristas	$93,750
To promote and protect human rights in Colombia using monitoring, documentation, litigation and education.

Comision Mexicana de Defensa y Promocion de los Derechos Humanos	$50,000
To defend and promote human rights and the rule of law in Mexico using strategic litigation.

Coordinadora Nacional de Derechos Humanos	$25,000
To lead a coalition of organizations that promotes and defends human rights and the rule of law in Peru.

Due Process of Law Foundation	$40,000
To build the capacity of small human rights organizations in the Mexican states of Chiapas, Guerrero, and Oaxaca.

Equipo Argentino de Antropologia Forense	$68,500
To use forensic anthropology and related sciences to find evidence of human rights violations in Argentina and Mexico.

Equipo Colombiano de Trabajo Forense y Asistencia Psicosocial	$25,000
To use forensic science techniques to investigate human rights violations in Colombia, and to provide psychosocial services to victims' family members.

Human Rights Watch	$25,000
To identify, obtain and disseminate declassified US records to assist Colombian investigators, litigators and human rights advocates seeking justice and accountability for crimes committed during years of violent struggle; and to build partnerships to promote the use of government archives and access to information in Colombia.

Instituto de Defensa Legal	$60,000
To defend and promote human rights and the rule of law in Peru using documentation and litigation.

National Security Archive Fund	$15,000
To identify, obtain and disseminate declassified US records to assist Colombian investigators, litigators and human rights advocates seeking justice and accountability for crimes committed during years of violent struggle; and to build partnerships to promote the use of government archives and access to information in Colombia.

Tlachinollan Centro de Derechos Humanos de la Montana	$67,500
To promote and defend the rights of indigenous people in the La Montaña and Costa Chica regions of the state of Guerrero, Mexico.

Universidad de Chile Centro de Derechos Humanos	$90,000
To strengthen human rights and democracy in Latin America by providing training and practical skills to nongovernmental, governmental and inter-governmental professionals.

Universidad Diego Portales	$60,000
To publish, disseminate and publicize the eighth annual report on human rights in Chile.

Washington Office on Latin America	$60,000
To promote human rights and democracy in Colombia, Mexico, and Peru.

US Human Rights

Alliance for Justice	$40,000
To hold US officials who provided legal justification for torture accountable for their actions, to reform the government agencies that failed to prevent torture, and to engage the public in ongoing calls for accountability.

American Civil Liberties Union Foundation	$40,000
To hold the Bush Administration accountable for its many national security abuses; restore citizen rights that the Bush Administration curtailed; and convince the Obama Administration to reform, rather than embrace, some of the Bush Administration's most dangerous national security policies.

Brennan Center for Justice	$35,000
To promote an independent, nonpartisan commission dedicated to examining the aspects of US counterterrorism policies that pose the greatest threat to America's democratic values.

Center for Constitutional Rights	$40,000
To restore and revitalize constitutional and human rights protections eroded under the Bush Administration's 'war on terror'; and to take advantage of opportunities to reverse the damages from the Bush presidency.

Human Rights First	$125,000
To end the use of torture and other cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment by US authorities.

International Center for Transitional Justice	$35,000
To develop viable policy approaches to establishing appropriate accountability for US human rights abuses in the context of the 'war on terror.'

National Religious Campaign Against Torture	$35,000
To end all US-sponsored torture and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment of detainees, without exception, by deepening the opposition of faith-based individuals, communities and organizations to those practices.

New York University Law School Center on Law and Security	$30,000
To document the Bush Administration's response to the 'war on terror' by establishing a reliable historical record in a searchable electronic database.

Physicians for Human Rights	$100,000
To secure accountability for the authorization, design and implementation of the Bush Administration's detainee treatment policies as practiced by US military and intelligence services.

The Center for Victims of Torture	$40,000
To prevent torture and abuse by all personnel operating under the authority of the US government.

See 2008 Grants

See 2007 Grants

See 2006 Grants

See 2005 Grants

See 2004 Grants

See 2003 Grants

Photo courtesy of Amnesty International