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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Syrian campaigner Wafa Mustafa sits among pictures of victims of the Syrian regime as she holds a photo of her father, during a protest outside a trial of two Syrian alleged former intelligence officers accused for crimes against humanity, in the first trial of its kind to emerge from the Syrian conflict, on June 4, 2020 in Koblenz, western Germany. Wafa was part of the resistance against the Syrian government and had to flee Syria when her father was arrested. She came to Germany in 2016. (Photo by THOMAS LOHNES/AFP via Getty Images)

Crimes Against Humanity: Little Progress on Treaty as UN Legal Committee Concludes its Work

Despite a majority of States favoring a clear mandate and timeline to discuss the draft in the next year, a few countries essentially exercised vetoes.
WEST BANK - APRIL 21, 2003: View of the concrete separation wall between the Palestinian city of Tol Karem and Israel, April 21, 2003. (Photo by Shaul Schwarz/ Getty Images)

Preliminary but Necessary: The Question of the Applicability of the Notion of Apartheid to Occupied Territory

Does the prohibition of apartheid apply to occupied territory? Marco Longobardo analyzes how laws of war, human rights, occupation, and against racial discrimination intersect.…

Omicron: The Variant that Vaccine Apartheid Built

"If the current course is not corrected, vaccine apartheid will only deepen, and the resulting maldistribution will render historically subordinated groups even more disposable."
Razor wire tops the fence of the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay on October 23, 2016 at the U.S. Naval Station at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. An American flag waves in the background.

The Biden Administration’s Moment of Truth on Torture Evidence

US prosecutors claim the authority to use torture-derived evidence in Al-Nashiri's case, contrary to U.S. domestic and international legal obligations.
A view of a deserted migrants' camp on the Belarusian-Polish border in the Grodno region on November 18, 2021. (Photo by LEONID SHCHEGLOV/BELTA/AFP via Getty Images)

On Empathy, Scholarship, and Political Action: A Response to Lahmann

The situation on Belarus's borders sparks a debate on the appropriate path for international legal scholars. The latest from Aurel Sari and Ben Hudson.
Children peep out of a window during a strike called by the teachers upon non-payment of salaries at a School in Kandahar on November 6, 2021. (Photo by Javed TANVEER / AFP) (Photo by JAVED TANVEER/AFP via Getty Images)

How U.S. Sanctions Make it Harder for Afghan Children to Get an Education

To avoid worsening Afghanistan's education crisis, the U.S. Treasury Department should amend its general license on humanitarian assistance to explicitly cover education activities.

Might the Turkish Electorate Be Ready to Say Goodbye to Erdoğan After Two Decades in Power?

Polls show a steady decline. But while the opposition stands a chance, it faces challenges, including the risk of election manipulation.
Five migrant children look through a barbed wire border fence at Polish border guards. The migrants are camped near the Bruzgi-Kuznica border crossing on the Belarusian-Polish border on November 17, 2021. (Photo by MAXIM GUCHEK/BELTA/AFP via Getty Images)

Desperate Migrants as “Armed Bands”? A Response to Sari and Hudson

Characterizing migrants as “armed bands” shapes the legal vocabulary - with potentially dire consequences. A call for empathy and restraint in legal discourse.
Legal blind justice Themis metal statue with scales on chains

Litigation Tracker: Major Decisions Facing the Biden Administration

The Biden administration must decide whether to change course or maintain the Trump administration’s litigation approach in major Trump-era cases concerning national security…
Migrants aiming to cross into Poland gather at the Bruzgi-Kuznica border crossing on the Belarusian-Polish border in the Grodno region on November 16, 2021. - Belarus OUT (Photo by Maxim GUCHEK / BELTA / AFP) / Belarus OUT (Photo by MAXIM GUCHEK/BELTA/AFP via Getty Images)

Stirring Trouble at the Border: Is Belarus in Violation of International Law? – Part 2

Is Belarus violating its bilateral and human rights commitments at the border?
PARIS, FRANCE - OCTOBER 29: In this photo illustration, the Facebook logo is displayed on the screen of an iPhone in front of a Meta logo on October 29, 2021 in Paris, France. On October 28, during the Facebook Connect virtual conference, Mark Zuckerberg announced the name change of Facebook, believing that the term Facebook was too closely linked to that of the platform of the same name, launched in 2004. It is now official, the Facebook company changes its name and becomes Meta. (Photo illustration by Chesnot/Getty Images)

Big-Tobacco-Type Lawsuits from State AGs: A Roadmap for Redressing Facebook’s Harms

Facebook has followed the Big Tobacco model, maximizing profit at expense of the public. It's time for AGs to dust off this playbook too.
This picture shows detainees inside the soundproof glass dock of the courtroom during the trial of 700 defendants, including Egyptian photojournalist Mahmoud Abu Zeid, widely known as Shawkan, in the capital Cairo, on Sept. 8, 2018. Shawkan, who earlier that year received UNESCO's World Freedom Prize, was sentenced to five years in prison. He had been arrested in 2013 while covering a demonstration. Including time served, he was finally freed in March 2019, but required to be under police supervision for five more years.

When US Security and Democracy Interests Clash

How to break six common and unhelpful patterns in US engagement with security partners that abuse rights or democratic standards.
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