Americas

 

Indigenous human rights claims outline promising new ways of life

By: Benjamin Davis
Español

The West ultimately needs to be more reflective about how we live our lives in a very ordinary, everyday sense.

40,000 people arbitrarily deprived of their nationality in Colombia

By: Andrés Besserer Rayas & Maria Fernanda Orozco Naranjo & Sebastian Portilla Parra & Gabriela del Pilar Thiriat Pedraza
Español

Arbitrary cancellation of nationality has serious sociolegal effects that are being documented in Colombia.

Venezuela: Flourishing in the abyss

By: Rafael Uzcátegui
Español

Venezuela's democratic political and social leadership needs to reflect on its strategies to confront authoritarianism, as well as its strengths and weaknesses, ...

The climate emergency at the Inter-American Court of Human Rights

By: Thalia Viveros Uehara & Juan Auz
Español

The Inter-American Court will likely be the first regional human rights tribunal to develop an advisory opinion on the climate emergency, prompting normative effects ...

When the Ferguson uprising came to Geneva

By: Joel R. Pruce
Español

A shadow report presented to the Committee Against Torture brought police brutality in the US to an international human rights scenario.

Activists face police surveillance outside protest settings in Minnesota

By: Isabel Huot-Link & Angela Rose Myers & Socorro Topete
Español

Protesters of African descent, victims of police brutality, and their families need accountability and healing to find justice.

Deprivation of liberty: when is it acceptable?

By: Patricia Tarre Moser
Español

A new Advisory Opinion of the IACtHR underscores the penalties that deprive pregnant women, caregivers, elderly and Indigenous persons of their liberty.

Land grabs in Haiti are on the rise, while mining poses another threat

By: Yulanda Lui & Samuel Nesner
Español | Kreyòl

Between 2006 and 2013, the Haitian government granted more than 50 mining permits to three U.S. and Canadian companies to explore land occupied by dozens of communities ...

People’s participation in high-level decision-making spaces on regional migration

By: Mara Tissera Luna
Español

Despite long-standing obstacles, Latin American and Caribbean local and national migrant- and diaspora-led associations and organizations have involved themselves ...

Revitalizing the UN human rights treaty bodies through regionalization

By: Marcia V. J. Kran & Shelley Inglis
Español

Five reasons why the proposal to regionalize treaty body meetings would work.

Land grabs in Haiti sow climate vulnerability and violence against women

By: María Alejandra Torres García
Español | Kreyòl

Land grabs in Haiti cause women to further suffer violations of environmental and women’s rights and exacerbate climate vulnerability.

The right to health in the Global South: between epidemiology and the pharmaceutical industry

By: Everaldo Lamprea Montealegre
Español

Despite Big Pharma's decisive role in the transformation of the right to health, it continues to play a secondary role in the literature.

Child migrants are children first

By: Sarah Damoff
Español

As a matter of human rights, our policies must consider child migrants by their status of child before their status of migrant or litigant.

Centering gender in the housing crisis

By: Gabriela Tsudik
Español | Русский

The women’s movement is yet to center the specific concerns of poor and unhoused women.

Plato's Cave has an exit: Using data to illuminate human rights

By: Rodrigo Dornelles
Español | Português

A data-centered approach is fundamental in understanding our institutions and designing more effective strategies.

How new uses of conscience-based claims hinder progress on abortion rights

By: Andrés Constantin & Kayla Zamanian
Español

Making sexual and reproductive health services accessible in practice means the limits of invoking conscientious objection must be incisively interrogated.

Bilingual climate justice trajectories

By: Sebastián Villamizar Santamaría
Español

In this Data Column, we explore and compare the usage of several climate-related terms in English and Spanish to track how they have evolved over time.

Lifting the veil of secrecy on rights abuses caused by Brazil’s mining industry

By: Athayde Motta & Miles Litvinoff
Español | Português

Mining companies must tackle human rights abuses or risk communities saying no to their operations.

Haitian migration through the Western hemisphere: a racial (in)justice analysis

By: S. Priya Morley
Español

A transnational racial justice lens is essential to understand recent Haitian migration through the Americas, but also to develop any future policy responses.

