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.
3,215 Articles
Global Responses to President Trump’s Family Separation via “Zero-Tolerance” Detention Policy
Children in cages. Children under five crying alone. Anguished parents. As these images have assaulted Americans’ sensibilities in recent weeks, they have also brought international…
Trump v. Hawaii: Korematsu’s Ghost and National Security Masquerades
The travel ban represents only the most prominent Trump administration policy that, in Justice Sonia Sotomayor’s words, “now masquerades behind a façade of national-security…
The Radical Supreme Court Travel Ban Opinion–But why it might not apply to other immigrants’ rights cases
The Supreme Court adopted a new and radical framework allowing the Justices to sidestep the anti-Muslim animus that motivated the travel ban. But, even by its own logic, the new-fangled…
What Is the Next Line of Defense Against Torture?
Gina Haspel’s recent elevation to director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) despite her involvement in the George W. Bush administration’s prisoner abuse program and…
A Belief Shattered: The International Criminal Court’s Bemba Acquittal
BANGUI – On June 8, the appeals chamber at the International Criminal Court acquitted Jean-Pierre Bemba Gombo of all charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity of murder,…
Detention of Migrant Families as “Deterrence”: Ethical Flaws and Empirical Doubts
The government's own statistics prove the very opposite of what the Justice Department just told a federal court about the deterrent effects of family detention. But let's start…
Detainees in Iraq Win Damages from Denmark in High Court Ruling
A Danish High Court (‘Østre Landsret’) decided this month that the Danish government should compensate a group of Iraqi nationals who sued the Ministry of Defense over ill…
“Zero Tolerance” and the Detention of Children: Torture under International Law
The Trump administration will continue to run afoul of refugee and human rights law unless and until it stops criminalizing refugees and ends the unjustified detention of children.
Mediterranean Stand-Off: why we need to move beyond crisis thinking on refugees
The current approach to refugee protection is clearly broken. Urgent action is required to end inter-state squabbling over responsibility for affording protection. Until then,…
In Saudi Arabia, Countering Terrorism Becomes Chimera for Rights Abuses
Saudi Arabia’s drive to counter terrorism has become a convenient chimera to support crackdowns on legitimate public dissent and political or social activism of any kind, and…
Appeals Judges Turn the ICC on its Head with Bemba Decision
Reversing Bemba's conviction turns the ICC's procedures upside down, with extremely negative consequences for the institution.
Letter to the Editor: A Perilous Peace Between the Koreas
The peace initiatives involving the United States and the two Koreas are rightly welcomed given the long history of conflict and division. There are however certain unspoken realities…