Human Rights Watch

The Pandemic’s Cruelty Visits the World’s Children

June 18, 2020

There are about two billion young children in the world today, ranging from infancy to 14 years old, and most of them live in developing nations in the global south. That is also where the Covid-19 pandemic is spreading the fastest. Three of the top 10 countries in numbers of rapidly rising cases, as of …

Covid-19, Development, Education, Secretary-General

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TOPIC: WOMEN

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

February 4, 2020

by Barbara Crossette

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

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China Flexes Its Economic Might More Openly on Uighurs Issue

November 17, 2019

by Stéphanie Fillion

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

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WORLDVIEWS

Men Can Experience Sexual Violence in War Too

May 3, 2019

by Z. Pinar Erdem

The United Nations Security Council recognized that men and boys are targets of sexual violence both in wartime and in post-conflict settings. Resolution 2467, approved on April 23, calls upon UN member countries to strengthen policies to provide help for victims. As a human-rights lawyer, during the last nine months, I have been documenting cases of conflict-related …

Gender-Based Violence, WORLDVIEWS

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NIKKI HALEY WATCH

The UN’s Report on Poverty in the US Is Rebuked by Nikki Haley

June 28, 2018

by Maria Luisa Gambale

When Philip Alston decided to focus a report on the United States, in his role as the United Nations special rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, the goal was to spur a larger discussion. However, in the past week there has been a slow-motion volley of criticisms instead, as Nikki Haley, the US …

Human Rights, Nikki Haley Watch, Poverty, US-UN Relations

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With Trump’s Human-Rights Policies, Religious ‘Values’ Take Priority

June 7, 2018

by Barbara Crossette

For almost three centuries, through street protests, court battles and a civil war, the United States has sporadically but steadily advanced and expanded human-rights protections and commitments in domestic and foreign policies. Now Donald Trump and the most conservative, ideologically driven officials on his team want to turn back this record in fundamental ways, …

Gender-Based Violence, Health and Population, Human Rights, US Foreign Relations, US-UN Relations

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NIKKI HALEY WATCH

Reform Eludes the Human Rights Council as Bolton Returns to the Scene

April 1, 2018

by Barbara Crossette

The 2018 winter session of the United Nations Human Rights Council was marked more by what didn’t happen than what did. There was still no official announcement in Geneva from the Trump administration about whether the United States would leave the Council or even seek re-election in 2019, when its current term expires. There was …

Human Rights, Nikki Haley Watch, US Foreign Relations, US-UN Relations

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TAKE A LOOK

Trump Team Wants to Slash Funds for Global Women’s Health by Half

February 18, 2018

by Barbara Crossette

There has yet to be a decision in United States Congress on what funds for global women’s health, if any, will survive in the current 2018 national budget, a decision that is nearly six months overdue. But Donald Trump and his vice president, Mike Pence, a hard-line social conservative who is playing a larger …

Health and Population, Humanitarian Aid, Poverty, Take a Look, US Foreign Relations

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WORLDVIEWS

Least-Developed Countries, a Status That Many Nations Can’t Leave Behind

January 1, 2018

by Bill Buchanan

Since 1971, the United Nations has recognized least-developed countries as those deemed highly disadvantaged in their development strides because of structural, historical and geographical reasons. The aim has been, and still is, to support these countries to graduate to higher levels of self-sufficiency and economic independence, not in the sense for a privileged minority …

Africa, Asia, Development, Poverty, WORLDVIEWS

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GEOPOLITICS

Janet Benshoof, Legal Activist, Seeks Help for Burma Through the Global Court

October 8, 2017

by Barbara Crossette

Burma has long been a unique country not only for its otherworldly landscape of pagodas and gold-topped stupas but also, paradoxically, as an isolated country where a nationalistic military has given itself extraordinary constitutional powers. Generals, who have warped the country’s Buddhist heritage over half a century, can now attack the Muslim-majority Rohingya people …

Asia, Geopolitics, Human Rights, International Justice

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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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TOPIC: WOMEN

The US Tightens Rules on NGOs in Global Health, Hurting Poor Women

May 16, 2017

by Barbara Crossette

While trying to make the case that the United States remains committed to global health programs, the Trump administration has issued orders to nongovernmental organizations and others working in women’s health that could cripple some of their international operations by demanding contractual compliance with US anti-abortion policies. The new rules have been written under …

Humanitarian Aid, US Foreign Relations, US-UN Relations, Women

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Take a Look: New Research and Data Online for Fact-Checking

January 11, 2017

by Barbara Crossette

In the arcane language of diplomacy, a special section is reserved for navigating linguistic traps in negotiating peace agreements. One of many examples is the 1995 Oslo II interim agreement with Israel on the future of the West Bank and Gaza, which nearly broke down over the translation of one small Arabic word, ra’is. Was …

Africa, Asia, Human Rights

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WORLDVIEWS

Suriname Should Do the Right Thing on LGBT Rights at the UN

December 13, 2016

by Boris Dittrich and Faisel Tjon-A-Loi

Suriname’s government is on the right track at home when it comes to protecting lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people against discrimination and violence. In 2015, the government introduced antidiscrimination legislation, including sexual orientation on grounds for nondiscrimination complaints. The government also understands that it needs to protect the rights of same-sex couples living …

Human Rights, Latin America, LGBT, WORLDVIEWS

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Failing Public Schools Spur Global Boom in Private Education

May 16, 2016

by Barbara Crossette

While governments bask in data showing that the development goal of universal access to primary education has largely been achieved, attention is turning to what that really means in the classroom. Educators and human-rights advocates question whether acceptable standards are being met in many schools, as evidence mounts of the proliferation of private education …

Education, India, Sustainable Development Goals, Unesco

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Human Rights Watch

The Pandemic’s Cruelty Visits the World’s Children

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

China Flexes Its Economic Might More Openly on Uighurs Issue

Men Can Experience Sexual Violence in War Too

The UN’s Report on Poverty in the US Is Rebuked by Nikki Haley

With Trump’s Human-Rights Policies, Religious ‘Values’ Take Priority

Reform Eludes the Human Rights Council as Bolton Returns to the Scene

Trump Team Wants to Slash Funds for Global Women’s Health by Half

Least-Developed Countries, a Status That Many Nations Can’t Leave Behind

Janet Benshoof, Legal Activist, Seeks Help for Burma Through the Global Court

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

The US Tightens Rules on NGOs in Global Health, Hurting Poor Women

Take a Look: New Research and Data Online for Fact-Checking

Suriname Should Do the Right Thing on LGBT Rights at the UN

Failing Public Schools Spur Global Boom in Private Education

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