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.
3,057 Articles
The Poisoning of Alexander Litvinenko and the Geographical Scope of Human Rights Law
On January 21, a British investigation concluded that Russian President Vladimir Putin “probably” approved the poisoning of former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko, who died…
A New UK-US Data Sharing Agreement: A Tremendous Opportunity, If Done Right
This post is the latest installment of our “Monday Reflections” feature, in which a different Just Security editor examines the big stories from the previous week or looks…
The High Standard of Proof in the Encryption Debate
Since the November 13 terrorist attacks in Paris set off another around of debate about exceptional access, a lot of ink has been spilled on the subject of whether or not there…
The Complexities of the FARC Deal
As I noted at the end of the year, the Government of Colombia and the FARC-EP are continuing peace talks in Havana, Cuba aimed at ending the longest running conflict in the Western…

Siege Warfare and the Starvation of Civilians as a Weapon of War and War Crime
“Let me be clear: The use of starvation as a weapon of war is a war crime.” These are the words of UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon, uttered in connection with the starvation…
IBM’s Terrorist-Hunting Software Raises Troubling Questions
Last week, Defense One published an article about a new use that IBM is pioneering for its data-crunching software: identifying potential terrorists in the stream of refugees entering…
Cryptopanic and James Comey’s Xanatos Gambit
For the past year or so I’ve been part of a cybersecurity working group at Harvard’s Berkman Center that on Monday released its first public report, Don’t Panic: Making Progress…
Democracy in Peril in Poland
The collapse of communism in Central and Eastern Europe unleashed one of the most remarkable political transformations of modern times, paving the way for millions of Europeans…
The Way Forward for Surveillance Reform Can Balance Human Rights and Government Needs
The fall of 2015 was marked by two key developments in the debate about laws on communications surveillance and the right to privacy. First, on October 6, the EU Court of Justice…
The European Court of Human Rights Constrains Mass Surveillance (Again)
In a decision that may someday be considered the penultimate nail in the coffin that European courts have been building for mass surveillance, the European Court of Human Rights…
What the Senate Preserved in Blocking the SAFE Act
Too often, when political decisions are driven by fear, the pressure on lawmakers to do “something” outweighs efforts toward creating sound public policy that takes practical…
Martin Luther King, Jr. Day
In honor of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, Just Security will be on an abbreviated schedule with a lower volume of posts than normal. If any major, time-sensitive developments occur,…