Roma Communities in the EU Continue to Lack Access to Equal Education Opportunities

Roma Communities in the EU Continue to Lack Access to Equal Education Opportunities

By Claudia Kania, guest blogger from Reavis high school The United Nations Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD) released a statement in 2000 that acknowledged “the place of the Roma communities among those most disadvantaged and most subject to discrimination in the contemporary world.” Such socially and institutionally-accepted xenophobia is perhaps most clearly epitomized by the European school system. Although academic institutions are often portrayed as “the great equalizers,” a system founded on the principles of ignorance and prejudice frequently separates Roma, one of the largest minority groups in Europe, from reaping the benefits of education. The right to education is universally established as a fundamental guiding principle within international human rights discourse. It is recognized as a human right by Article 26 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, as well as Articles 28, 29, and 40 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. To further contextualize the premise of academic equity, UNESCO put...
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Can the Permanent Members of the Security Council Lead the World’s Journey to Sustainable Peace and Gender Justice?

Can the Permanent Members of the Security Council Lead the World’s Journey to Sustainable Peace and Gender Justice?

By Marina Kumskova,  Program Associate at WILPF/PeaceWomen and guest blogger Katie Krueger, Program Associate for WI-HER Since the adoption of the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 (2000), the world has slowly come to understand that the women, peace and security (WPS) agenda has transformative potential to create positive change. The WPS agenda is a tool for moving from conflict, militarization, and violence, to peace, inclusive decision-making, and gender justice, while increasing the number of women meaningfully involved in decision-making processes. However, this important tool remains under-utilized. Innovative new research carried out through the WPS Scorecard project identifies several gaps in the holistic implementation of the agenda, especially in the areas of conflict prevention, demilitarization, and disarmament. In the wake of Donald Trump’s inauguration, now is an ideal time to reflect on these major gaps in the WPS agenda's implementation, and promote advocacy and action amongst the grassroots. Civil society has an important role to play in ensuring that women’s rights are...
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Trump, the Other, and Human Rights in Society

Trump, the Other, and Human Rights in Society

By Inga Winkler, a lecturer at the Institute for the Study of Human Rights Without downplaying the potential impact of a Trump presidency on foreign policy, renewed acceptance of torture as well as the potential impact on climate change, I fear for society at large. A president-elect who ridicules and denigrates migrants, Muslims, Hispanics, women, persons with disabilities and others sets an example. He gives the impression that such behavior and such attitudes are acceptable. His remarks promote ideas of the superiority of some and inferiority of others, based on a socially constructed divide between “us” and “them”. There is nothing new about racism, sexism and fear of the “other” in US society. It is deeply entrenched. What is new is that the man elected to the highest office institutionalizes and formalizes such attitudes. He legitimizes “othering” and stigmatization. One of the possible explanations for the misleading polls is that voters who declared they were undecided were in fact planning to vote for Trump....
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A Place for an Unexpected Guest at the Table of the UN Business and Human Rights Working Group

A Place for an Unexpected Guest at the Table of the UN Business and Human Rights Working Group

By Aleydis Nissen, guest blogger and PhD candidate at Cardiff University "Savoir critiquer est bon, savoir créer est mieux." To know how to criticize is good, to know how to create is better. (Henri Poincaré) In May 2016, Hong Kong City University Professor Surya Deva took up his function in the United Nations Human Rights Council as the Asia-Pacific representative of the Working Group on the issue of human rights and transnational corporations and other business enterprises. In this position, he contributes to the mandate of the Working Group in disseminating and implementing the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights,  a United Nations-endorsed template organized around a three-pillar framework: the State’s duty to protect human rights, the responsibility of corporations to respect human rights, and access to remedy for those whose rights have been violated. Deva’s appointment was not without controversy, according to the President of the Human Rights Council, Choi Kyonglim. Given Deva’s previous, highly critical stance on the Guiding Principles themselves,...
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Implementing the Women, Peace and Security Agenda at the 60th Session of the Commission on the Status of Women

Implementing the Women, Peace and Security Agenda at the 60th Session of the Commission on the Status of Women

By Marina Kumskova, an MA student in Human Rights The 60th session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW60) took place at the United Nations Headquarters in New York this past  March, with a view to highlight the link between women’s empowerment and sustainable development. Human rights activists, civil society organizations, and local leaders expressed their demand for a change in the current priorities of Member States, using the CSW60 as a platform to call for greater investment in women’s participation within peace processes, and a parallel divestment from militarism. If safeguarding political economies of gender justice and peace are prioritized over economies of inequality and war, the outcomes of CSW60 will have a positive impact on the lives of women, men, girls, and boys around the world. Demanding the stigmatization and elimination of militarization, as well as the creation of space for women’s participation in peace processes, various organizations and NGOs* hosted a symposium titled, “Implementing the Women, Peace...
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Failures of the Responsibility to Protect: Selectivity, Double Standards and an Assault on State Sovereignty