Timeful strategies for Indigenous self-determination: lessons from the Purhépecha

By: Angel Gabriel Cabrera Silva
Español

How a temporal perspective affects the struggles for Indigenous self-determination

History shows that UN country-specific Special Procedures are tools for positive change

By: Mariana Montoya & Marc Limon
Français | Español

History has shown that despite strong opposition to Special Procedures, they have been valuable mechanisms for catalyzing positive changes at the local level.

Moving fast on climate: the urgent need to tackle short-lived climate pollutants in Latin America and the Caribbean

By: Viviana Krsticevic
Español

The human rights framework can buttress the responses needed to address the emergency, providing tools to guarantee human dignity and the right to a healthy environment.

From the domestic to the international: Jamaica’s 1961 human rights policy

By: Steven L. B. Jensen
Español | Français

How the domestic trends of human rights policy in the Global South can provide a deeper understanding of modern international rights practice

Personal resources and those of family and friends, not the State, guarantee ESCR in Jalisco

By: Alejandro Anaya Muñoz & David Foust Rodríguez & Carlos Moreno Jaimes
Español

The Mexican State failed in its obligation to guarantee access to human rights for millions because it did not have a sufficient social security infrastructure ...

More than lack of capacity: active impunity in Mexico

By: Patricia Cruz Marín & James Cavallaro & Alejandro Anaya Muñoz
Español

Impunity in Mexico is not accidental, random, or involuntary. Instead, impunity results from a chain of actions taken with the express purpose of undermining investigations.

Washing off the Trump Stink: reclaiming human rights in the United States

By: Kurt Mills & Rodger A. Payne
Español

Once immediate policies have minimized Trump Stink, what are the implications for the US’ long-term identity?

Collaborative research in the midst of crisis: an observatory on disappearance and impunity in Mexico

By: Karina Ansolabehere
Español

How The Minnesota Model helped this organization understand its own identity and role in advocating for Mexico's disappeared or missing persons.

After Trump, self-reflection is vital for the human rights community

By: Nicolas Agostini
Español

If the human rights community wants to maintain relevance and credibility, it needs to introspect.

Gender and war: rethinking harmful research practices in 2021

By: María Daniela D. Villamil
Español

A Colombian lawyer and professor reflects on how research can serve as a complement to peacebuilding, but also as a catalyst for further conflict and trauma.

America’s re-engagement with the Human Rights Council: remember Resolution 43/1

By: Peter Splinter

How the USA deals with the process launched with resolution 43/1 will speak volumes about how it intends to engage with the Human Rights Council.

Adverse possession & the right to housing: a rights based approach

By: Shivani Danielle Jacelon
Español

The idea of dignity and security as being fundamental components of the right to housing overlaps with the doctrine of adverse possession.

Women human rights defenders lead in the collective protection to defend life and territory

By: Aura Lolita Chávez Ixcaquic & Marusia López Cruz & Laura Carlsen
Español

"To confront attacks on women and land simultaneously, we have had to learn to tackle discrimination and dismantle unequal power relations in all spheres at once."

Tainted Stones: Sandstone produced by bonded labor and child labor makes its way into the United States

By: Waris Husain & Sonali Dhawan
हिन्दी

Effective efforts to combat bonded and child labor in the Indian sandstone supply chain will require a nuanced approach to establish the right incentives to enforce ...

Why are white evangelicals anti-human rights?

By: Howard Lavine & James Ron & Richard L. Wood
Español

The anti-human rights position of white evangelicals in the U.S. is less about religion and more about politics.

UN Human Rights recommendations key to US post-election era

By: Joshua Cooper & Shelley Inglis & Joel R. Pruce
Español

A genuine step for the Biden-Harris administration would be to formally establish a standing coordination mechanism across all relevant parts of the US government ...

Coming to grips with populism after Trump

By: Gerald L. Neuman
Español

Returning to the rule of law and fortifying democracy in the U.S. will best be accomplished by reemphasizing the country’s own democratic and egalitarian values, ...

Protesting for racial justice, met with excessive force

By: Donna McKay & Michele Heisler
Español

McKay and Heisler reflect on the role of medical personnel when treating patients victims of excessive police force.

Who thinks human rights are respected in the United States, and why does it matter?

By: James Ron
Español

Based on a representative sample, researchers found that respondents’ assessment of current human and civil rights conditions was strongly correlated with their ...

Teaching young children in a flawed democracy

By: Kevin Hershey
Español

What can we learn from teaching democracy to third graders?

Moving beyond allyship with Indigenous communities to defend the environment

By: Wyatt Gjullin
Español | Português

For environmental and human rights defenders in support of indigenous communities, one of the paths forward is through legal arguments.

The pandemic shows that now is the time to end immigration detention

By: Susan M. Akram
Español

Immigration detention is rarely justified and now poses a greater risk to the public given the spread of COVID-19 in ICE facilities.

Refugees and migrants in Ecuador face rising risks among decreased protections

By: Diana Herrera
Español

The pandemic and decreased recognition of refugees in Ecuador are compounding risks to the already precarious lives of asylum seekers.

Our post-COVID future should be as much about welfare as it is about tech

By: Beatriz Botero Arcila
Español

Surveillance thrives in unequal environments, and the pandemic has increased inequality. We need a welfare state for our digital information economy.

Workplace sexual harassment in Mexico: towards gender-transformative remedies

By: Paulina Madero Suárez
Español

Can new, non-judicial approaches to gender-based violence and harassment in Mexico effectively supplement judicial avenues?

Protecting freedom from domestic violence and the right to asylum

By: Rachel Freed & Joshua Leach
Español

The restoration of asylum rights to domestic violence survivors in the US illuminates the power of strategic litigation to create positive change—but there are ...

Twice the work and half the support: COVID-19 and single working mothers

By: Kayla Winarsky Green
Español | Français

How can businesses help to reduce the pandemic’s unequal burden on single mothers?

Budgets are political documents: can they help control the pandemic and fight for justice?

By: Ana Cernov & Iara Pietricovsky & Nathalie Beghin
Português | Español

Budgetary decisions are always political, and these documents are a crucial tool for civil society to protect rights and demand justice.

Legal Empowerment during COVID-19: from JusticePower to #FreeThemAll

By: Tyler Walton
Español

Immigrants have decried the use of detention as migration deterrence for years, but the pandemic has given advocates a new touch point in the collective social ...

The Case of “Lote Ocho”: Indigenous women hold corporations accountable for violence

By: Andrea Bolaños Vargas & Andrea Suárez Trueba
Español

Indigenous women in Guatemala are using the concept of extraterritorial obligations to hold corporations accountable for violence—and to set important precedents ...

A post-pandemic world: well-being for all or deepening inequality?

By: Guillermo Torres
Español

Putting fear aside as we emerge from this pandemic will allow space for what we value most in people: empathy, solidarity and mutual support.

From Toyi-toyi to “I Can’t Breathe”: African lessons in protest and liberation

By: Emerson Sykes
Español

Americans seeking racial justice can learn a lot about protest and liberation from Africans.

Pandemic denial: an imperfect storm for autocratization in Brazil

By: Conrado Hübner
Español | Português

Rather than using the pandemic to consolidate power, Bolsonaro has denied the problem and clashed with his own government—could this mistake end his autocracy?

Unprecedented ruling for Indigenous peoples by Inter-American Court of Human Rights

By: Matías Duarte & Diego Morales & Erika Schmidhuber Peña
Español

The Inter-American Court of Human Rights has set a precedent with its decision to grant territorial and ancestral rights to Indigenous peoples in Argentina—how ...

Businesses for Black Lives Matter: a human rights-based approach

By: Manel Chibane

What role do corporations have in advocating for the rights of Black people and other racialized populations?

Why #BlackLivesMatter is about the right to life

By: Eseohe Ojo

The current protests should come as no surprise in the face of such blatant disregard of the human rights of Black people and the systemic, institutional and everyday ...

The international protection of climate migrants: is Chile up to the challenge?

By: Marianela Garione
Español

Monte Patria in Chile is the first migrant community due to climatic causes in the country—why is it generating so much controversy?

Chile’s constitutional awakening

By: Jorge Contesse
Español

In Chile, protests against metro fare price hikes led to an unprecedented constitutional process.

Solidarity in the fight for justice: partnerships to oppose extractivism in Haiti

By: Nixon Boumba & Margaret Satterthwaite
Español | Français | Kreyòl

Can activists in Haiti and American-based law students and professors create trust, honesty, and a commitment to equality in radically unequal conditions?

Can corporations play a role in changing harmful social norms?

By: Cynthia Trigo Paz
Español | Français

A “gender-neutral” approach to human rights due diligence is insufficient, and corporations should take proactive steps towards addressing systemic gender discrimination.

Waorani women resist Ecuador’s extractive agenda in the Amazon

By: Vanessa Daza Castillo
Español | Português

Indigenous women in Ecuador are standing up to an extractive industry that has displaced vulnerable communities and concentrated land ownership in the hands of ...

How to identify a contemporary authoritarian regime

By: Daniela Ikawa
Español | Português

To identify a contemporary authoritarian regime, we can start by asking what Hungary and Brazil have in common.

Facebook’s new recipe: too much optimism, not enough human rights

By: Stefania Di Stefano
Español | Français | Italiano

Because social media platforms dominate public forums worldwide, a governance system rooted in “social values” instead of human rights may be convenient for companies, ...

When technology facilitates ICE raids that violate rights, who is responsible?

By: Jacinta Gonzalez
Español | Deutsch

Palantir has argued that its technology does not play an active role in deportations and the human rights violations that have occurred under the Trump administration, ...

In a world of radical inequality, solidarity is a cornerstone of justice

By: Margaret Satterthwaite
Español | Français | Kreyòl

Can a human rights clinic, based at a well-resourced law school in the United States, stand in solidarity with activists in the global South?

What battles over “gender ideology” mean for Colombia’s women human rights defenders

By: Rachel Schmidt
Español

Violence against women and the LGBTI community has a long history in Colombia’s state security apparatus, and recent murders of women human rights defenders are ...

Jews and Muslims in America could find unity through a common adversary

By: James Ron & Howard Lavine
Español

Homegrown nativists in the U.S. dislike both Jews and Muslims, which could help both groups work toward mutual understanding.

Chile and a global revolution for dignity

By: Juan Francisco Lobo
Español

The protests in Chile, and indeed worldwide, demonstrate a demand for human dignity, in all of its diverse conceptions.

Small states face big challenges in engaging UN treaty bodies

By: Malene Alleyne & Felix Kirchmeier
Español | Français

Small states often lack the capacity to engage effectively with the treaty body system as currently structured—it must become more streamlined and present locally ...

Colombian activists use music and art to call for climate action

By: Vanessa Daza Castillo
Español | Português

In Colombia, children and young people are finding different ways to raise awareness and stimulate action on climate change.

How a UN Committee Contributed to End a Controversial Mining Project in French Guiana

By: Alexandre Sommer-Schaechtele
Français

The indigenous peoples of French Guiana used an urgent procedure of the UN’s Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination to help stop a mining development—more ...

From impunity to justice and back again in Guatemala

By: Rachel Lopéz
Español

Guatemalan citizens must unite to resist the efforts of Guatemala’s clandestine powers to dismantle justice—but they cannot do it alone.

Venezuela: UN human rights system needs more coherence and coordination

By: Marianna A. Romero
Español

Venezuela’s election to the Human Rights Council despite UN scrutiny—including by Treaty Bodies—of human rights abuses shows need for greater coherence in the international ...

Employing the politics of solidarity against the rise of populism

By: Harsh Mander
Español | Français | العربية

With the world facing increasing division and hatred, the human rights community must face this lack of compassion with solidarity.

Why do high-income Brazilians distrust human rights?

By: Alexandre Abdal & Andréa Pineda & Fernando do Amaral Nogueira & Juana Kweitel
Español | Português

The existing rejection and distrust of human rights among high-income Brazilians result mostly from lack of knowledge and reflection, rather than populist or radical ...

To protect human rights abroad, preach to Trump voters

By: Howard Lavine & James Ron
Español

Religious leaders can help convince the most ethnocentric and authoritarian American voters to oppose Washington’s backing of abusive dictators.

