 Larry Cox, Executive Director of Amnesty International USA |
Larry Cox
Executive Director of Amnesty International USA
Larry Cox was appointed Executive Director of Amnesty International USA (AIUSA) in January 2006. A veteran human rights advocate, he came to Amnesty after serving for 11 years as Senior Program Officer for the Ford Foundation's Human Rights unit. His work there focused on international justice, advancing economic, social and cultural rights, and human rights in the United States.
In assuming leadership of AIUSA, Larry's career has come full circle 30 years after joining the organization as its first press officer. He spent nine years at AIUSA, from 1976 to 1984, establishing the organization's Program to Abolish the Death Penalty before becoming its first Communications Director and as the first Deputy Executive Director. He then spent five years as Deputy Secretary General at Amnesty International's London headquarters.
Throughout his time at Amnesty International he has served as a delegate on several international missions, including missions to Australia, Guinea-Bissau, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Sierra Leone, Tunisia, the United Kingdom and Vietnam.
In 1990, Larry was named Executive Director of the Rainforest Foundation, an international organization that works with indigenous peoples in the Brazilian Amazon to protect their rights. He spent an extensive amount of time working in Brazil on the issue of demarcation of indigenous territories.
He went to work at the Ford Foundation in 1995 where, as part of an effort to strengthen human rights work around the world, Larry traveled to a number of countries, including Indonesia, China, India, Cambodia, Egypt, Nigeria, Ghana, South Africa, Kenya, Chile, Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Hungary.
While at the Ford Foundation he co-edited and co-wrote the introduction to the report, Close to Home: Case Studies of Human Rights Work in the US. Close to Home examines the work of U.S. organizations that are using traditional human rights tools-such as fact-finding, litigation, organizing and advocacy-to reduce poverty, promote workers' rights and environmental justice, abolish the death penalty and end discrimination.
At AIUSA Larry plans to advance the organization's critical work of asserting human rights as a basis for peace and security in the post-September 11 era -- particularly in the United States, which he cites for abdicating its role as a human rights leader.
"Serious violations of human rights, including torture and disappearances, have not only been committed but justified by the very country-the United States-that has invaded other countries in the name of human rights and democracy. The assertion that the United States is above international law is a very dangerous one to make not only to the cause of human rights but also to the security of all Americans."
Larry believes Amnesty International is uniquely positioned to fight the twin challenges of terrorism and torture because of the strength of its committed activists who give a voice to the voiceless and speak truth to power. He plans to lead AIUSA into a new era of human rights advocacy by continuing the legacy of fighting on behalf of individual human beings.
A familiar public speaker, he often delivers lectures on the history of human rights in the United States, international justice and the formation of the International Criminal Court, and the need for the protection of economic, social and cultural rights both here in the US and worldwide.
Larry has a B.A. in History from Mount Union College, has done graduate work at the University of Geneva and is currently pursuing an M.A. in Religion and Human Rights at Union Theological Seminary in New York City.
