United States – RightsViews

Establishing Justice in U.S. Veteran Disability Claims

June 17, 2023June 17, 2023 by Meryem Bahadir1 Comment

By Guest Writer Nicholas Sweitzer Ex-servicemembers of the United States are routinely being denied fundamental human rights by their federal government, despite their honorable service for the common national defense. In the 2020 census, the U.S. Government estimated the veteran population to be roughly 19.4 million, meaning this demographic is anywhere between 6.4% to 7.5% of the American adult population. Tragically, all stages of the disability-related claims process have become increasingly difficult for United States Veterans. For 33 years, The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, a government agency overseeing the benefits and healthcare for ex-servicemembers and the family members that survive them, has fundamentally neglected their duty of care and eroded the very social contract the United States was constituted on. Several structural issues in the claims process lead the nation’s protectors down a tumultuous path for compensation, reconciliation, and justice. In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Department temporarily closed its 56 regional offices to the public, sites where veterans...

Then They Came for Me: A Call for Jewish Support of #BlackLivesMatter

January 19, 2021January 19, 2021 by Larissa Peltola1 Comment

By Anna Miller, a staff writer at RightsViews and a graduate student in ISHR’s Human Rights MA Program. Note: this piece addresses antisemitism in the United States only, though it exists worldwide. As a Jewish person born and living in the United States, my knowledge is primarily based in this country. The Jewish people are no stranger to hatred and violence. Jewish history is marked by thousands of years of antisemitism, centuries of forced diaspora, and a boiling point of bigotry that led to the Holocaust. Today, antisemitic hate crimes and speech have reached a new high in the United States. In 2019, the Anti-Defamation League reported 2,107 antisemitic incidents, the highest number on record since ADL began tracking such incidents in 1979 (ADL). Due to their acute familiarity with discrimination and injustice, Jews tend to be active in social justice movements and speak up about human rights issues. Notably, Jews marched in civil rights protests in the 1960s and were vocal about...

Voter Suppression in the United States: Infringements on the Right to Vote

November 1, 2020 by Rowena KosherNo Comments

By: Jalileh Garcia, Staff Writer at RightsViews In the midst of a pandemic, with a rising number of COVID-19 cases, the United States election will take place on November 3, 2020. This election will be decisive for many of the contemporary issues that people are facing in the United States, and beyond. The right to vote is understood as one of the foundational cornerstones of a democracy, allowing free and fair elections to take place. Different civil and human rights safeguard the right to vote, namely the 15th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, the Voting Rights Act of 1965, and Article 25 (b) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). Despite having these legal protections, different states such as Georgia, North Carolina, among others continue to limit the exercise of this right in the country. The UN Committee on Human Rights delineated in the General Comment 25 of the ICCPR that States have the duty to “take effective measures to...

Complicating Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s Legacy Through the Lens of White Feminism, Race, and Indigenous Rights

October 17, 2020 by Nay Alhelou2 Comments

By Rowena Kosher, Co-Editor of RightsViews and student at Columbia's School of General Studies majoring in Human Rights with a Concentration in Gender & Sexuality Studies. On September 18, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg died at 87, after serving on the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) for 27 years. Ginsburg, popularly known as RBG, and in her most recent fame “The Notorious RBG,” is a feminist icon. This is for good reason—she accomplished a number of “firsts” in her lifetime and her work contributed to groundbreaking progressive legal changes, particularly regarding gender. Ginsburg graduated top of her Columbia class and became the first woman to be appointed as full professor at Columbia Law. As Director of the ACLU’s Women’s Rights Project, she litigated over 300 sex discrimination cases before working on the D.C Court of Appeals for 13 years. Ginsburg joined SCOTUS in 1993, where she served until her death. During this time, Ginsburg rose to mainstream fame, becoming well known...

Truth in Sentencing: Mass Incarceration in the United States

February 28, 2020 by Rowena KosherNo Comments

By Reem Katrib, Staff Writer for RightsViews With the mark of the 10th year anniversary of Michelle Alexander’s powerful book The New Jim Crow at the end of January, our current celebration of Black History Month, and an approaching presidential election, it is important to bring to the forefront the continuing systemic racism in the American criminal justice system. The recent eighth presidential debate, argued the evening of February 7, 2020, in New Hampshire, brought forth this topic with the spotlight on presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg when asked why a black resident in South Bend, Indiana was four times more likely to be arrested for the possession of marijuana than a white resident after his appointment to office. While Buttigieg had initially avoided the questions posed by ABC News’ Live News Anchor Linsey Davis, he then conceded, claiming that the arrests made were made as a result of the gang violence that was prevalent in the black community of South Bend,...

Failing to Protect Human Rights: The United States and the Asylum Cooperation Agreements

February 10, 2020February 10, 2020 by Nay AlhelouNo Comments

By: Jacquelyn Sieck, RightsViews Staff Writer In 2019, the United States forced countries in the Northern Triangle – a region composed of Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras – to sign Asylum Cooperation Agreements by withholding over $500 Million in aid. These threats of aid suspension echo Cold War-Era proxy war interventions in Central America, during which the United States blocked the Guatemalan government from receiving “much-needed” development loans from the World Bank because it did not approve of the Arévalo Government. During these proxy wars, the United States offered “support for a coup in Guatemala, brutal government forces in El Salvador, and right-wing rebels based in Honduras known as the Contras.” This U.S. support led to gross human rights abuses, and demonstrated to the region that the United States is willing to act on threats and suspend aid to governments in need in order to further its foreign policy objectives. This sentiment and realization forced the Northern Triangle to respond swiftly...