Failures of the Responsibility to Protect: Selectivity, Double Standards and an Assault on State Sovereignty

By Shayna Halliwell, an M.A. student in human rights This article is Part Two of a two-part op-ed series exploring the different sides of the R2P debate. --------- “You don’t care about my country more than I care about my country!” This sentence punctuated a statement made by a representative of the Syrian Arab Republic in the United Nations General Assembly debate in February 2016 on the Responsibility to Protect (R2P). A contentious emerging norm, R2P is meant to protect vulnerable populations from experiencing mass atrocities, in the event that their governments are unable to do so. However, this statement on behalf of the Syrian government can be seen as the very crux of why R2P has not made the difference it was intended to make at its inception over fifteen years ago, at the behest of previous Secretary-General Kofi Annan. While R2P is noble in its goals—to protect a country’s population from genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and/or crimes against humanity—it has proved to...
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Prevention, Assistance and Intervention: How the Responsibility to Protect has Made a Difference in Situations of Mass Atrocities

Prevention, Assistance and Intervention: How the Responsibility to Protect has Made a Difference in Situations of Mass Atrocities

By Shayna Halliwell, an M.A. student in human rights This article is Part One of a two-part op-ed series exploring the different sides of the R2P debate. ------ “The atrocity crimes that stain humanity’s conscience make it imperative that leaders transform R2P from a vital principle into visible practice.” United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon made this statement in an informal dialogue on the Responsibility to Protect (R2P) in September 2015. R2P officially celebrated its tenth anniversary this year, and has achieved major successes since its unanimous approval by UN Member States at the World Summit in 2005. Created at the urging of the Secretary General at the time, Kofi Annan, as a response to the mass atrocities committed in Rwanda and Srebrenica, the concept of R2P exists first and foremost to prevent mass atrocities from occurring. It does so by supporting the state in protecting its populations from four major crimes: genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity. Only when states...
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Top Ten Tips for a Career in the Human Rights Field

Top Ten Tips for a Career in the Human Rights Field

What are some of the most important steps towards finding a job in the human rights field? A few weeks ago, the Institute for the Study of Human Rights (ISHR) at Columbia University hosted a career panel aimed at answering this question. Five panelists were present to talk about their experiences in the human rights field: Zselyke Csaky: Senior Researcher, Nations in Transit, Freedom House Justin Mazzola: Deputy Director of Research, Amnesty International USA Debbie Sharnak: PhD candidate, University of Wisconsin-Madison; Adjunct Professor, Center for Global Affairs, New York University Allison Tamer: Development Officer, American Jewish World Service; Alumna of the Human Rights Studies M.A. Program Alexandra Yuster: Associate Director, Social Inclusion and Policy, UNICEF Here are our top ten takeaways. Acquiring skills for the job: 1.. Hone Your Research and Writing Skills Don't expect much opportunity to develop your research and writing skills on the field beyond perfecting them. Use your time in academia to hone these skills instead. Justin recommends getting practice doing interviews, not only with survivors but also with advocates and government officials, as this will help develop the skill of knowing what you need from...
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The Enforced Disappearance of Human Rights in the World

The Enforced Disappearance of Human Rights in the World

By Marina Kumskova, graduate student of human rights at Columbia University ___________________________________________________________________________ Between March 2002 and July 2004, eight individuals of Chechen origin were “arrested by groups of armed and masked men in a manner resembling a security operation”. Pointing guns at the family members, the soldiers took men away in military carriers. Similarly, on April 28, 1991, Jeremías Osorio Rivera was officially detained by a military patrol when he went to the village of Nunumia to take part in a sports event. He was accused of making a terrorist threat for carrying an officially registered gun and explosives materials. None of these men have been seen or heard from since, despite their families’ tireless efforts to find them. In both cases, the males were abducted and detained by armed men without arrest warrant, held in solitary confinement under mortifying circumstances for unidentified periods of time, and deprived of legal assistance or any other contact with the outside world. In both cases, after the abduction of...
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Disability Pride Month

Disability Pride Month

By Tim Wyman-McCarthy, graduate student of human rights at Columbia University ___________________________________________________________________________ At least as far as UN Conventions are concerned, disability rights are the new kid on the block. Adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in December 2006 and coming into force in May 2008, the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) has now been ratified by 159 States. Noticeably absent from this group, however, is the United States. While the US is infamous for its reticence to sign international agreements—or to play nicely in the international-legal sandbox—this omission is nonetheless surprising, given the long and rich history of disability activism in the country. In fact, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)—one of the most advanced, and earliest, pieces of legislation protecting the rights of persons with disabilities—is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year. And disability rights issues continue to receive public attention in the country. In honour of the ADA’s 25th Anniversary, this July has been named Disability...
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