Human Rights
973 Articles
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…
US Drone Killings of Western Aid Workers Highlight Problems of Nebulous War
President Obama’s apology for the accidental killings of two innocent hostages by US drones in Pakistan has led to understandable criticism of the United States’ secret drone…
A Legal and Operational Assessment of Israel’s Targeting Practices
Over the course of 50 days in the summer of 2014, the Israeli Defense Forces conducted a high-intensity air and ground campaign against Hamas in the Gaza strip. Sparked by the…
Killing a Cleric: Many More Questions Than Answers
Yesterday, Ryan wrote about the killing, presumably by US drone, of Ibrahim al-Rubaysan, an alleged leading cleric of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP). Ryan presumes that…
A Proper Response to the Massacre at Kenya’s Garissa University College
The magnitude of last week’s massacre at Garissa University College in Kenya, located roughly 100 miles from the Somalia border, is shocking. In the course of the day, the death…