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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U.S. Army (retired) General Lloyd Austin speaks after being formally nominated to be Secretary of the Department of Defense by U.S. President-elect Joe Biden at the Queen Theatre on December 09, 2020 in Wilmington, Delaware. Behind him is a banner with the seal of the President-Elect.

Representation at the Top: The Importance of Race in the Austin Nomination Debate

The pushback against retired Gen. Lloyd Austin’s nomination as secretary of defense has left little room to celebrate what is also a milestone for Black Americans in and out…
French President Emmanuel Macron speaks with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen as Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban speaks with Poland's Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki during a round table meeting during an EU summit at the European Council building in Brussels, on December 10, 2020. They stand talking, not actually sitting at the table. They all wear face masks. Behind them a wall is covered with a banner reading “European Council.”

Polish Government’s Attacks on Rule of Law Violate Not Only EU Norms but International Law

The repeated violations of fundamental rights and principles corrode the very foundations of the democracy Poland fought so hard to win.
Trump claps his hands at the Republican presidential nomination as son-in-law and senior advisor Jared Kushner and children Eric and Ivanka Trump look on the South Lawn of the White House August 27, 2020 in Washington, DC. None of them wear face masks.

We Can’t “Look Forward” on the Trump Administration’s Abuses

When President-elect Joe Biden takes office in January, he will confront a national economic crisis and a still out-of-control pandemic. He will also face questions about how to…
Asylum seekers wait at a fence to cross into the United States at El Chaparral crossing port on the US/Mexico Border in Tijuana, Baja California state, Mexico, on February 29, 2020.

Could a Migrants’ Bill of Rights Provide a Blueprint for Migration Policy in the Americas?

There is a unique opportunity for new U.S. leadership to employ a rights framework both to remedy abuses and lock in collaboration on building a new migration policy architecture…
Jarraye Moore, age 5, listens to speakers at a candle light vigil for his second cousin, Kevin Peterson Jr., on December 6, 2020 in Vancouver, Washington. Clark County Sheriffs deputies shot and killed Peterson in October, sparking Black Lives Matter vigils and counter protests by far-right groups.

If the US Wants to Lead on Human Rights, We Must Shift to the State and Local Level

With little fanfare, the Trump administration participated in a review of the United States’ human rights record on Nov. 9. In a rare moment of engagement with United Nations…
The 19th Session Human Rights Council. 15 March 2012.

The UDHR, Digital Authoritarianism, and Human Rights after Trump

"A simple return to an imagined world of pre-Trump human rights is not enough."
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.
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…
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.
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.
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?…
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.
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