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
3,215 Articles
David Addington, Chief of Staff and former counsel to Vice President Dick Cheney, former Department of Justice official John Yoo and Chris Schroeder, former acting assistant Attorney General in charge of the Justice Department Office of Legal Counsel testify before the House Judiciary committee during a hearing on the administration's interrogation policy on June 26, 2008 in Washington, DC.

ICC Afghanistan Torture Investigation Likely to Turn on Criminal Intent

Good-faith reliance on advice of counsel is a well-established defense in U.S. criminal law, but it has not yet been tested at the ICC.
Governor Andrew M. Cuomo hosts a conference call and makes an announcement with Governor Phil Murphy, Governor Ned Lamont, Governor Tom Wolf, Governor John Carney and Governor Gina Raimondo.

Governors and Mayors, Beware: Lawsuits Opposing Coronavirus Mitigation Orders Are a Real Threat

Lessons from when Confederacy-sympathizing judges tried to prevent Lincoln from saving the republic. By leading legal historian David Golove.
An asylum seeker staying at the Juventud 2000 migrant shelter in Tijuana, Baja California State, Mexico, sweeps the floor on April 3, 2020. Camping tents are pitched in rows.

Coronavirus Border Expulsions: CDC’s Assault on Asylum Seekers and Unaccompanied Minors

Relying on obscure 1944 provision that provides no such authority, CDC tries to block all asylum seekers and unaccompanied minors in violation of congressional statutes, writes…
Bilboard of Fox News Cast

Lawsuit Against Fox News Over Coronavirus Coverage: Can It Succeed? Should It?

There are reasons to be wary of lawsuits as a tactic for controlling the information that media outlets disseminate, even if it is to punish Fox News.
Rohingya refugees, without wearing any mask or any other safty gear as a preventive measure against the COVID-19 novel coronavirus, wait in a relief distribution point at Kutupalong refugee camp in Ukhia March 24, 2020.

COVID-19 and Humanitarian Access for Refugees and IDPs: Part 2 – Syria and Bangladesh

The coronavirus crisis should not function as a cover for repressive action under the guise of protecting health, especially in already vulnerable populations.
Emergency Medical Technicians bring a patient into Wyckoff Hospital in the Borough of Brooklyn on April 6, 2020 in New York.

The Human Rights Lessons from COVID-19: Equality Requires Economic and Social Rights Protections

Minority communities are having to weather the worst of the pandemic. Still, the Trump administration continues its efforts to downplay the significance of economic and social…
Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman James Risch (R-ID) (L) and ranking member Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ)

How Congress Can Save Lives, Protect Rights, and Exert U.S. Leadership Globally in Response to Coronavirus

Given the Trump administration’s foreign policy proclivities, it’s likely that Congress will have to do much of the heavy lifting.
A Lego Rube Goldberg machine at the Maker Faire 2009 in San Mateo, California.

Rube Goldberg and Military Justice

The decisional layer cake that Congress has put in place over the years, including on sexual assault, is rife with potential for yet more command influence.
Staff in masks wearing PPE prepare food aid rations to be henceforth delivered to refugee family homes rather than distributed at a UN a center, in Gaza City.

National Security at the United Nations This Week (Mar. 28 to Apr. 3)

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,…
Migrants and refugees, some wearing facemasks for protective measures, queue in a makeshift camp next to the Moria camp on the Greek island of Lesbos.

COVID-19 Could Ravage Refugees and Asylum Seekers

The vulnerability of refugees and asylum seekers has been long recognized, yet the vast majority of countries have not even included refugees and asylum seekers in their pandemic…
A tray of potential vaccines for COVID-19.

Biopharma: The Next National Security Frontier

In a post-COVID-19 world, biopharma companies may become far more integral to our nation’s safety.
A watch tower is seen in the currently closed Camp X-Ray at the U.S. Naval Station on June 27, 2013 in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Barbed wire can be seen in both the background and foreground of the photo.

Guantanamo’s COVID-19 Precautions Must Safeguard Detainees’ Rights

Even if the virus does not reach the detainees, some of the precautions that Guantanamo is taking could at once undermine detainees’ rights, including access to counsel, and…
1-12 of 3,215 items

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