Human Rights

• July 29, 2020

GENEVA — In early June, some family members of victims of police killings in the United States and more than 600 civil society organizations worldwide wrote to the United Nations Human Rights Council to request that it urgently hold a special session on the US. They did so in reaction to the grave human-rights crisis …

Human Rights, WORLDVIEWS

Leave a Comment

Pompeo’s New Agenda Targets the UN Rights Declaration

Barbara Crossette

• July 20, 2020

In an extraordinary report that defies reality, the Trump administration is extolling United States’ global leadership in human rights and accusing its critics of threatening democracy. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who created the US Commission on Unalienable Rights last year and ordered the report, introduced it on July 16 in Philadelphia, where the …

Human Rights, US Foreign Relations

One Comment

COVID-19

Coronavirus Soars, Trump Golfs, Pence Falls: Who the Hell Is in Charge of the US?

Barbara Crossette

• June 30, 2020

Deep uncertainty and unease are descending across the United States just as Americans are preparing to celebrate their most important “political” holiday, Independence Day, on July 4. Contrary to what Trump administration officials are proclaiming, the US is not containing the Covid-19 pandemic infection rate, which has suddenly surpassed its April high point, marking …

Covid-19, Human Rights, US Foreign Relations, US-UN Relations

One Comment

COVID-19

The Human Rights Council Confronts Racism in the USA

Stéphanie Fillion

• June 16, 2020

In the 1960s, the African-American activist Malcolm X launched a lobbying campaign to “internationalize” the civil rights movement in the United States by calling on the United Nations to focus on the lives of black Americans through a human-rights lens. “When you expand the civil-rights struggle to the level of human rights,” Malcolm X …

Covid-19, Human Rights

2 Comments

COVID-19

The UN Must March for Justice and Racial Equality

Mona Ali Khalil

• June 9, 2020

As the world knows, George Floyd, a black man suspected of passing a counterfeit $20 bill at a store in Minneapolis, Minn., was killed on May 25 by Derek Chauvin, a white police officer. Chauvin had pressed his knee into Floyd’s neck for 8 minutes and 46 seconds, despite Floyd being handcuffed and on …

Covid-19, Human Rights, Secretary-General

4 Comments

COVID-19

As Protests Sweep the US, the UN Tweets Platitudes

Dulcie Leimbach

• June 3, 2020

In New York City, protesters swarm the roadway portion of the Brooklyn Bridge, heading from the City Hall area of lower Manhattan into Brooklyn. The crowd stopped incoming traffic, but there was no violence, May 30, 2020. JOHN PENNEY Amid curfews in New York City, constant marches and protests, sirens from the streets and …

Covid-19, General Assembly, Human Rights, Secretary-General, Security Council

2 Comments

COVID-19

The Pandemic Forces UN Women to Shelve the Feminist Forums Until 2021

Barbara Crossette

• April 3, 2020

UN Women is postponing two long-planned international meetings designed to give civil society groups a leading role in advancing gender rights 25 years after a landmark 1995 Beijing conference on women. The two sessions of the Global Equality Forum that had been planned for Mexico City in May and Paris in July will be postponed …

Covid-19, Gender Violence, Health and Population, Human Rights

Leave a Comment

New Tensions Sparking Between Trump and UN Rights Leader, Michelle Bachelet

Barbara Crossette

• March 9, 2020

Michelle Bachelet, the United Nations high commissioner for human rights, who has been personally attacked by United States Secretary of State Michael Pompeo, is not planning to resign from her position, according to her office. Her term does not end until 2022, but rumors have been circulating that she could decide to leave amid …

Human Rights, US-UN Relations

One Comment

WORLDVIEWS

How the US Enabled Aggressions by China and Russia at the UN

Geoffrey Roberts

• February 24, 2020

For the last decade, Western democracies and human-rights defenders have been locked in a tense struggle with authoritarian great powers at the United Nations. Since 2009, Russia and China have waged a highly successful campaign to dismantle the international human-rights system, particularly through the Human Rights Council. The two countries have made strides especially …

Human Rights, WORLDVIEWS

Leave a Comment

TOPIC: WOMEN

Trump’s Dictator Buddies Across the World Are Not Friends of Women

Barbara Crossette

• February 4, 2020

In the gallery of authoritarian governments undercutting the rights of women and threatening democracy around the world, five nations stand out for a special reason. Donald Trump has made the leaders of Brazil, Egypt, India, Saudi Arabia and Turkey his friends and accomplices. In all of these countries, according to mounting evidence in numerous …

Gender Violence, Human Rights, US-UN Relations, Women

Leave a Comment

GEOPOLITICS

The Top 10 PassBlue Stories of 2019: From Strongmen to Sexual Harassment

Dulcie Leimbach

• December 31, 2019

Once again, 2019 marked incredible upheaval and change across the world, just as 2018 did so universally, signaled by the continued rise in nationalism and revolts by women against repression and violence in their daily lives. Reporting on how United Nations member states — all 193 of them — acted in 2019 was a …

Gender Violence, Geopolitics, Human Rights, US Foreign Relations

Leave a Comment

WORLDVIEWS

It’s Time to Increase Parliaments’ Engagement With Human Rights

Brian Chang and Murray Hunt

• December 5, 2019

As protection of human rights seems to be sliding everywhere, the international human-rights system has responded by focusing on national implementation, to ensure that states’ international commitments are translated into meaningful changes felt by people on the ground. While often overlooked, parliaments can provide a critical link between global agreements and domestic progress on …

Human Rights, WORLDVIEWS

Leave a Comment

China Flexes Its Economic Might More Openly on Uighurs Issue

Stéphanie Fillion

• November 17, 2019

Twenty-three nations, including Britain, the United States, Germany, France and Japan, slammed China at the United Nations recently, citing its persecution of Uighurs and other minorities in Xinjiang province. “We call on the Chinese government to uphold its national laws and international obligations and commitments to respect human rights, including freedom of religion or …

Africa, Human Rights

Leave a Comment

TOPIC: WOMEN

A New UK Hotline for Victims of Sexual Harassment Is ‘Constantly Ringing’

Rhona Scullion

• October 21, 2019

A new hotline is offering free, confidential legal advice to women in England and Wales who are experiencing sexual harassment at work. Launched in August, it is the only hotline of its kind dedicated to addressing a problem affecting women from all walks of life. Already, the hotline has been inundated with calls from …

Health and Population, Human Rights, Women

One Comment

Hillary Clinton on Trump’s Foreign Policy: It’s All About Waiting for His Next Tweet

Dulcie Leimbach

• October 16, 2019

Hillary Clinton glided onto a stage in Manhattan with the luxury of now being a cool-eyed outsider who can sharply question foreign policy decisions being made by the Trump administration on such controversial places as China, Syria, Saudi Arabia and Afghanistan. Clinton was the keynote speaker at the Carnegie Corporation of New York’s daylong …