Human Rights

One Major Way to End the Global Rape Epidemic: Through Laws

May 25, 2017

Recently in northern India, a five-months pregnant 10-year-old girl was forced to go to court to request an abortion after conceiving as a result of being repeatedly raped by her stepfather. Indian law does not allow terminating a pregnancy after 20 weeks unless doctors certify that the woman’s life or health is in danger; …

Gender-Based Violence, Human Rights, WORLDVIEWS

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GEOPOLITICS

Did Equatorial Guinea Bribe Its Way to a UN Security Council Seat?

May 23, 2017

by Kacie Candela

Amid the predominantly Francophone region in West Africa is tiny Spanish-speaking Equatorial Guinea, a country blessed — or cursed — with vast oil reserves. For most of its independent life, the country has been ruled by President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, who has the distinction of being the longest-serving nonroyal head of state in …

Africa, Geopolitics, Human Rights, Poverty, Security Council

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TAKE A LOOK

What Defines a Fragile State? It Depends

May 22, 2017

by Barbara Crossette

It will come as no surprise to regular consumers of news that in the new Fragile States Index, published on May 15, South Sudan is at the top of the ranks of endangered countries and tranquil Finland is the most stable of all nations. But the grading and analysis of 178 nations compiled by …

Governance, Human Rights, Peace and Security, Take a Look

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BOOKS

The Secret Work on War-Crime Trials Before Nuremberg

May 13, 2017

by Irwin Arieff

It is widely believed that the Allied powers were in the dark about the “final solution” — the Nazi campaign to exterminate Europe’s Jews — until the discovery of the death camps, strewn with corpses and emaciated inmates, at the end of World War II. Yet Russia, Britain and the United States publicly declared …

BOOKS, Human Rights, International Justice

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WORLDVIEWS

Three Ways to Help Prevent Violence Against Women and Girls

May 3, 2017

by Stephanie Asher

Everyone has a fundamental right to live free of violence. Yet violence against women and girls is a health epidemic and a leading cause of injury and disability for women across the globe. In many regions, it kills as many women and girls from ages 15 to 44 as cancer and surpasses injury from …

Gender-Based Violence, Health and Population, Human Rights, WORLDVIEWS

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NIKKI HALEY WATCH

Nikki Haley’s ‘Historic’ Debate on Human Rights Left a Small Impression

April 18, 2017

by Dulcie Leimbach

Nikki Haley, the United States ambassador to the United Nations, presided over what she was determined to sell as “an historic meeting exclusively on human rights” in the UN Security Council. But her brief speech in the April 18 meeting fell far short of introducing innovations to confront violations of human rights or prevent …

Human Rights, Nikki Haley Watch, Peace and Security, Security Council, US Foreign Relations, US-UN Relations

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WORLDVIEWS

Nikki Haley: Don’t Forget LGBTI Rights at the UN Security Council

April 17, 2017

by Ryan Kaminski and Ted Piccone

WASHINGTON, D. C. — Nikki Haley, the United States ambassador to the United Nations, has articulated an ambitious blueprint for the American presidency of the UN Security Council this month. One pillar of the US approach will be what she called an “unprecedented” thematic session on human rights to enable the achievement of international peace and …

Human Rights, LGBT, US-UN Relations, WORLDVIEWS

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GEOPOLITICS

The US Leaving the UN Human Rights Council Would Be a Mistake: An Envoy Talks

March 21, 2017

by Barbara Crossette

As the Trump administration threatens to turn its back on international organizations unwilling to rubber-stamp Washington’s policies and meet its demands, an early inevitable target is expected to be the United Nations Human Rights Council, which is based in Geneva. In both the White House and Congress, opposition to the Council hangs on two …

Geopolitics, Human Rights, US Foreign Relations, US-UN Relations

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WORLDVIEWS

The UN Should Just Say No to Returning Refugees to Danger

February 27, 2017

by Bill Frelick

Pressure is building on Afghan and Somali refugees to go home, even if they no longer have homes to return to. It is not surprising that this pressure is coming from governments that have been hosting huge numbers of refugees and want to end what seems to them like a never-ending burden. What is …

