Anna Miller – RightsViews

ISHR’s 2021 Human Rights Career Panel: Pursuing a Human Rights Career During and After a Pandemic

April 6, 2021 by Anna MillerNo Comments

By Anna Miller, RightsViews co-editor and graduate student in the human rights M.A. program. On March 24, 2021 Gergana Halpern and Monica Olveira hosted the Institute for the Study of Human Rights Annual Career Panel. Since the global community has been living through the COVID-19 pandemic for more than one year now, some wonder if there are still job opportunities for students interested in human rights careers. Human rights professionals say yes - perhaps now more than ever before. Meet the Panelists Rebecca Brown is the Senior Director of Global Advocacy at the Center for Reproductive Rights. Before joining the Center, Rebecca was Deputy Director of the International Network for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ESCR-Net), where she oversaw the organization’s program work and coordinated the Women and ESCR Working Group. Rebecca has published numerous pieces on reproductive rights, equality rights, economic, social, and cultural rights, and disability. Ryan Heman is Senior Manager of Forced Labor & Human Trafficking at Humanity United, and supports...

The Neoliberalization of Academia: Why the Columbia University Graduate Workers Strike is a Human Rights Imperative

March 31, 2021 by Anna MillerNo Comments

By Noah Smith, RightsViews staff writer and a graduate student in the human rights MA program. The opinions expressed in this article are Noah’s own and are not representative of the Institute for the Study of Human Rights (ISHR) or Columbia University. Thousands of graduate students and student workers at Columbia University began striking on March 15, 2021 after many stalled negotiations with school administrators. A strong majority of student workers, 96%, voted yes to authorize a strike and with a deadline of March 15, 2021. The Graduate Workers of Columbia University (GWC) and all those in solidarity call on the university to agree to a fair contract. According to GWC bargaining committee members, the strike is a last resort after years of unsuccessful negotiations with university representatives, and assert that withholding their labor is the final means of forcing the university to recognize their demands. Columbia University has had a long and tumultuous history in regards to treating graduate workers as employees....

Making a Statement: Whose Land Are You On?

March 15, 2021 by Anna Miller5 Comments

By guest contributor Ruthie Tucker* It is becoming trendy for institutions of higher education to recognize Indigenous land by issuing a “land acknowledgment statement” (LAS). Typically, a team of faculty and staff begins by researching the history of the ancestral land of the Indigenous Nation occupied by the institution. From there, the group crafts a statement that honors the ancestral land of the Indigenous Nation. Many national organizations provide models and suggestions for such statements, and it is common for colleges and universities to look to each other for wording. The institution will usually post the LAS on its website, and the LAS may make its way onto class syllabi, might be read at some campus events, and one might find the odd poster about it here and there on campus. These are all good things. My institution, St. Norbert College, is located on the ancestral land of the Menominee people. As a member of the Menominee Nation, I can’t help...

Brexit and its International Implications on Religious Communities in the United Kingdom

March 10, 2021March 10, 2021 by Anna MillerNo Comments

By guest contributor Dr. Ozgur H. Cinar.* The United Kingdom (UK) is frequently on the international agenda on account of Brexit. Finally, the European Union (EU)-UK Trade Agreement was signed on 31 December 2020. It came into force on 1 January 2021. Although the debate over the political, economic, social and cultural effects of Brexit continues to rage, its effects on the religious communities has not been explored. In particular, when considering the rise in hate crime following the EU Referendum of 23 June 2016, especially religious communities are wondering what is happening to the British lifestyle, traditionally founded as it is on tolerance and pluralism. In a cosmopolitan country such as the UK where there are people of many different nations and beliefs, it is necessary for the state to take an active role in safeguarding. This freedom has a significant place in human rights in regard to the shaping of individual and social identity by enabling individuals to act in...

National Security Versus the Rights of Conscientious Objectors

February 12, 2021 by Anna MillerNo Comments

By Donggeun Lee, RightsViews Staff Writer and a junior majoring in Human Rights. When one serves their nation against their will, who would be responsible for the trauma that they might receive? Some might join the military to avoid social pressure or jail, believing that military service will not be too bad. The problem is that it could be. Surely, hazing in the military is one source of trauma, but there are more. The trauma that roots in the memory of those serving the nation. Throughout history, the military forces, at times, were used in crimes, such as genocide. Not only the Nazi-led holocaust, but also the Armenian Genocide, Irish Genocide, and even the Turkish army invading the Kurdish region in 2019 were all done by use of military forces. Those who serve the nation believing that they were protecting national security may later find out that they were actually involved in mass-killing with no moral reasons. They could have tremendous...