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.

× Clear Filters
3,056 Articles
A Rohingya refugee family rests in a temporary shelter days after a fire burnt their home at a refugee camp in Ukhia, in the southeastern Cox's Bazar district on March 25, 2021.

Beyond the Coup in Myanmar: The Views of Rohingya Refugees in Bangladesh

The coup seemed to dash Rohingya refugee hopes of return to Myanmar. But some feel cautious hope at newfound cross-ethnic solidarity.
A phone screen shows a statement by Trump on May 5, 2021. Another screen in the background shows an image of Trump. The statement text reads, “What Facebook, Twitter, and Google have done is a total disgrace and an embarrassment to our country. Free Speech has been taken away from the President of the United States because the Radical Left Lunatics are afraid of the truth, but the truth will come out anyway, bigger and stronger than ever before. The People of our Country will not stand for it! These corrupt social media companies must pay a political price, and must never again be allowed to destroy and decimate our Electoral Process.”

For Facebook’s Sake: Getting Conversant with Human Rights

The Facebook Oversight Board decision on former President Trump has helped bring into sharper focus what international law scholars and lawyers have long understood: international…
Belarusians living in Poland and Poles supporting them hold up a placard reading 'Free Roman Protasevich' during a demonstration in front of the European Commission office in Warsaw on May 24, 2021, demanding freedom for Belarus opposition activist Roman Protasevich a day after a Ryanair flight from Athens to Vilnius carrying the dissident journalist was diverted while in Belarusian airspace. The demonstrators wear face masks.

In Belarus, Who’s the Terrorist? Another Step in the Crackdown on Journalists

The case of Roman Protasevich is nothing more than a step – albeit unprecedented and shocking – in the incremental use by States, across the globe, of legislation to counter…
Superintendent Paul Basham, Dr Richard Stephenson, and Jane Andrews speak to the media at the Dunedin Central Police Station on May 11, 2021 in Dunedin, New Zealand.

The Méndez Principles: Emergence and Global Expansion of Non-Coercive Interviewing

Three national jurisdictions that have introduced legal and effective techniques demonstrate that change is possible and is already underway.
A boy sits among women awaiting departure during the release of another group of Syrian families from the Kurdish-run al-Hol camp, which holds suspected relatives of Islamic State (IS) group fighters, in Hasakeh governorate in northeastern Syria, on January 28, 2021.

Gendering the Boy Child in the Context of Counterterrorism: The Situation of Boys in Northeast Syria

Much has been written about the gender of terrorism, and counterterrorism, including by myself. In much of that writing, there is a tendency to elide “gender” analysis with…
Officials inspect the damaged Karbala airport in the Iraqi shrine city, one of the areas targeted by US military air strikes. March 13, 2020

A Legacy of Unrecognized Harm: DoD’s 2020 Civilian Casualties Report 

The Pentagon report appears to defy the congressional requirement to report on civilian casualties “that were confirmed, or reasonably suspected, to have resulted in civilian…
A guard tower is seen outside the fencing of Camp 5 at the US Military's Prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba on January 26, 2017.

The Méndez Principles: Science Shows Interrogation is Too Serious for Amateurs

Probing memory requires delicacy and care, because the method can change what the subject recalls -- and they wouldn't even be aware of it.
Belarusians living in Poland and Poles supporting them hold up paper planes during a demonstration in front of the European Commission office in Warsaw on May 24, 2021, demanding freedom for Belarus opposition activist Roman Protasevich a day after a Ryanair flight from Athens to Vilnius carrying the dissident journalist was diverted while in Belarusian airspace.

Tracking Transnational Repression: Next Steps for the State Department’s Human Rights Reports

The State Department's newest reporting on 'transnational repression' has much to offer, but also gaps, including on Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Thailand, and more.
UN Special Rapporteur for Torture Juan Mendez speaks during a press conference in Colombo on May 7, 2016.

The Méndez Principles: A New Standard for Effective Interviewing by Police and Others, While Respecting Human Rights

Former UN Rapporteur on Torture says interrogations that reject coercive and abusive methods and build rapport are necessary and achievable.
View of the former clandestine detention and torture centre -the Argentine Army Mechanics School (ESMA) Officers Casino- now turned into the Memory and Human Rights Place, during the 45 th anniversary of the military coup, in Buenos Aires on March 24, 2021.

The Méndez Principles: Leadership to Transform Interrogation via Science, Law, and Ethics

New guidance points the way to scientifically sound, lawful, human rights-compliant, and effective practices.
People gather at a street corner during the Tulsa Race Massacre. Smoke billows from buildings down the block and all the buildings in the image are heavily damaged.

Controlling the Lens of History: From Tulsa to the Capitol Mob

(Editor’s Note: This article is part of a Just Security series on the hundredth anniversary of the Tulsa Race Massacre, with more essays in the following days.)  The centennial…
The destruction caused by the white supremacists that attacked Tulsa and its black residents during the Tulsa Race Massacre. Buildings were leveled to rubble and buildings still partially standing have extensive fire damage.

How the Tulsa Race Massacre of 1921 Was (and Might Be) Forgotten

"This effort exemplifies what the philosopher Charles Mills calls 'white ignorance,' in which the ideology of white supremacy infects what counts as knowledge, and testimony about…
1-12 of 3,056 items

DON'T MISS A THING. Stay up to date with Just Security curated newsletters: