The U.S. Human Rights Network (USHRN) was founded on the premise that an organized and informed civil society is the only force that can check governmental power and ensure adherence to the full scope of human rights guarantees. This "people centered" approach to human rights work requires that the emerging human rights movement merge with movements for social justice in this country.

USHRN is an outcome of a 2002 U.S. Human Rights Leadership Summit at Howard University Law School.  The Network was established the following spring by 38 founding members whose core mission was to build a human rights movement in the United States that ensured U.S. accountability to universal human rights standards; built a human rights culture in the U.S. that puts those directly affected by human rights violations at the center; and connected the U.S. human rights movement with broader U.S. social justice movements and human rights movements around the world.

Presently, the Network is composed of over 300 prominent human rights organizations and is governed by a Board of Directors comprised of leading human rights organizers, lawyers, policy analysts, educators, researchers and scholars. The leadership also includes individuals directly affected by human rights violations.

WITNESS has collaborated with USHRN to produce the Testify! Project, a video advocacy campaign aimed at understanding how individuals and communities in the U.S. experience human rights violations, and to amplify voices and broaden grassroots engagement with international human rights advocacy.