Human Rights

Just Security’s expert authors offer in-depth analysis on critical human rights challenges, including those related to armed conflict, emerging technologies, abuses by authoritarian governments, repression of human rights advocates and independent media, human rights litigation, racial justice, gender equality, and more.

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Image: Left - MONROVIA, LIBERIA – AUGUST 6, 2003: Hundreds of shell casings litter the ground in Monrovia, Liberia, as negotiators try to reach a ceasefire in the country’s brutal civil war. (Chris Hondros/Getty Images) Right - Syrian defendant Anwar R., 57, arrives at court for an unprecedented trial on state-sponsored torture in Syria, on April 23, 2020 at court in Koblenz, western Germany. Prime suspect Anwar R., an alleged former colonel in Syrian state security, stands accused of carrying out crimes against humanity while in charge of the Al-Khatib detention centre in Damascus between April 29, 2011 and September 7, 2012. (Photo by Thomas Lohnes / various sources / AFP). EDITORS NOTE: According to court's ruling, the face of the defendant must be made unrecognizable 

From Syria Torture Trial to Liberian Massacre Case – A Plea for Bolstering Witness Protections in Human Rights Litigation

Witness testimony was key in reaching today's conviction of a former Syrian intelligence official for crimes against humanity. But the testimony placed witnesses and victims at…
People in orange jumpsuits and black hoods walk in a single-file line in front of US Capitol building

Defending the Rule of Law Requires Ending Guantanamo Detention

After 20 years, continued Guantanamo detention is unjustifiable.

With Subpoena to a Photojournalist, Jan. 6 Committee Runs Needless Risks to Press Freedom

Alongside the predictable lineup of plaintiffs seeking to block the committee’s subpoenas of their phone records—Michael Flynn, Mark Meadows, and others—one stands out. A…
Image: A picture taken on September 27, 2018, a bird resting on Israel's controversial separation barrier on the outskirts of East Jerusalem on September 27, 2018 - (Photo credit should read AHMAD GHARABLI/AFP via Getty Images)

The International Community and Israel: Giving Permission to a Permanent Occupation        

UN Special Rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories reflects on 50+ years of international inaction on the Israel's illegal occupation of Palestine.
View of a pile of rubbish with unused Venezuelan bolivar bills on a street of Puerto Concha town, Zulia state, Venezuela, on September 8, 2021, where the Colombian peso accounts for most transactions, followed by the US dollar. (Photo by FEDERICO PARRA/AFP via Getty Images)

Biden debe cambiar, no profundizar, la fallida estrategia de Trump hacia Venezuela

Las sanciones de los EE.UU. exacerban el sufrimiento humano. Deberían castigar a los corruptos y poderosos.
View of a pile of rubbish with unused Venezuelan bolivar bills on a street of Puerto Concha town, Zulia state, Venezuela, on September 8, 2021, where the Colombian peso accounts for most transactions, followed by the US dollar. (Photo by FEDERICO PARRA/AFP via Getty Images)

Biden Must Change, Not Deepen, Trump’s Failed Venezuela Strategy

U.S. sanctions exacerbate the suffering of millions. They should target the corrupt and powerful instead.
An MQ-9 Reaper (ie. a drone) sits in a hangar during a sandstorm at Joint Base Balad, Iraq, Sept. 15, 2008.

Civilian Casualties in U.S. Air Wars: A Wake-up Call for Canada and its Future Use of Armed Drones?

Last month’s New York Times report that the American air wars in Iraq, Syria, and Afghanistan have been plagued by flawed intelligence, poor targeting, and thousands of civilian…
Left photo: An old woman and a young child stand behind a rusty metal gate. The caption reads: Afghan people watch as World Food Programme volunteers distribute sacks of food grains as an aid in Kandahar on October 19, 2021, via Agence France Presse and Getty Images. The image on the right: diplomats meet in a formal setting at the United Nations Security Council in New York.

Afghanistan: The Humanitarian Catastrophe is the Security Threat

"The gap between what security analysis sees as 'the problem' and what those on the ground see and experience as 'the problem' is intensely worrying."
Attorney General Jeff Sessions in a bright red tie, standing behind a podiium with a seal of the Justice Department, and flanked by three white senior DOJ oifficials, announces the creation of the China Initiative on November 1, 2018.

Why Ending the Justice Department’s “China Initiative” is Vital to U.S. Security

The reverberating effects within the scientific community threaten to undermine the primacy of US science and technology at a crucial time.
A collage of images from articles of the past week.

Democracy, Rule of Law, Justice: Lessons from 2021 for the Year Ahead?

A curated selection of Just Security articles offers insights for 2022 on issues of racial justice, democracy and the rule of law, diplomacy, foreign policy, and more.
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Amid Civilian Harm Revelations, Defense Bill Takes Measured Steps on Oversight and Accountability

Recent months have seen a flood of revelations concerning civilian harm resulting from U.S. military operations. The last U.S. airstrike of the war in Afghanistan, which killed…
(L-R) Germany's Social Democratic SPD outgoing party co-leader Norbert Walter-Borjans, designated German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, parliamentary group leader of Germany's social democratic SPD party Rolf Muetzenich, Germany's Social Democratic SPD party co-leader Saskia Esken, co-leader of Germany's The Greens (Die Gruenen) party and designated Minister for Economy and Climate Robert Habeck, Germany's Free Democratic Party (FDP) leader and designated Finance Minister Christian Lindner, parliamentary group co-leader of Germany's The Greens (Die Gruenen) party Katrin Goering-Eckardt (hidden), Federal Party Secretary of the Free Democratic Party (FDP) and designated Transport Minister Volker Wissing, co-leader of Germany's The Greens (Die Gruenen) party and designated Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock and parliamentary group co-leader of Germany's The Greens (Die Gruenen) party Anton Hofreiter pose on stage after a signing ceremony in Berlin on December 7, 2021, where leading members of Germany's social democratic SPD party, the Greens and the free democratic FDP party sealed their coalition deal to form a new government. Olaf Scholz led his Social Democrats to victory against Angela Merkel's conservative CDU-CSU bloc in an landmark election in September 2021, as the veteran chancellor prepared to leave politics after four consecutive terms in office. (Photo by ODD ANDERSEN/AFP via Getty Images)

How Germany’s New Government Might Pursue Its “Values-Based” Foreign Policy in Europe

It aims to show that sticking to principles on the one hand and seeking constructive dialogue on the other are not mutually exclusive.
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