The Human Rights Documentation Exchange (HRDE) began in 1983 as the Central America Resource Center (CARC). Responding to the flood of political refugees fleeing wars in Guatemala, Nicaragua, and El Salvador, a group of academics at the University of Texas - Austin began to compile information on the current events. Soon, immigration attorneys from all over the country began calling for this documentation to use in their political asylum cases. CARC became a nationally known and respected source of documentation for Central America cases. Reacting to the lack of information about current events in the area, Central America NewsPak started during this time as a compilation of newspaper articles from all over the U.S. and Central America. Libraries, Immigration and Naturalization Service Asylum Offices, academics, students, and other individuals make up our subscriber base.

In 1992, after the wars ended, CARC expanded to collect documents for asylum cases worldwide. It was at that time that we changed the name to the Human Rights Documentation Exchange and also started Mexico NewsPak. NAFTA made Mexico a hot topic and information on the changes and conditions south of our border was in demand. Today, HRDE not only continues the NewsPaks and provides documentation for asylum cases worldwide, but also documents NACARA, VAWA, Convention Against Torture, withholding, and other immigration cases. For more detailed information on either service please go to Documentation Services or NewsPaks pages on this site.

Board of Directors 1999
Jerry Buttrey, President
Sarah Cleveland, Secretary
John Donahue, Treasurer
Camille Donoghue
Ian Hancock
Monica Schurtman
Roy Mersky
Marsha Krassner

Staff 1999
Rebecca Hall, Executive Director
Faye Kolly, Refugee Legal Support Service Program Coordinator
Karen Green, NewsPak Editor
Sadie Cocke, Program Assistant
Jan Reyes, Researcher
Dylan Robbins, Researcher/Librarian
Billy Hayes, Systems Administrator/Database Manager
Billy Pope, Business Manager

For a list of e-mail addresses, please see our contacts page.

Human Rights Documentation Exchange
PO Box 2327
Austin, Texas 78768
Telephone: 512/ 476-9841
Fax: 512/476-0130
mail@hrde.org

The Human Rights Documentation Exchange is a non-profit organization with 501 ( c ) 3 status from the IRS.