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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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3,215 Articles
The words "Cargill is Guilty" are projected in lights onto the face of the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, D.C. on November 30, 2020 as part of a protest.

Nestlé & Cargill v. Doe Series: Holding the Aiders and Abettors of Atrocity to Account

Do the Alien Tort Statute and Torture Victim Protection Act apply to those who aid in atrocities? Human rights groups - who use the statutes to prosecute these crimes - say yes.
Dec. 9, 2020 and
Ethiopian refugee grade four pupils who fled the Tigray conflict attend class at a makeshift classroom set by the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) at Um Raquba refugee camp in Gedaref, eastern Sudan, on December 7, 2020. One child squats on the ground surrounded by shoes while the others sit on a blanket. The children hold books and papers in their laps.

Protecting Ethiopian Refugees — and Averting the Next Crisis

Refugee crises often seem to emerge out of nowhere. All of a sudden, people are streaming across borders, making the excruciating choice that is no choice at all: to flee home…
Dec. 9, 2020 and
Police shoot tear gas at demonstrators protesting police brutality and the murder of George Floyd. Protestors run in a panic to escape the tear gas outside St. John's Episcopal Church outside the White House. The police wear full riot gear including helmets, face shields, body shields, batons and masks. June 1, 2020 Washington DC

Revitalizing US Democracy Starts with Repairing the Right to Peaceful Assembly

Five actions the Biden administration can take to better protect the right to peaceful assembly.
Dec. 9, 2020 and
Silhouettes of Patrick Zaki, an Egyptian postgraduate student at the University of Bologna, Italy, who has been detained in Egypt since February 7, 2020, sit on every chair placed in the Aula Magna of the University Library of Bologna. The silhouettes are drawn by the artist Gianluca Costantini in action to demand the immediate release of Patrick. July 16, 2020

Biden’s Global Priority No. 1: Turn the Authoritarian Tide

Any other challenge will be exponentially harder to address as long as authoritarian leaders and the militarized systems that support them have free rein.
Dec. 8, 2020
A cocoa producer of the Yakasse-Attobrou Agricultural Cooperative (Cooperative Agricole de Yakasse-Attobrou - CAYAT) poses with a cocoa pod in each hand in front of a pannel reading "CAYAT says no to child labour" at a certified fair trade label cocoa plantation in Adzope on Agust 28, 2018.

Nestlé & Cargill v. Doe Series: In Oral Arguments, Justices Weigh Liability for Chocolate Companies

U.S. corporations, including Nestle and Cargill, may face massive liability under the Alien Tort Statute for aiding and abetting slavery abroad. But does the ATS support such liability?…
Dec. 7, 2020
Iraqi Yazidis attend a candle-lit vigil in the Sharya area, some 15 kilometres from the northern city of Dohuk in the autonomous Iraqi Kurdistan region on August 3, 2020, marking the sixth anniversary of the Islamic State (IS) group's attack on the Yazidi community in the northwestern Sinjar district. Candles are placed on the ground and people hold pictures of those who died.

The Risks of Relying on Counterterrorism Laws to Reduce Wartime Sexual Violence

Proponents risk legitimizing abusive laws and procedures and undermining broader efforts to advance equality and human rights protection for women.
Dec. 7, 2020
Robert H. Jackson’s opening statement at the Nuremberg Trials.

A Commander’s Duty to Punish War Crimes: Past U.S. Recognition

A comprehensive, sweeping analysis of "the United States’ own long-standing views that a commander’s failure to punish war crimes by his subordinates may itself amount to war…
Dec. 4, 2020
Secretary-General António Guterres holds a lecture at Columbia University entitled “State of the Planet”. The UN flag is behind him and beside him is a large television screen with the presentation title.

National Security Last Week at the United Nations (Nov 27 – Dec 4)

U.N. Negotiates for Humanitarian Access in Ethiopia Crisis On Dec. 2, United Nations (U.N.) spokesperson Stephane Dujarric announced that the Ethiopian government had agreed to…
Dec. 4, 2020
Cocoa producers of the Yakasse-Attobrou Agricultural Cooperative (Cooperative Agricole de Yakasse-Attobrou - CAYAT) carry agriculture kits distributed by the cooperative at the CAYAT headquarters in Adzope on Agust 31, 2018.

Nestlé & Cargill v. Doe Series: The Economic Folly of Human Trafficking for American Business

The threat of liability under the Alien Tort Statute (such as the Nestlé/Cargill suit) costs businesses money – that's just cold economic reality. Or is it? Amici in the case,…
Dec. 4, 2020
A pile of copper dust at Bisha Mine, Eritrea's first major international mine, 150 kilometres west of Asmara on July 17, 2013.

Nestlé & Cargill v. Doe Series: A Canadian Perspective – Takeaways from Nevsun Resources Ltd. v. Araya.

As the U.S. Supreme Court wrestles with corporate immunity for human rights abuses abroad, they may find a parallel Canadian case – in which the Supreme Court of Canada opened…
Dec. 3, 2020 and
A child waits next to jerry cans and aid packages as Yemenis displaced by conflict receive huamnitarian aid provided by the Abs Development Organisation (ADO) in the northern province of Hajjah on September 17, 2020.

Six Reasons Why a Terrorist Designation for Yemen’s Houthis is a Bad Idea

The litmus test for U.S. policy on Yemen is simple: does it help end the conflict, or keep alive the millions of suffering Yemenis? A terrorist designation of the Houthis fails…
Dec. 3, 2020 and
The cocoa bean packing warehouse sits empty in the Sampaka Farm on August 08, 2018 in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea. The warehouse is dark with only two skylights and a ladder with wheels stands toward the center of the room.

Nestlé & Cargill v. Doe Series: Rethinking the Alien Tort Statute

Tuesday's Supreme Court argument tackled thorny questions of extraterritoriality, customary international law, and corporate liability. But were any of these questions necessary?…
Dec. 2, 2020
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