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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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3,153 Articles
This picture shows detainees inside the soundproof glass dock of the courtroom during the trial of 700 defendants, including Egyptian photojournalist Mahmoud Abu Zeid, widely known as Shawkan, in the capital Cairo, on Sept. 8, 2018. Shawkan, who earlier that year received UNESCO's World Freedom Prize, was sentenced to five years in prison. He had been arrested in 2013 while covering a demonstration. Including time served, he was finally freed in March 2019, but required to be under police supervision for five more years.

When US Security and Democracy Interests Clash

How to break six common and unhelpful patterns in US engagement with security partners that abuse rights or democratic standards.
Nov. 18, 2021 and
An Iraqi woman accused of being close to the Islamic State group, an allegation she insists has been intentionally designed to obscure a land dispute, walks at the Hasansham camp for internally displaced people in northern Iraq on December 10, 2020. Rights groups and others -- including the International Organisation for Migration -- are worried about displaced families who stand accused of links to IS, sometimes falsely, and may face violent retribution if sent home. (Photo by FLORENT VERGNES/AFP via Getty Images)

To Ease Iraq’s Displacement Crisis, Restorative Justice and Peacebuilding are Vital

Alongside humanitarian and logistical barriers, the lack of social acceptance is a factor barring 1.2 million people from returning home.
Nov. 16, 2021 and
Image: Polish law enforcement officers stand at the frontier at the Bruzgi-Kuznica border crossing where migrants gathered aiming to cross into Poland, in the Grodno region on November 16, 2021. (Photo by MAXIM GUCHEK/BELTA/AFP via Getty Images)

Stirring Trouble at the Border: Is Belarus in Violation of International Law? – Part 1

Belarus has been criticized for using desperate migrants to pressure EU borders. But is it breaking international law by doing so?
Nov. 16, 2021 and

Escalating Risks on Europe’s Eastern Frontier: Belarus-Poland, Russia-Ukraine, and How the US Can Work With Its Allies

President Biden hoped for a more stable and predictable relationship with Russia. Time to deal with reality instead.
Nov. 15, 2021
Colombian President Ivan Duque (L) and International Criminal Court Prosecutor Karim Khan exchange signed agreements between the national government and the International Criminal Court at the Nariño presidential palace in Bogota, on October 28, 2021. (Photo by JUAN BARRETO/AFP via Getty Images)

Closure for Colombia, New Scrutiny for Venezuela: ICC Investigations in Latin America

Both decisions were controversial but also innovative, and created a new panorama in the region going forward.
Nov. 15, 2021
International Criminal Court Prosecutor Karim Khan listens to the President of the Special Peace Jurisdiction Eduardo Cifuentes during a press conference in Bogota, October 27, 2021.

Uncertain Future for the ICC’s Investigation into the CIA Torture Program

The ICC Office of the Prosecutor has "deprioritized" investigation of CIA torture in Afghanistan. But Julian Elderfield, a former attorney in the OTP, says the stated reasons for…
Nov. 12, 2021
A Marine with the 24th Marine Expeditionary unit (MEU) passes out water to evacuees lined up against a wall during the evacuation at Hamid Karzai International Airport during the evacuation on August 21, 2021 in Kabul, Afghanistan.

American Society Will Not Abandon Our Afghan Allies

If we claim to honor their service, we must not leave our veterans to hold the weight of our collective national commitment on their own.
Nov. 11, 2021
Afghan refugee women embrace at the old Vathy camp, as one is waiting to be transferred to the new Samos RIC, the first of five new 'closed' migrant camps, on the island of Samos, Greece, on September 20, 2021.

Living in Limbo: The Impact of Greece’s Safe Third Country Policy on Afghan Asylum Seekers

Designating Turkey as a safe third country is Greece's latest attempt to shift its obligations under international and European law.
Nov. 10, 2021
Bill Browder, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, and two others speak while sitting at a press conference in London on November 20, 2018. People sit facing them with recording equipment.

Abuse of Interpol for Transnational Repression: Assessing the FY22 NDAA’s Provisions for Prevention

The act needs work, but could set a new standard in limiting Interpol abuse for assassinations, abductions, financial blacklisting and more.
Nov. 10, 2021 and
A letter dated October 29, 2021. It reads, “From: Panel ICO U.S. vs. Khan; To: Convening Authority; The panel members listed below recommend clemency in the case of Majid Shoukat Khan. Mr. Kahn committed serious crimes against the U.S. and partner nations. He has plead guilty to these crimes and taken responsibility for his actions. Further, he has expressed remorse for the impact of the victims and their families. Clemency is recommended with the following justification: 1) Mr. Khan has been held without the basic due process under the U.S. Constitution. Specifically, he was held without charge or legal representation for nine years until 2021, and held without final sentencing until October 2021. Although designated on ‘alien unprivileged enemy belligerent,’ and not technically afforded the rights of U.S. citizens, the complete disregard for the foundational concepts upon which the Constitution was founded is an affront to American values and concept of Justice. 2) Mr. Khan was subjected to physical and psychological abuse well beyond approved enhanced interrogation techniques, instead being closer to torture performed by the most abusive regimes in modern history. This abuse was of no practical value in terms of intelligence, or any other tangible benefit to U.S. interests. Instead, it is a stain on the moral fiber of America; the treatment of Mr. Khan in the hands of U.S. personnel should be a source of shame for the U.S. government. 3) Mr. Khan committed his crimes as a young man reeling from the loss of his mother. A vulnerable target for extremist recruiting, he fell to influences furthering Islamic radical philosophies, just as many others have in recent years. Now at the age of 41 with a daughter he has never seen, he is remorseful and not a threat for future extremism. It is the view of the penal members below that clemency be granted based on the points above, as well as Mr. Khan’s continued cooperation with us efforts in other, more critical, prosecutions. Panel #1, Panel #8, Panel #5, Panel #9, Panel #12, Panel #4, Panel #11.”

Military Officers’ Handwritten Clemency Letter at Guantanamo – What It Says About Who We Are

"A long step toward the ultimate freedom: the realization that there is no them, there is only us."
Nov. 8, 2021
Afghan women chant slogans and hold placard during a women's rights demonstration in Kabul on October 21, 2021.

Afghanistan: A Way Forward for Women and Girls

The US government must meaningfully consult with and listen to women inside and outside the country to support those left behind.
Nov. 8, 2021 and
An Investigator holds a piece of evidence as he and others search for evidence inside the wreckage of a Police bus at the site of a bomb blast in Kabul, 17 June 2007.

What the Afghanistan Withdrawal Teaches Us About Safeguarding Human Rights Evidence

As the Taliban seized control, evidence of human rights abuses had to be destroyed, hidden, or risk capture. It didn't have to be this way.
Nov. 5, 2021
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