Accountability

A collage of images from articles of the past week.

Democracy, Rule of Law, Justice: Lessons from 2021 for the Year Ahead?

A curated selection of Just Security articles offers insights for 2022 on issues of racial justice, democracy and the rule of law, diplomacy, foreign policy, and more.

Dec. 24, 2021 Just Security

Clouds pass over the Capitol Dome as the Senate resumes debate on the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA)(Photo by Joshua Roberts/Getty Images).

Amid Civilian Harm Revelations, Defense Bill Takes Measured Steps on Oversight and Accountability

Recent months have seen a flood of revelations concerning civilian harm resulting from U.S. military operations. The last U.S. airstrike of the war in Afghanistan, which killed…

Dec. 23, 2021 John Ramming Chappell and Ari Tolany

An Investigator holds a piece of evidence as he and others search for evidence inside the wreckage of a Police bus at the site of a bomb blast in Kabul, 17 June 2007.

What the Afghanistan Withdrawal Teaches Us About Safeguarding Human Rights Evidence

As the Taliban seized control, evidence of human rights abuses had to be destroyed, hidden, or risk capture. It didn't have to be this way.

Nov. 5, 2021 Mackenzie Austin

Two tall greyscale rectangles cast dark shadows representing the Twin Towers. Text reads, “How Perpetual War Has Changed Us: Reflections on the 20th Anniversary of 9/11”

How to Responsibly End Three Key Rights-Abusing Post-9/11 Policies

Accountability needs to include reckoning with Guantanamo, state-sanctioned U.S. torture, and secretive and unlawful lethal strikes.

Sep. 9, 2021 Hina Shamsi, Priyanka Motaparthy and 1 more

A general view shows the Lafarge Cement Syria (LCS) cement plant in Jalabiya, some 30 kms from Ain Issa, in northern Syria, in February 19, 2018.

Corporate Criminal Liability for International Crimes: France and Sweden Are Poised To Take Historic Steps Forward

The growing trend seeking to hold corporations liable for their role in human rights abuses abroad is gaining new momentum.

Sep. 6, 2021 Victoria Riello and Larissa Furtwengler

In this photo taken on March 3, 2019, Afghan National Army (ANA) soldiers take part in a drill exercise at a military base in the Guzara district of Herat province. Two soldiers stand on top of a building with guns while the others surround the base of the building with guns.

Afghanistan: A Tragic Lesson of the US Military’s Flawed Approach to Capacity Building

To avoid failing in other counterterrorism training missions, the US needs to invest in and empower assessment, monitoring, and evaluation.

Sep. 6, 2021 Andrea Walther-Puri

A man sits in front of a store with a sign on the windows reading, “Black Wall Street Corner Store and More” in the Greenwood neighborhood in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on May 31, 2021.

Why “Buy Black” Is Not Enough: The Devastating Legacy of the Tulsa Race Massacre

The Massacre destroyed not only Black generational wealth but also the political and civil power that is tied to economic success.

Sep. 1, 2021 Warigia Bowman

A public school and playground stands empty behind a closed gate on the Upper East Side on August 07, 2020 in the Manhattan borough of New York City.

From Suppressing the Tulsa Race Massacre to Critical Race Theory: The Privilege and Costs of Whitewashing History

(Editor’s Note: This article is part of a Just Security series that began in the runup to the hundredth anniversary of the Tulsa Race Massacre this year.) In the past few months,…

Jul. 28, 2021 Charles P. Henry

People gather at a street corner during the Tulsa Race Massacre. Smoke billows from buildings down the block and all the buildings in the image are heavily damaged.

Controlling the Lens of History: From Tulsa to the Capitol Mob

(Editor’s Note: This article is part of a Just Security series on the hundredth anniversary of the Tulsa Race Massacre, with more essays in the following days.) The centennial…

May 31, 2021 Eric J. Miller

The destruction caused by the white supremacists that attacked Tulsa and its black residents during the Tulsa Race Massacre. Buildings were leveled to rubble and buildings still partially standing have extensive fire damage.

How the Tulsa Race Massacre of 1921 Was (and Might Be) Forgotten

"This effort exemplifies what the philosopher Charles Mills calls 'white ignorance,' in which the ideology of white supremacy infects what counts as knowledge, and testimony about…

May 30, 2021 Stephen Galoob

Nehemiah Frank holds his cousin David McIntye II as they stand in front of a mural depicting the violence of the Tulsa massacre and teaches him the history of the attack in the Greenwood district, on May 28, 2021 in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Reckoning with State-Sanctioned Racial Violence: Lessons from the Tulsa Race Massacre

Top legal scholar outlines five "features of what a capacious commitment to democratic repair in the wake of state violence might mean" for Tulsa.

May 29, 2021 Monica Bell

Hughes Van Ellis, a Tulsa Race Massacre survivor and World War II veteran, and Viola Fletcher, oldest living survivor of the Tulsa Race Massacre, testify before the Civil Rights and Civil Liberties Subcommittee hearing on "Continuing Injustice: The Centennial of the Tulsa-Greenwood Race Massacre" on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC on May 19, 2021. Some people sit in the seats behind them, but the room is not full allowing for social distancing. Most people wear face masks.

Introduction to Just Security’s Series on Tulsa Race Massacre of 1921

This article introduces a new series on the hundredth anniversary of the Tulsa Race Massacre. The series will bring together experts to re-examine different aspects of the Tulsa…

May 29, 2021 Christine Berger