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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Prominent Egyptian activist Alaa Abdel Fattah stands behind bars with fellow defendants as they are tried at a court in Cairo on August 6, 2014.

Keeping Human Rights and Counter-Terrorism in Focus at the UN

Egypt has for years sought to undermine UN consensus on norms for human rights in countering terrorism. It's time for UN members to take a principled stand.

Female Genital Mutilation and the Treaty Power: What Congress Can Do

Since 1996, the act of female genital mutilation (FGM) has been a federal crime. Federal circuit courts have characterized FGM as “a barbaric practice unbecoming of a civilized…
Honduran father Juan and his six-year-old son Anthony walk on their way to attend Sunday Mass on September 9, 2018 in Oakland, California. They fled their country and crossed the U.S. border at a lawful port of entry in Brownsville, Texas seeking asylum. They were soon separated and spent the next 85 days apart in detention. Juan was sent to Tulsa, Oklahoma, while his son was sent to a detention shelter New York. Juan said it took six weeks from the time of separation until he was able to make a phone call to his son.

Assessing the Legal Landscape of Family Separation in the Immigration Context

Former Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen was interviewed this week as part of FORTUNE’s “Most Powerful Women Summit” in Washington. Nielsen, who seemed nonplussed…
People hold a Turkish flag as they give their support to the Turkish military during the deployment of tanks to Syria on October 12, 2019 in Akcakale, Turkey.

Assessing Turkey’s “Resettlement” Plans in Syria under the Law of Occupation

Turkey's "resettlement plan" for northern Syria - involving the transfer of at least 1 million refugees to the area within Syria it intends to control - is unlawful under the international…
Sri Lankan Defence Ministry Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa rides in a jeep during a Victory Day parade rehearsal in Colombo on May 17, 2013. Military personnel in uniform surround him.

Suit Against Sri Lankan Presidential Candidate Rajapaksa Dismissed on Common Law Immunity Grounds

Among other deficiencies, the ruling failed to acknowledge jurisprudence from other courts indicating that jus cogens violations can never constitute “official” acts entitling…
A Security Council vote at the United Nations, 12 September, 2003.

National Security at the United Nations This Week

The Security Council fails to condemn Turkey for its operation in northern Syria, a troubled 15-year UN mission in Haiti comes to an end, Maduro's Venezuela gets a seat on the…
The Netherlands' Minister of Foreign Affairs Stef Blok speaks during a debate about Socialist Party (SP) party chairman Murat Memis at the Senate, in The Hague, on December 26, 2019.

The Netherlands Releases a Tour de Force on International Law in Cyberspace: Analysis

The Dutch make a major contribution to interpretation and application of international law in cyberspace with careful legal analysis on topics ranging from sovereignty to the use…
Supporters of former secretary to the ministry of defence and presidential candidate, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, celebrate outside Sri Lanka's Court of Appeal in Colombo on October 4, 2019, after a petition challenging his Sri Lankan nationality was taken to court and then dismissed.

Sri Lankan War Criminal Gotabaya Rajapaksa May Escape Accountability Yet Again, This Time by Running for President

Recent developments in a pair of human rights cases in U.S. federal court against former Sri Lankan Defense Minister and current presidential hopeful Gotabaya (“Gota”) Rajapakse…
Razor wire tops the fence of the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay on October 23, 2016 at the U.S. Naval Station at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

18 Years After 9/11, Why Is Guantánamo Still Open?

That a child born on that day the planes hit would by now have gained the right to vote, but there has yet to be a trial of the alleged attackers, serves to highlight how painfully…
A police officer on a night patrol in Manila, Philippines wears a helmet and a metal skeleton mask.

On a President’s Orders: New Frontline Docs Look at Duterte and MBS

In the Philippines, President Rodrigo Duterte isn’t pulling the trigger every time a drug dealer or drug user is killed by the police. Similarly, when Saudi journalist Jamal…
A sign at the new International Spy Museum during a media preview ahead of its opening in Washington, DC, May 7, 2019 reads, “Are you prepared to enter the shadow world?”

New Spy Museum’s Torture Exhibit Glosses Over Depravity

If any visitor to the new International Spy Museum in Washington D.C. leaves the exhibit without a clear understanding that the CIA torture program was immoral, illegal, and counterproductive…
President of the General Assembly, Tijjani Muhammad-Bande speaks during General debate of the 74th session of the United Nations General Assembly on September 28, 2019 at the United Nations Headquarters in New York City.

National Security at the United Nations This Week

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,…
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