The Miaan Group was founded in 2019 to provide legal and technical expertise, research, and advocacy support to organizations working on human rights in Iran and the wider Middle East. Over the past few years, Miaan has grown into a leading Iran-focused human rights organization. Our efforts focus primarily on human rights policy, digital rights, and the rights of all groups in society, particularly those that have been the focus of unfair laws and securitization.
Miaan’s team is composed of lawyers, technologists, researchers, human rights advocates, and journalists with deep subject matter expertise and years of experience. We specialize in working with local networks inside Iran along with diaspora-based human rights defenders to develop advocacy campaigns, provide capacity building and mentoring, and deliver digital security assistance.
Miaan is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit entity headquartered in Austin with staff and activities across North America, Europe, the Middle East, and Central Asia.
Miaan understands that true transformation is best made through supporting civil society and social movements working within their countries and communities to mobilize and advocate for human rights. Sustainable improvements to human rights are made locally and, like saplings, come from the ground up, nurtured by local actors and communities.
For this reason, Miaan’s theory of change prioritizes strengthening human rights defenders, journalists, activists, civil society organizations, and local movements to initiate bottom up change. We do this by:
We believe that safeguarding vulnerable communities will further the rights of all. Miaan strives to take into account the layered positions of the individuals and groups we work with and to work with them to create and implement effective programs. Our aim is to ensure these groups are best positioned to advocate and safeguard their own rights and those of their communities.
Moreover, Miaan understands that the internet and digital communications have become essential to any form of civic action. In turn, many of Miaan’s efforts focus on safeguarding the various facets of digital rights including unhindered access, privacy and security, and non-discrimination.
While the Miaan Group doesn’t always have open positions, we are always interested in discovering potential contributors. If your values and experience overlap with ours and you are interested in working for human rights in the regions we address, send us a resume and short cover letter.
Miaan offers unpaid internships that provide valuable mentorship and allow people to learn more about working with the issues that they care about. If you would like to work on human rights issues in any of the following areas, send us a short cover letter and your resume:
