Region – Page 24 – RightsViews

How International Media Outlets are Failing the Peace Movement in Israel and Palestine

October 18, 2016December 13, 2016 by EditorNo Comments

By Rachel Riegelhaupt, a graduate student in human rights. On Tuesday October 4th, the day after the Jewish New Year Rosh Hashanah, approximately 2,000 Israeli and Palestinian women set out on a 200 km peace march across the country, walking from Israel’s border with Lebanon to Jerusalem. This March of Hope will officially culminate on Wednesday October 19th, and is being mirrored across the country with local rallies, treks, and cycle rides. Tens of thousands more women are expected to join the movement on the final day, marching from the Supreme Court, past the Knesset, and towards Prime Minister Netanyahu’s house where they have organized a rally demanding that “[Israeli and Palestinian] leaders work with respect and courage towards a solution to the ongoing violent conflict, with the full participation of women in this process.” The march has been organized by Women Wage Peace, a non-partisan women’s movement founded by Jewish and Arab Israelis after the 2014 Israel-Gaza war, that promotes cooperation between Israeli...

Political Unrest in Brazil: Will Human Rights Policies Endure Mr. Temer’s Government Program?

October 12, 2016December 13, 2016 by Editor2 Comments

By Luiz Henrique Reggi Pecora, an M.A. student in human rights Primeiramente, fora Temer. Firstly, down with Temer. For Brazilians who do not recognize the legitimacy of Michel Temer’s government, this small phrase has gained the weight of a motto. Michel Temer has assumed office since May, when the Brazilian Congress approved the impeachment process of former president Dilma Rousseff, implementing a governmental project bent towards the interests of conservative groups. More progressive sectors of society have reacted energetically, not only opposing his governmental project, but also criticizing the questionable conditions that led to the removal of Mrs. Rousseff from office - for many, the impeachment is no more than an excuse for a coup. After long years of prosperity, how did Brazil come to this critical scenario? The deepening of the economic crisis, combined with the “Lava-Jato” Operation (a series of investigations conducted by the Brazilian Federal Police over a huge corruption scheme involving large Brazilian companies and high-level politicians), contributed to...

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

September 27, 2016September 28, 2016 by EditorNo Comments

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,...

Turkey and the European Human Rights Regime: Is it right to derogate?

September 1, 2016October 3, 2016 by EditorNo Comments

By Marina Kumskova, an MA student in Human Rights Several human rights treaties allow for states to derogate from their obligations to protect certain rights. These adjustments can only take place temporarily, however, and in exceptional circumstances - i.e. in times of public emergency threatening the life of a nation. Yet, despite the professedly innocuous intent of such systems, states of emergency have a dark history of being used in controversial ways to usher in tyrannical regimes, under the facade of confronting a threat to the existence of the nation. Take the example of France. The perceived threat to the life of the nation from terrorist attacks, caused by people only loosely connected by an ideology, is seemingly tremendous. However, France has proven that the introduction of emergency powers, which allow for the derogation of rights, also ushers in a temptation for misuse. France’s state of emergency last December was less than a month old when its emergency powers were used, not in...

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

May 3, 2016July 1, 2016 by Editor1 Comment

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...

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

May 1, 2016July 1, 2016 by EditorNo Comments

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...

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

April 26, 2016July 1, 2016 by EditorNo Comments

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...

The U.S. in Yemen: Worth the Human Cost?

April 12, 2016July 1, 2016 by EditorNo Comments

By Alan Williams, an M.A. student in human rights Ten months in, the role of the United States in the GCC-led bombing of Yemen needs to be reevaluated. The campaign was initiated by the Gulf Cooperation Council in order to destabilize the Houthi militia controlling the government in Yemen’s capital Sana’a, and to reinstate deposed president Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi. Hundreds of airstrikes later, the UN has reported 8,100 civilian casualties with 2,800 deaths. At this point in the conflict, 93% of the deaths have been civilian. Starvation is at critical levels, and delivering aid to those in need is becoming increasingly difficult. Mirroring the numerous attempts at reaching a lasting ceasefire in Syria, all attempts at making peace have been quickly subverted. At its outset, the United States reluctantly supported the Saudi-led campaign, but such support has proven more harmful than helpful. On March 25th 2015, the National Security Council (NCS) spokesperson announced that President Obama had authorized the provision of...

The Shia Against ISIS: From Karbala 680 to Iraq 2015

April 5, 2016July 1, 2016 by Editor19 Comments

By Roukhsar Nissaraly, a graduate student in human rights The recent bloody attacks by extremist groups on innocent civilians in Ankara, Brussels, and Lahore have provoked outrage across the globe. In an effort to understand the ideology of one such group, ISIS, it is perhaps fitting to look back five months to the 1335th annual Shia commemoration of Ashura, as a reminder that the victims of ISIS' politics of terror are often Muslims themselves. On October 24th, 2015, defying bullets, bombs, and hostile glares from ISIS and its supporters, Iraqi Shias marched to the holy city of Karbala for the commemoration of the martyrdom of Hussain ibn Ali, the grandson of Prophet Muhammad, and the son of Ali ibn Abi Talib, whom the Shias follow as their first Imam and caliph. This ritual is widely observed in the Shia world, and marks a primordial facet of the sect’s identity: every year on the 10th of Muharram, also known as the day of Ashura,...

Strasbourg delivers a blow to reproductive rights, women’s rights, and Roma rights in one go

March 22, 2016July 1, 2016 by Editor15 Comments

By Judit Geller, Adam Weiss, and Bernard Rorke, guest bloggers from the European Roma Rights Centre On June 9th 2015, the European Court of Human Rights declared an application submitted by the European Roma Rights Center (ERRC) on behalf of a victim of forced sterilization inadmissible. The injustices visited upon the applicant from the moment of being sterilized in Hungary are disturbing – the legal reasoning behind the decision is deeply troubling for anyone interested in reproductive rights, anti-Roma discrimination, women’s rights, or the emerging legal field of intersectionality. The facts (which can be found in an anonymised version of the application on the ERRC website) are as follows: On February 9th 2008, the applicant G.H. was admitted to the hospital, twenty-two weeks pregnant with twins and bleeding heavily. An urgent Caesarean section was ordered. The applicant signed a form consenting to this procedure. It was discovered that the foetuses were dead, and they were removed. During the operation, the applicant’s fallopian tubes...