Human Rights
869 Articles
The Start, End, and Territorial Scope of Armed Conflict
Editor’s Note: This is the first post in a miniseries about the International Committee of the Red Cross’s newly released Report on International Humanitarian Law and the Challenges…
A Return to Authoritarianism in Egypt
Lawyers for human rights lawyer and journalist Hossam Bahgat have confirmed that Bahgat was detained Sunday by military officials, apparently in retaliation for his coverage of…
New California Human Rights Legislation
Amidst all the coverage of California’s new assisted suicide law, it may have been missed that Governor of California Jerry Brown signed important human rights legislation into…
The Canary in the Coal Mine: Women and Reservations to Post-2015 Development Agenda
Readers may be interested in an update on the advancement of the post-2015 Development Agenda. During its 69th General Assembly meeting this month, a resolution was adopted…
Transitional Justice Deal Reached in the Colombian Conflict
Yesterday, the the Colombian government and FARC reached a preliminary agreement on transitional justice measures related to the conflict (here) in Havana, Cuba. This agreement…
Charlie Hebdo and Hate Speech: Don’t Prosecute the Messenger
Nine months after their offices were attacked by Muslim extremists, Charlie Hebdo’s cartoonists are facing calls for prosecution for allegedly inciting hatred through cartoons…
The Dark Side of Peace Enforcement: Sexual Exploitation in CAR
Media reports continue to trickle through detailing rape and indiscriminate killing by peacekeepers in the Central African Republic (CAR). Despite condemnation by UN Headquarters…
Has the Human Rights Committee Extended its Reach?
Last week the UN Human Rights Committee, the independent body created by the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) to monitor states’ compliance, issued…
Uncomfortable Conversations in Geneva
The United Nations Human Rights Committee (HRC) is currently holding its annual session in Geneva to consider the reports submitted by states setting out their adherence to the…
10 Questions about the UK Spying on Amnesty International
Yesterday, the UK’s Investigatory Powers Tribunal informed Amnesty International that British intelligence agency GCHQ had spied on the human rights organization by intercepting…
What Rights Does International Law Afford Umm Sayyaf?
The legal machinations within the US government must have been considerable last month after an American special operations raid in Syria captured Umm Sayyaf, the wife of suspected…
The UN’s “Universal Periodic Review” of US Human Rights Practices—National Security Highlights
Last week, the UN Human Rights Council’s Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review released a draft of its report on the United States’ UPR. The UPR is a process during…