Volunteer Leaders

We are activists on the frontlines.

Our volunteers shape, lead, and carry out our work to protect human rights. These volunteer leaders fill a wide range of critical roles: they start and run local groups, they manage legislative advocacy in the states, they drive campaigns in individual cases and on major reforms, and they engage more people in fighting for human rights.

In other words, volunteers change the world. Here are a few of their stories.

Become a Volunteer Leader

Get Started

OUR VOLUNTEER lEADERS

 

Alicia Koutsoulieris

Area Coordinator (AC)

ACs are volunteers that organize groups in their state to collaborate on initiatives, develop partnerships with other human rights activists, and mobilize to protect human rights.
Learn more.

Mohamed Abdelsatar

AIUSA Egypt Country Specialist

Country and Thematic Specialists are volunteers with expertise in specific areas who work to develop and implement AIUSA strategies to advance human rights.
Learn more.

 

Anita Teekah

Legislative Coordinator (LC)

LCs are volunteers that work in states to advance our legislative priorities to protect human rights.
Learn more.

 

Scott Langley

State Death Penalty Abolition Coordinator (SDPAC)

SDPACs are volunteers that organize and advocate at the state level to abolish the death penalty.
Learn more.

 

Kiera Glazer

Youth Leadership in Activism (YLA)

Youth Leadership in Activism is a volunteer leadership program at AIUSA encompassing four member leader roles: Peer Trainers, Student Activist Coordinators (SAC), Slack Community Managers and Social Media Managers.
Learn more.

 

Eva Frazier

Youth Collective (YOCO)

The Youth Collective is a national volunteer youth leadership body that provides thought leadership, strategy, consultation, and guidance to AIUSA.
Learn more.

In my years at Amnesty, I can’t think of a time when our volunteer leaders and activists have been more important to human rights struggles than right now.

It's not just that so many of the rights and defenders we hold dear are under such threat in these United States and overseas; it’s also because of how we must now work together. This Administration is not listening to reasoned research and evidence on the human rights impact of its actions. What they are listening to is people showing up in politically relevant ways to demand that human rights are centered.

With so many communities and institutions under attack and many reeling from the impacts, it is our role to step up and step forward, to stand in public solidarity with those who are attacked, and to fight for a future that most Americans want—where everyone enjoys basic human rights.

Let’s not fool ourselves that anti-rights leaders don’t care about what people think. They do. What they fear is you: a growing constituency of voices that will not be silenced, demanding that rights matter. We need to stay strong and stay together through this time. We need to speak up with and for those directly impacted by the decisions of this Administration and Congress. We need to bring more people to the human rights cause and reach beyond the communities within which we already are in deep solidarity.

If we do that, we will continue to grow stronger and continue to make a real difference for others. I hope to see many of you at one of our five regional in-person meetings in the Fall of 2025 and again at our AGM in March 2026 in Washington DC for what I believe will be a meeting of real importance, not just for our human rights community but for many fellow human rights travelers in the United States and around the world.

I am so grateful to be working and walking alongside all of you. Your courage, resilience, strength to resist oppression, and willingness to work in community to defend human rights has never been more important. Thank you. I’m proud to say, 'We appreciate you, this month and every month.'
— Paul O’Brien Executive Director, Amnesty International USA