Who We Are
Rights Action human rights delegation visiting “La Puya” mining resistance struggle in Guatemala in 2012.
Rights Action, founded in 1995 by Grahame Russell and Annie Bird, was born out of the work of Guatemala Partners and its predecessors – GHRSP and PEACE for Guatemala – that, during the 1980s and early 90s, provided funding and support for huge numbers of Guatemalans (a majority being Mayan) violently displaced from their homes and communities by the U.S.-led, Western-backed repression, including genocides. Grahame and Annie built and directed Rights Action until 2013. Grahame continues as director of Rights Action.
Thank you to so many great folks who worked with Rights Action over the years, primarily Annie Bird, and also: Paul Magno, Kate Robinson, Maguerite Pigeon, Jessica Pupovac, Jane Pelly, Marie Manrique, Tono Catalan, Sandra Cuffe, Ruben Dominguez, Dan Fireside, Martha Garcia, Sue Kuyper, Rosario Martinez, Eva Morales, Freddie Schrider, Maria Cuc Choc, Raul Caal, Karen Spring, Francois Guindon, Calixto Torres, Camila Rich. (Forgive us for those we have overlooked)
Grahame Russell has been, since 1995, director of Rights Action. Grahame is a non-practicing lawyer and part-time adjunct professor at University of Northern British Columbia. For over 10 years, Grahame lived in Mexico and various Central America countries, working on human rights, environment and development issues. In Mexico from 1984-1985, he worked as a supervisor in a rural orphanage. During the summers of 1985, 1986, and 1987, he worked as a human rights educator and solidarity activist in Nicaragua. From 1989-1993, he worked as a lawyer and activist with CODEHUCA (Commission for the Defense of Human Rights in Central America). From 1993-1995, he continued his human rights work with EPICA (Ecumenical Program for Central America) in Guatemala and Chiapas, Mexico. In 1995, he was a legal officer with MINUGUA (the United Nation Human Rights Mission in Guatemala), before reviving Guatemala Partners in 1995 and creating Rights Action.