Human Rights, Migration, Refugees, WORLDVIEWS

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UN Human-Rights Chief Warns of a ‘Political Earthquake’ of Populism

February 17, 2017

by Barbara Crossette

In a bold excoriation of populist and nationalist movements now gripping many nations, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights told an audience of foreign policy experts, human-rights advocates and students of diplomacy in Washington, D.C., this week that the drive toward “protectionism, unilateralism and the proclamations of national or religious purity” is …

Human Rights, US Foreign Relations, US-UN Relations

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TOPIC: WOMEN

It Still Exists: Slavery Drags On in Mauritania Despite Being Illegal

February 15, 2017

by Johanna Higgs

NOUAKCHOTT, Mauritania — “The officials here in Mauritania will tell you the opposite of what victims will tell you, which is that there is no slavery in Mauritania,” said Brahim Bilal Ramdhane, who lives in this West African capital and was enslaved during his childhood. “They will just tell you that people who say …

Africa, Gender-Based Violence, Human Rights, Women

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Eerie Parallels With Nazi Propaganda and Today’s Populism Revealed in UN Exhibition

February 3, 2017

by Lori Silberman Brauner

While intended to coincide with the International Day of Commemoration in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust, a new exhibition at the United Nations on Nazi propaganda contains eerie parallels to today’s heated political climate in the United States and beyond concerning refugees, immigration and other urgent problems that have helped far-right parties …

Human Rights

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GEOPOLITICS

Take a Look: Global Refugee Law and US Areas Affected Most by Trump Ban

January 31, 2017

by Barbara Crossette

The public furor and enormous protests by many thousands of Americans nationwide have led experts to try to explain where the decisions made by Donald Trump fall short of legality in both national and international law. From Hollywood to the world of sports to the corridors of the United States Congress, people are saying …

Cities, Geopolitics, Human Rights, Middle East, Migration, Refugees, Syria, US Foreign Relations

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Educators on the UN Denounce Trump’s Crackdown on Refugees

January 28, 2017

by Irwin Arieff

More than 700 educators and students, meeting at United Nations headquarters in New York recently, called on the international community to protect refugees’ lives, encourage countries to take in “large numbers of refugees and migrants” and do more to ensure they get an education and are protected from sexual and gender-based violence. Acting as …

Education, Human Rights, Middle East, Migration, Refugees, Syria, US Foreign Relations

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TOPIC: WOMEN

Trump’s ‘Gag Rule’ Contradicts UN Policy Helping Women in Distress

January 24, 2017

by Barbara Crossette

Just days after a global outpouring of support for a movement demanding protection for the rights of women and other advances promoted by civil society, Donald Trump has fully turned back the clock. On Jan. 23, with a stroke of his presidential pen, he banned all official American aid to any global organization that …

Gender-Based Violence, Health and Population, Human Rights, Poverty, Refugees, US-UN Relations, Women

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Human Rights

One Major Way to End the Global Rape Epidemic: Through Laws

Did Equatorial Guinea Bribe Its Way to a UN Security Council Seat?

What Defines a Fragile State? It Depends

The Secret Work on War-Crime Trials Before Nuremberg

Three Ways to Help Prevent Violence Against Women and Girls

Nikki Haley’s ‘Historic’ Debate on Human Rights Left a Small Impression

Nikki Haley: Don’t Forget LGBTI Rights at the UN Security Council

The US Leaving the UN Human Rights Council Would Be a Mistake: An Envoy Talks

The UN Should Just Say No to Returning Refugees to Danger

UN Human-Rights Chief Warns of a ‘Political Earthquake’ of Populism

It Still Exists: Slavery Drags On in Mauritania Despite Being Illegal

Eerie Parallels With Nazi Propaganda and Today’s Populism Revealed in UN Exhibition

Take a Look: Global Refugee Law and US Areas Affected Most by Trump Ban

Educators on the UN Denounce Trump’s Crackdown on Refugees

Trump’s ‘Gag Rule’ Contradicts UN Policy Helping Women in Distress

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