Human Rights Archive

Editor’s note: This article is part of an ongoing WPR series inviting authors to identify the biggest priority—whether a threat, risk, opportunity or challenge—facing the international order and U.S. foreign policy today. The world must find a way to end violence and discrimination against women. In any other context between human beings, the endemic violence committed by men against women would be considered warfare or terrorism. But rather than being seen as a war against a segment of the population—a real genocide or “gendercide”—which it would be if the targets were not women, the violence and oppression targeting half of […]

Editor’s note: This article is part of an ongoing WPR series on the legal status and socio-economic conditions of indigenous peoples in a range of countries. A recent report showed that white New Zealanders were more likely to be given a warning by police officers for minor crimes than indigenous Maori, who are more likely to be charged. Advocates say the report confirms the bias of the justice system in New Zealand. In an email interview, Margaret Mutu, a professor of Maori studies at the University of Auckland, discusses Maori rights in New Zealand. WPR: What is the legal status […]

Last week, five Tunisian civil society associations submitted a report to the United Nations, decrying systemic attacks on members of Tunisia’s lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community. Despite progress in some areas since the popular overthrow of Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali in 2011, many say that discrimination against the LGBT community has worsened over the past five years. In May 2015, the Tunisian government authorized the country’s first official LGBT advocacy organization, Shams, making it the only country in the region to legalize such an association. But a smear campaign ensued, propelled by some conservative politicians and religious figures. Abdellatif […]

The United Nations took a historic step earlier this month, for the first time naming a victim of human trafficking as a goodwill ambassador for the dignity of survivors of such atrocities. Nadia Murad Basee Taha, a 23-year-old Yazidi woman who survived months of captivity as a sex slave of the self-proclaimed Islamic State, was appointed to the position at a ceremony at U.N. headquarters in New York. She gives an international voice to the brutalized young women and children of the Yazidi religious minority, the victims of barbarity and sexual enslavement in northern Iraq. Murad’s new role provides some […]

Editor’s note: This article is part of an ongoing WPR series on the status of women’s rights and gender equality in various countries around the globe. A group of grandmothers on the outskirts of Senegal’s capital, Dakar, are using their influence in their village to promote modern health care and medicine in a bid to improve women’s health, a plan that nongovernmental organizations hope can be replicated across the country. In an email interview, Hawa Ba, the head of the Open Society Initiative for West Africa’s Senegal country office, discusses women’s rights in Senegal. WPR: What is the current status […]

On Aug. 4, Nepal elected its 24th prime minister in 26 years. In this period, the country has seen two mass political movements for democracy, in 1990 and 2006; one decade-long civil war from 1996 and 2006; a royal massacre in 2001; the rise of an autocratic monarchy and transformation to a republic in 2008; three big political movements of identity-based assertion and rights, in 2007, 2008 and 2015; five elections, including two for a Constituent Assembly—tasked with writing the country’s post-conflict constitution—in 2008 and 2013; and three constitutions, promulgated in 1990, 2007 and 2015. To this relentless saga of […]

Editor’s note: This article is part of an ongoing WPR series on the legal status and socio-economic conditions of indigenous peoples in a range of countries. Canadian Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould recently told a gathering of British Columbia Cabinet members and indigenous leaders that Canada will adopt the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, but that Canada cannot incorporate it “word for word” into law, which has prompted widespread criticism across the indigenous community. In an email interview, Niigaanwewidam Sinclair, the head of the native studies department at the University of Manitoba, discusses indigenous rights in Canada. […]

Last week, the United Kingdom announced plans to begin building a barricade at the French port of Calais, dubbed by some media the “Great Wall of Calais.” The U.K. will foot the bill, and the barrier will complement a fence that already protects the port and is guarded by heavily armed French police. The move followed massive protests held by French truck drivers and farmers, who threatened to block the port until Calais’ large migrant camp, known as the “Jungle,” is dismantled. Protesters argue that the camp, which, according to some estimates, is home to 9,000 migrants, has led to […]

