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The Center for Economic and Social Rights was established in 1993 by Roger Normand, Sarah Zaidi, and Chris Jochnick. In 1991, Normand, Zaidi and Jochnick were members of a Harvard interdisciplinary research team that traveled to Iraq to document and respond to the country's humanitarian crisis caused by the Gulf War and sanctions placed upon the country. The team focused on issues related to malnutrition, sanitation, childhood mortality and morbidity, and health. Since its 1993 founding, CESR has continued to focus on economic and social human rights violations, representing a shift in the way human rights work is conceived as a field. The records of CESR reflect an important evolution in the human rights movement; a shift in focus that began to recognize economic, social and health rights in addition to the political and civil rights that were championed by earlier human rights organizations. Throughout the 1990s and early 2000s CESR continued to work in Iraq, actively dissenting to the 2003 American invasion and occupation. During this time they also began work in Ecuador, Palestine, Haiti, Afghanistan, and along the Texas-Mexico border. In 2004 the original founders stepped down, and the organization's headquarters were moved to Spain. They have since returned to New York. This collection focuses on early material from CESR's thirty year history. Notably, this collection features much of the Harvard Research Team and CESR's original survey material on childhood health and nutrition in Iraq. The files include blank and completed surveys, CESR and affiliate reports, external analysis on human rights and information about countries of interest. Most of these surveys are paper, but there is one floppy disk located in subseries II.4 in the folder "CESR Mission Proposal Afghanistan."

This collection documents the efforts of the Committee for Health in Southern Africa, a human rights organization once based in New York State, in its attempts improve the health of the people of Southern Africa through research, education, training, and consultation.