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
A banner with the ICRC emblem on it.

Targeted Killing of General Soleimani: Why the Laws of War Should Apply, and Why it Matters

In her thought provoking and thorough piece, Agnes Callamard addresses – among many other issues – the question whether the US strike against General Qassem Soleimani was subject…
People protest at a Uyghur rally on February 5, 2019 in front of the US Mission to the United Nations, to encourage the State Department to fight for the freedom of the majority-Muslim Uighur population unjustly imprisoned in Chinese concentration camps. A child holds a sign reading, “Justice.”

The United States Finally Has a New War Crimes Ambassador

Considering the past, current, and threatened atrocities across the globe and the U.S. position on the ICC, Ambassador Morse Tan will have his hands full.
: Tourists gaze upon the Gate of All Nations at the ancient Persepolis archeological site on May 30, 2014 in Persepolis, Iran.

Trump’s Threat to Target Iranian Cultural Sites: Illegal Under International, Domestic and Military Law

In response to a potential Iranian armed retaliation following the United States’ killing of Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani, President Donald Trump tweeted that the U.S. military…
Iranians gather around a vehicle carrying the coffins of slain major general Qassem Soleimani and others, as they pay homage in the northeastern city of Mashhad on January 5, 2020.

The Targeted Killing of General Soleimani: Its Lawfulness and Why It Matters

Analyzing the killing of Soleimani from an international law standpoint matters a great deal. Reasserting the primacy of international law in such times of crisis is a solemn and…
A Syrian Kurdish woman flashes the v-sign during a demonstration against Turkish threats in Ras al-Ain town in Syria's Hasakeh province near the Turkish border on October 9, 2019.

Men as Partners for Women, Peace and Security: Vital Lessons

Looking at the failure of male-dominated conflict resolution processes from Afghanistan and South Sudan to Venezuela and Burma, the meaningful engagement of women in international…
New York State Troopers stand guard in front of the house of Rabbi Chaim Rottenberg on December 29, 2019 in Monsey, New York. Media also stand outside the house.

The Monsey Attack: What’s the basis for the federal charges against Grafton Thomas?

"The government's decision to use Section 247 but not Section 249 will probably make successful prosecution more difficult, for several reasons."
Guests arrive at the Dune's Resort, in Kotu, near Bajul, for the ceremony launching the works of the Truth and Reconciliation and Reparation Commission on October 15, 2018.

A Gambian Paramilitary Fighter Could Face Justice in the United States

While Gambia wrestles with its past and decides how to hold those accused of human rights violations to account, the United States must similarly determine what to do with a former…
Exterior View of new International Criminal Court building in The Hague on July 30, 2016.

ICC Holds Historic Hearing on U.S. Torture and Other Grave Crimes in Afghanistan

While “high crimes and misdemeanors” dominated the news cycle in Washington this month, the focus in The Hague was on grave crimes and mistreatment. Just days before the International…
Sudanese protesters stage a demonstration on December 3, 2019 calling upon authorities to deliver justice to those killed in demonstrations against the now ousted autocrat Omar al-Bashir and during the weeks long sit in outside the military headquarters after Bashir's fall.

“Freedom, Peace, and Justice”: The Surprising Success of Sudan’s Glorious Revolution

What a difference a year makes. Today marks the one-year anniversary of the first protests that would eventually topple the brutal dictatorship of Sudanese President Omar al Bashir.…
Women and children ride in the back of a truck at the Kurdish-run al-Hol camp for the displaced where families of Islamic State (IS) foreign fighters are held, in the al-Hasakeh governorate in northeastern Syria on December 9, 2019.

Rehabilitating the Islamic State’s Women and Children Returnees in Kazakhstan

Many countries are looking at what kind of model Kazakhstan builds with its efforts to reintegrate ISIS returnees, and whether it will be effective. The countries that get this…
A cluster of corrugated iron huts resembling military barracks jut out of Nauru's sweltering rocky landscape to reveal refugee Camp Four on the Pacific island of Nauru.

Boochani’s Tribunal: Normalizing Human Degradation at Borders

A complaint to the ICC on Australia's detention practices highlights a very clear risk that this precedent represents an emerging global normalcy of human degradation when it comes…
A guard tower is seen outside the fencing of Camp 5 at the US Military's Prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba on January 26, 2017.

D.C. Circuit Considers Limits on Guantanamo Detention

The court will hear oral arguments today in Abdul Razak Ali v. Trump on the central question of whether the Due Process Clause applies to limit the length of detention at Guantanamo…
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