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.
3,056 Articles

Brennan’s Due Process Case Against the White House
In an unprecedented move, the White House announced that President Donald Trump was revoking the security clearance of John Brennan, the CIA director in the Obama administration.…

Brett Kavanaugh and the Risk of a Return to Torture
Brett Kavanaugh, holds a stark view of the role of international law, which could threaten the protection of fundamental human rights, including the right not to be tortured.

Just Following Orders: Overdue Oversight and Unanswered Questions on Family Separations
Nearly three months after the Trump administration’s family separation policy began and over one month after a public outcry led to its end, Congress finally held its first hearing…

To Be a True Reformer, Ethiopia’s Abiy Must Commit to Human Rights Accountability
From his historic overture to Eritrea to his unprecedented opening of the Ethiopian economy, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed of Ethiopia has branded himself as a reformer since assuming…

Grace v. Sessions– Suing to Stop Shutting Down Asylum Claims at the Border
In the D.C. federal district court today, the Center for Gender & Refugee Studies, together with the American Civil Liberties Union, filed suit to stop the U.S. government from…

U.S. Sanctions against Turkey Undercut a Key Human Rights Tool
For anyone interested in maintaining the legitimacy -- and thus the effectiveness -- of the Global Magnitsky sanctions regime, last week's sanctions against two Turkish officials…

How Transitional Justice Can Help the U.S. Defeat Terrorism
It may seem odd that the National Security Strategy discusses accountability for mass atrocities on the same page as defeating transnational terror. What could justice have to…

Google’s Dragonfly: A Bellwether for Human Rights in the Digital Age
Both of us vividly recall the remarkable events of 2010, when Google took its stand against Chinese government censorship by publicly declaring it would withdraw its search engine…

Legitimizing Foreign Mass Surveillance in the European Court of Human Rights
The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) is beginning to weigh in on a sweep of legislation passed, in recent years, that authorizes bulk interception of foreign communications…

Just Security Podcast: ACLU’s David Cole on Defending our Democratic Traditions
Roughly a year ago, I sat down with ACLU Legal Director and Just Security editorial board member David Cole to pick his brain about what our various independent government branches…

How the U.S. and EU’s Cooperation with Sudan Rubberstamps Bad Behavior
Above: Sudan’s leader Omar al-Bashir In recent months, the United States and the European Union have been hard at work rebuilding ties with Sudan and lifting sanctions,…

The Unchanging Reality of the UN Sex Abuse Scandal
The UN has not been doing enough to prevent sexual exploitation and abuse by its peacekeepers and there is only so much the UN can do on its own to stop the problem. These are…