ABOUT
HRLO
The Human Rights Likeminded Office was founded in 2015 to solve a practical problem: delegations and NGOs committed to advancing human rights at the United Nations rarely had the capacity to follow every negotiation, report and vote that mattered to them. HRLO filled that gap with concise, reliable, decision-ready analysis.
The office served diplomats from 65 likeminded countries alongside civil society organizations, UN officials and independent experts. Its outputs — briefing notes, report summaries, voting forecasts, draft resolutions and joint statements — were designed to be read in minutes and used the same day, whether in the Human Rights Council in Geneva, the Third Committee and Security Council in New York, or the NGO Committee.
HRLO's approach was set out in a 2018 essay for the Universal Rights Group, "A new approach to advancing dialogue on human rights."
The founder
Yoni Ish-Hurwitz founded and directed HRLO. He previously served as Human Rights and Social Affairs Attaché at the Permanent Mission of Israel to the United Nations, where he was elected Vice Chair and Rapporteur of the UN Committee on Non-Governmental Organizations, and as a Human Rights Officer in the Human Rights Council Branch of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in Geneva. Between 2018 and 2021 he consulted for UN Women, developing its strategy for multilateral engagement on human rights in Geneva and drafting more than 60 speeches and briefing notes for senior UN leadership. He was a founding member of Hoshen, an Israeli NGO promoting openness toward LGBT people.
He holds an M.S. in Global Affairs from New York University and a B.A. in Business and Art History from Tel Aviv University.
The founder's latest research examines states' positions on technology governance, including artificial intelligence, beginning with statements in the Human Rights Council. Future outputs on human rights remain possible where they intersect with new and emerging technologies, including AI.
He can be reached via the contact page or on LinkedIn.
Governance
HRLO's work was overseen by an Executive Board with expertise in fundraising, government relations and social entrepreneurship, and informed by an Advisory Board of senior practitioners who advised in their personal capacity, including Vladimir Cuk (former Executive Director, International Disability Alliance) and Otto Gustafik (former Secretary of the UN General Assembly's Second and Third Committees and of the Commission on the Status of Women). Earlier advisers included representatives of ILGA, IPPF, the UK Mission to the UN and the International Women's Health Coalition. The boards' mandates concluded with HRLO's active project cycle.