Jo Becker
Jo Becker is the advocacy director of the children’s rights division at Human Rights Watch. As the founding chairperson of the international Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers, she helped campaign successfully for an international treaty banning the forced recruitment of children under age 18 or their use in armed conflict. Her advocacy also helped lead to a groundbreaking 2011 treaty ensuring labor rights for domestic workers, which number 50-100 million worldwide. She has conducted field investigations on children’s rights in Burma, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Morocco, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Uganda, and the United States. Based on her expertise on the issue of child soldiers, she has addressed the United Nations Security Council, testified before the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee, conducted trainings for US and African military officers, and testified as an expert in a Dutch war crimes trial. She has written several Human Rights Watch reports and her op-eds have appeared in the Washington Post, International Herald Tribune, The Guardian, and other major papers. She is also the author of two books, Campaigning for Justice: Human Rights Advocacy in Practice and Campaigning for Children: Strategies for Advancing Children’s Rights. She also teaches human rights advocacy at Columbia University.
Articles Authored
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December 21, 2017
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November 21, 2017
US Officials Call Out Tillerson on Child Soldiers
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October 10, 2017
For Children in War, Some Good News amidst a Grim Picture
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September 19, 2017
Progress Slows in Ending Child Labor
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June 27, 2017
US State Department’s Lie About Child Soldiers
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April 6, 2017
EPA Decision Could Put Children at Risk
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March 20, 2017
How Trump’s Budget Would Hurt Kids – and US Workers
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February 14, 2017
Trump’s Labor Nominee’s Troubling Record
Reports Authored
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Trinidad and Tobago: Bring Home Nationals from Northeast Syria
Unlawfully Detained Trinidadians at Risk, Including 56 Children
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“My Son is Just Another Kid”
Experiences of Children Repatriated from Camps for ISIS Suspects and Their Families in Northeast Syria
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US: Failure to Pass Build Back Better Act Imperils Rights
Can Advance Economic Justice, Fix Broken Safety Net, But More Needed
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“They Didn’t Know if I Was Alive or Dead”
Military Detention of Children for Suspected Boko Haram Involvement in Northeast Nigeria
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The Hidden Cost of Jewelry
Human Rights in Supply Chains and the Responsibility of Jewelry Companies
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