Local Voices

Just Security’s “Local Voices” section features perspectives and analysis from individuals directly affected by conflict, human rights abuses, and political crises around the world.

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336 Articles
U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents detain a man during an immigration enforcement operation in a Minneapolis neighborhood on January 11, 2026.

Minnesota ICE Enforcement: Tracking Alleged Constitutional Violations in Court

Sworn declarations in ACLU’s Minnesota lawsuit describe masked ICE agents using violent, warrantless arrests targeting Somali and Latino US citizens, legal residents.
Map of the US's Exclusive Economic Area, including Navassa Island but not Bajo Nuevo Bank and Serranilla Bank.(via WikiCommons)

How Greenland’s Relationship with Denmark Exposes the Shortcomings of Being a “U.S. Territory”

The relationship between the U.S. and its island territories should concern anyone who believes in the “consent of the governed” and the idea of “all created equal."
IMAGES (left to right): Natural disaster and its consequences (via Getty Images); In this picture taken on September 28, 2022, an internally displaced flood-affected family sits outside their tent at a makeshift tent camp in Jamshoro district of Sindh province (Photo by Rizwan Tabassum/AFP via Getty Images; Trees smolder and burn during the Dixie fire near Greenville, California on August 3, 2021. – Numerous fires are raging through the state’s northern forests, as climate change makes wildfire season longer, hotter and more devastating. (Photo by JOSH EDELSON/AFP via Getty Images)

Just Security’s Climate Archive

A catalog of articles analyzing the diplomatic, political, legal, security, and humanitarian consequences of the international climate crisis.
A member of the Ukrainian army and a policeman stand near body bags exhumed from a mass grave where civilians where buried in Bucha, on the outskirts of Kyiv, on April 13, 2022, amid Russia's military invasion launched on Ukraine. - A visit by the International Criminal Court's chief prosecutor to Bucha -- the Kyiv suburb now synonymous with scores of atrocities against civilians discovered in areas abandoned by Russian forces -- came as the new front of the war shifts eastward, with new allegations of crimes inflicted on locals. (Photo by FADEL SENNA/AFP via Getty Images)

History and International Law Proscribe Amnesties for Russian War Crimes

Compromising on prosecutions for Russian atrocities would erode the system of international justice built since Nuremberg and undermine the rule of law itself.
Two women sit inside a dark concrete shelter, one on a single bed draped in what appears to be blue mosquito netting, the other on a low stool, in Adwa, Ethiopia on March 30, 2025. A window with bars in the top right of the image provides a little light. Buckets and what appear to be cooking implements sit on the barren floor.

In Ethiopia, an Unfinished Peace Risks Betraying the People of Tigray and the Broader Region

A confluence of factors threatens to reignite the conflict in Ethiopia's Tigray region, exacerbating displacement and human suffering, and destabilizing the entire region.
U.S. President Donald Trump (C), Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev (L), and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan (R) sit behind a long table, smiling, as they hold up copies of the signed agreement in front of members of the press.

With New Transit Routes and Investment, the U.S. Aims to Counter China and Russia in the South Caucasus and Central Asia

How the U.S.-brokered Armenia-Azerbaijan peace deal and the TRIPP trade route are reshaping Eurasia’s economic and security alliances, from the Caspian to Europe and beyond.
A Croatian national flag with its three bands of red, white and blue and a crest in the center, is seen weaving above fans at a concert, amid a smoke-filled, rose-colored backdrop and what look like small fireworks going off.

Normalizing Far-Right Ideologies in the Western Balkans: Croatia’s Role at Home and Abroad

The Croatian government appears to be embracing far-right actions at home and abroad as it undermines neighboring Bosnia's sovereignty and democracy.
Two Afghan women wearing, from left to right, a light blue and a darker blue burqa sit on the ground with baskets in front of them and what appears to be a more formal market stall behind them, in Mazar-i-Sharif on October 2, 2025. At the left of the photo next to the women is a wheelbarrow turned against a wall. (Photo by ATIF ARYAN/AFP via Getty Images)

Walls of Silence, Crumbling Futures: Why the World Must Act on Afghanistan

The credibility of the U.N.'s human rights framework depends on whether it can confront a systematic experiment in gender oppression with more than statements of alarm.
A woman cleans the memorial of a victim at the site of the Nova Festival to mark the 2nd anniversary of the Oct. 7 attacks on October 07, 2025 in Re'im, Israel. Various commemorations are taking place around Israel to mark the second anniversary of the Hamas-led attacks in Israel and the Gaza border area on October 7, 2023. During the attacks, 251 hostages were taken and around 1,200 people were killed, making it the deadliest attack in Israel's history. In response to the attacks, Israel launched a military campaign in Gaza, which has so far killed more than 67,000 people and displaced around 90% of the enclave's population of 2.1 million. (Photo by Chris McGrath/Getty Images)

When Sexism Endangers Lives: In Israel, Sidelining Women Comes at the Cost of Security

The October 7th massacre and unprecedented war in Gaza compel Israel to rethink its conception of security. It must include a gender-based analysis.
Police officers and medical team members gather at a cemetery in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, on July 28, 2025, as they begin the exhumation of a girl's grave. Authorities order the exhumation to conduct a post-mortem examination and establish the cause of death following allegations that the girl was killed under orders from a jirga, an informal tribal court. Suspects are brought to the site for identification as part of the investigation. The incident has sparked public outcry and renewed scrutiny over the role of illegal jirgas, which continue to operate outside the formal legal system in parts of Pakistan. Human rights activists condemn the extrajudicial process and call for legal reforms and stronger protections for women. The case underscores the ongoing challenges of enforcing state law in rural and semi-urban areas where customary practices still hold sway. (Photo by RAJA IMRAN/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images)

When Law Fails Women: Jirgas, Gender Violence, and the Collapse of International Accountability

When women are walked to their deaths with the world watching, international law must offer more than words. It must deliver protection with power.
Taliban personnel shout slogans as they celebrate the fourth anniversary of their takeover of Afghanistan near the Kabul Polytechnic University in Kabul on August 15, 2025. (Photo by WAKIL KOHSAR/AFP via Getty Images)

The Experience of Time and Tyranny Under the Taliban in Afghanistan

The clock may seem to tick at the same rate for everyone, but its rhythm is felt differently under the weight of the Taliban's draconian rule.
Afghan women walk along a stone-laden street on the outskirts of Kabul on July 22, 2025. (Photo by WAKIL KOHSAR/AFP via Getty Images)

What the Erosion of the International System Means for Afghanistan

The ongoing struggle of Afghanistan’s exiled democratic movement is a vital bulwark against a rising tide of authoritarianism and extremism.
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