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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3,174 Articles
Employees work in Facebook's "War Room," during a media demonstration on October 17, 2018, in Menlo Park, California.

Facebook’s Oversight Board: A Meaningful Turn Toward International Human Rights Standards?

That depends on how it will weigh Facebook’s community standards and values against global norms in its content-moderation decisions.
Turkish military tanks drive past the town of Ariha on the M4 highway in Syria's rebel-held northwestern Idlib province on May 7, 2020.

Turkey Opened the Door to the European Court of Human Rights for Syrian Victims

With Turkey's occupation of parts of northern Syria, a new venue may now be available to victims: the European Court of Human Rights.
A police officer sits on an impounded power bike and interrogates the owner for failing to comply with the sit-at-home order to prevent the spread of COVID-19 coronavirus on Lagos Ibadan expressway, on April 28, 2020.

COVID-19 and the Shrinking Civic Space in Nigeria

With the same rapidity as its spread, COVID-19 seems to be taking over as the major driver of shrinking civic space in many parts of the world, displacing the popular buzzwords:…
Afghan security personnel arrive at the site of an attack outside a hospital in Kabul on May 12, 2020.

Beyond Reproach: Legal, Political, and Social Implications of the Recent Attack on a Maternity Ward in Afghanistan

Childbirth is a trepidatious experience for every expectant mother anywhere in the world. Imagine, then, being in a maternity ward that comes under a blaze of gunfire. On May 12,…
Arrest poster of Felicien Kabuga. Reads, "Felicien Kabuga Arrested: 16/05/2020"

And Then There Were Seven: Rwandan Félicien Kabuga Arrested in France

The case illustrates the long arm of justice, via international tribunals created in the 1990s after the genocides in Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia.
Mr. Antonio Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations on a video screen for a virtural meeting.

National Security at the United Nations This Week (May 8-15)

(Editor’s Note: This is the latest in Just Security’s weekly series keeping readers up to date on developments at the United Nations at the intersection of national security,…
Arid ground in Mongolia, Zavkhan province.

The Trump Administration’s Indefensible Legal Defense of Its Asylum Ban

"The Trump administration has finally made public its legal justification for its decision to halt asylum processing during the COVID-19 pandemic, and it is embarrassingly bad.…
Two U.S. Air Force F-22 Raptors fly above Syria in support of Operation Inherent Resolve, Feb. 2, 2018.

The Fatal Flaw in DOD’s Latest Civilian Casualties Report

Lawmakers and even the Trump administration have increasingly expressed concern about the United States waging an “endless war,” and among those concerns is the impact on civilians…
A medical staff at Damascus Countryside Specialised Hospital holds a placard reading, "Assad Sees no Red Lines, Only Green Lights!!"condemning a suspected chemical weapons attack on the Syrian town of Khan Sheikhun.

The Syrian War’s Forcing Effect on International Law

A new book by Scharf, Sterio, and Williams demonstrates how global legal standards have shifted with the increasing complexity of war.
A young child has their temperature taken by a medical professional using a no-touch forehead thermometer as part of a COVID-19 screening conducted at a Military Police checkpoint in central Yemen (Ta’izz Governorate) in April 2020. The child does not wear a face mask.

Could the Coronavirus Put an End to the War in Yemen?

The prospects, however difficult, may be more promising now than at any time in this grinding, five-year conflict. But it will require more US diplomacy.
International Criminal Court Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda delivers her semi-annual briefing on recent developments concerning cases in Libya via a virtual meeting.

National Security at the United Nations This Week (May 1-8)

(Editor’s Note: This is the latest in Just Security’s weekly series keeping readers up to date on developments at the United Nations at the intersection of national security,…
Afghan men gather near the road as a military convoy by soldiers from the 1st Platoon, 1-64 Armoured Batallion, US Army - operating under NATO - roll-past security patrols at Morghan-Kecha village in Daman district, Kandahar on September 6, 2012.

Here’s What the New DoD Policy on Civilian Harm Should Include

It should standardize good practice and set the bar where it belongs: safeguarding civilian life from the effects of U.S. military operations.
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