Once taboo, the targeting of hospitals and health care providers in wartime has become such a frequent occurrence in today’s conflict zones that Doctors Without Borders, the humanitarian aid organization that goes by its French acronym MSF, now calls it the new normal. Attacks that previously seemed to occur unintentionally or sporadically now appear to be a deliberate strategy of war. This is particularly the case in Syria and Yemen, where hospitals and doctors are targeted so often that medical care now has to be provided in places such as caves and chicken coops in order to avoid detection by […]

Editor’s note: This article is part of an ongoing WPR series on the legal status and socio-economic conditions of indigenous peoples in a range of countries. In July, footage was made public of guards at a juvenile detention center in Australia’s Northern Territory using hoods, restraints and tear gas on aboriginal children, in what could be a violation of the U.N. treaty barring torture. In an email interview, Libby Porter, a principal research fellow at RMIT University in Melbourne, discusses indigenous rights in Australia. WPR: What is the legal status of Australia’s indigenous peoples, and what are the key issues […]

Editor’s note: This article is part of an ongoing WPR series on the status of women’s rights and gender equality in various countries around the globe. Last week, Sweden’s minority center-left government announced that it plans to propose legislation that will require 40 percent of all corporate board members to be women by 2019, with fines for companies that fail to comply, despite the fact the center-right opposition has said it will vote against the measure. In an email interview, Ann Numhauser-Henning, a professor at Lund University, discusses gender equality in Sweden. WPR: To what degree is Sweden’s reputation as […]

On Tuesday, Francois Hollande became the first French president in 12 years to visit Vietnam, a former French colony. Despite their troubled past marked by a nearly decade-long war that ended with France’s military defeat and withdrawal from Vietnam in 1954, relations between Paris and Hanoi have warmed during Hollande’s presidency, part of France’s deepening interest in Southeast Asia and the Asia-Pacific more broadly. By a number of measures, the visit was a productive one. Vietnam Airlines purchased 40 jets from France’s Airbus, totaling $6.5 billion in sales; low-cost private airline VietJet purchased 20 planes, totaling $2.39 billion; a regional […]

PARIS—I left Paris two weeks ago for my annual summer vacation, when bans on burkinis—or modest beach attire for Muslim women—had begun springing up in various seaside cities and towns across France. Though the bans have now been ruled illegal by the country’s highest administrative court, the burkinis were clearly stand-ins for immigration, particularly Muslim immigration, to France and its impact on French culture and identity. By coincidence, the complimentary copy of the International New York Times on my return flight home from Japan included an op-ed by Salvatore Settis on the ravages of mass tourism on Venice. The city […]

Editor’s note: This article is part of an ongoing WPR series on the legal status and socio-economic conditions of indigenous peoples in a range of countries. Indigenous groups in Chile are calling for the release of Machi Francisca Linconao, a spiritual leader of the Mapuche people who has been imprisoned for arson since 2013 under the country’s controversial counterterrorism law and whose health is currently in decline. In an email interview, José Aylwin, the co-director of Observatorio Ciudadano, a Chilean human rights NGO, discusses indigenous rights in Chile. WPR: What is the legal status of Chile’s indigenous peoples, and what […]

In this week’s episode, WPR’s senior editor, Frederick Deknatel, and host Peter Dörrie discuss the moral case against celebrating world peace, ethnic protests in Ethiopia, and post-Cold War threats to democracy. For the report, David Hutt joins us to talk about the debate in Malaysia over a bill to introduce strict Islamic codes and the challenges of managing the country’s diversity. Listen: Download: MP3Subscribe: iTunes | RSS Relevant Articles on WPR: The Moral Case Against Celebrating World Peace Ethiopia’s Regime Prioritizes Power Over Reform as Ethnic Protests Continue The West Faces a New Cold War With Democracy Under Threat Again […]

Recent elections in several African countries have extended the rule of long-time leaders, painting a bleak picture of ordinary citizens’ ability to press for political and social change. Amid violent government crackdowns, many opposition groups are also marred by their own disunity. But activists haven’t backed down, and grass-roots organizations are taking matters into their own hands, demanding better governance and more rights. World Politics Review’s 10-article compilation looks at the challenges Africa’s popular and political movements face and some of the progress they’ve made. The following 10 articles are free to non-subscribers until Sept. 15. The State of Organized […]