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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3,188 Articles

What does the Trump Administration Statement on Dismantling the ICC Really Mean?

International law experts respond to the Trump administration's campaign to "dismantle" the International Criminal Court.
A woman in a long skirt and headscarf rests her hand on a white gravestone among rows of memorial headstones at a Potocari cemetery, Srebrenica, under a partly cloudy sky.

Revived Islamophobic Narratives Pose Renewed Danger as Bosnia Commemorates the Srebrenica Genocide

Bosnian Serb leader denies the mass killings, rapes, and ethnic cleansing of Bosniaks while reviving racist, anti-Muslim narratives that preceded the atrocities.
U.S. President Donald Trump walks over to Marine One after landing at Morristown Airport in Air Force One on June 5, 2026 in Morristown, New Jersey. President Trump is spending the weekend at Trump National Golf Club Bedminster after holding an event at Custer Farms in Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin.

Breaking the Cycle: Transitional Justice in America After Trump

A post-Trump America must finally turn transitional justice tools inward and reckon with failures it has long refused to face if it aims to repair, not simply ignore.
Defaced portraits of Syria's ousted president Bashar al-Assad (L) and his late father Hafez al-Assad (C) hang on a wall in the capital Damascus on June 2, 2025.

Not Seeing the Forest for the Trees: Historical Commissions Are Crucial for Syria

Transitional justice approaches in Syria must not isolate periods of oppression from the broader contexts that enabled them.
Several people wearing various colors of t-shirts, including bright orange or black, stand with signs at the base of tall columns, the photo shot from below, with banners between the columns behind them reading "Jimmy Kimmel Live"

How Defending Free Speech Can Unite Unlikely Allies

The Trump administration's threats to First Amendment rights have inspired a broad front defending free speech, freedom of the press, protest rights and more.
3 burgundy color passports of the Russian Federation lie on a table, the covers facing the camera. A hand with rings on the ring and little fingers with bracelets on the arm reaches for the passport on the left.

Where Did All These Passports Come From? Russia’s Manipulation of Citizenship as Hybrid Warfare in Ukraine

Russia’s "passportization" campaign in occupied Ukraine demonstrates how citizenship policy can be manipulated as a modern instrument of hybrid warfare.
A man walks in front of the Supreme Court building at dusk.

Seeking Justice the Day After SCOTUS Killed the Alien Tort Statute

As surely as day follows night, survivors will continue their quest for justice and accountability. The Supreme Court’s decision marks the end of an era, but a new dawn awaits.
Illustration of silhouetted Supreme Court justices: the six-justice majority and three dissenting justices in Cisco Systems v. Doe.

Supreme Court Closes the Door on the Alien Tort Statute

Unpacking the Supreme Court opinion in Cisco Systems, Inc. v. Doe.
A police officer in a dark blue uniform, his back to the camera, wears a bulletproof vest reading INTERPOL, as he walks through an airy hall with light-colored flooring, a few white counters and a large green plant at the left of the image.

Why Interpol’s Member Nations Should Reject Its New Privileges and Immunities Agreement

The accord would make it easier for autocrats to abuse Interpol’s famous Red Notices and other mechanisms to persecute those seeking refuge abroad from repression at home.
This photograph shows smoke rising above buildings following an air attack in Kharkiv on June 10, 2026, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Beyond the Vanishing Point? What the Destruction of Civilian Infrastructure in Armed Conflicts Reveals about the State and the Role of IHL Today

There is a widening gap between international humanitarian law and the realities of civilians affected by armed conflicts.
Guterres speaks at a podium in the massive General Assembly hall, on a large dais at the base of a gold backdrop stretching to the high ceiling, his image also projected on screens behind him, as member state representatives are seated at long rows of desks arrayed in front of the dais.

As U.N. Secretary-General Candidates Make Pitch to be Mediator-in-Chief, Will Peacebuilding End Up On the Cutting Room Floor?

A U.N. pivot back to conflict mediation, suggested in the secretary-general search, will only reap dividends if peacebuilding is high on the next leader's agenda.
Journalists line up with cameras on tripods in the foreground, facing an armored vehicle in the distance at the other end of what looks like a cement-paved alley.

As Governments Silence Critics During War, Writers Are Among the First to Pay the Price

Crackdowns on writers, culture, and free expression during war emerged as a key trend in PEN America's 2025 data for the latest annual Freedom to Write Index.
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