Ultra-conservative speech as political capital: Chile’s “Republican Party”

By: Beatriz Romero Cruzat
Español

Chile has long held a moderate political tradition in Latin America, but recent trends point to alarming support for an ultra-conservative leader who will undoubtedly ...

Intellectual property as a tool of empowerment

By: Sarah Yookyung Kim
Español | Français

When much broader communities can harness intellectual property rights, these shifts can contribute to reducing inequality and improving the standard of life for ...

Bringing human rights home: new strategies for local organizing

By: Jackie Smith & Joshua Cooper
Español

Declining economic conditions in cities and communities around the world have inspired more people to organize locally to defend and promote our “right to the city.”

American policy is strangling health access in the global South

By: Karen Chonofsky
Español

The US Global Gag Rule is impeding far more than access to abortion in the global South—services for HIV, tuberculosis, sanitation, and nutrition are all being ...

No, Americans don’t support airstrikes that kill civilians, even when they target terrorists

By: James Ron & Howard Lavine & Shannon Golden

Polls that show Americans support airstrikes against suspected terrorists ignore some very large caveats.

Americans to Trump: If war comes, follow the Geneva Conventions

By: Alexander H. Montgomery & Charli Carpenter

Recent studies argue that Americans are relatively insensitive to the laws of war. There’s only one problem: that conclusion is wrong.

Climate change and human rights: lessons from litigation for the Amazon

By: César Rodríguez-Garavito
Español

Lawsuits have become an increasingly frequent route for urgent action on climate change, but the impact of this litigation depends on citizens’ mobilization

Confronting Bolsonaro’s populism – key strategies to protect human rights

By: Iain Levine
Português

As Bolsonaro passes the 100 day mark of his presidency, human rights activists in Brazil can learn much from struggles to confront populism elsewhere.

Engaging justice amidst inequality in Latin America

By: Lisa Hilbink & Janice Gallagher & Juliana Restrepo Sanin & Valentina Salas
Español | Português

Despite low levels of trust in the justice system, citizens in Chile and Colombia still make legal claims, but marginalized groups opt for informal strategies over ...

Fragile Rights? New Challenges for LGBTQ People in the Americas

By: Ari Shaw & Mauricio Albarracín
Español | Português

The rise of religious fundamentalism in Latin America—in conjunction with the populist trend sweeping the globe—is threatening LGBTQ rights and placing people in ...

Turning to the courts: lessons from Amnesty Canada’s litigation experience

By: Alex Neve
Español | Français

When human rights NGOs go to court, there are many key factors to consider beyond just “winning”.

What Bolsonaro means for human rights in Brazil

By: Oliver Hudson & Juana Kweitel
Español | Português

Under the leadership of president elect Bolsonaro, Brazil must be poised for increased threats to public security, the environment and democratic space.

Imprisonment as a last resort? Reforming Brazil’s prisons

By: Náthaly Calixto
Português

Systematic discrimination means that—despite vocational programs—many prisoners in Brazil and elsewhere end up with less opportunities than before they were incarcerated.

Venezuelan crisis shows the need to enhance the coherence of the UN human rights machinery

By: Ligia Bolívar
Español

Misconceived and poorly executed US efforts to reform the UN Human Rights Council failed. But the UN human rights machinery needs reform—shown by its response to ...

Treaty pushes for environmental justice in Latin America and the Caribbean

By: Dhananjayan Sriskandarajah
Español

Despite closing space for civil society, the new Escazú Agreement—which offers protection measures for environmental groups and defenders—is a shining example of ...

Public consultations push back against multinationals in Colombia

By: Antonio Sanchez Gomez
Español

In Colombia, public consultations have successfully halted exploitative mining projects. But can these consultations help to fight back against corruption?

Battling impunity in Mexico: an innovative strategy of international advocacy

By: Gabriela Kletzel & Angel Gabriel Cabrera Silva
Español

An innovative intervention by international experts in Mexico invigorated the work of human rights organizations to fight against systemic impunity in the country

In Haiti, legal empowerment is resistance against exploitation

By: Samuel Nesner & Ellie Happel
Français

Social movements in Haiti are reimagining justice in order to fight back against exploitation by the mining industry.

Local community funding: what’s possible in Latin America?

By: Gastón Chillier
Español

Shifting to local community funding is possible in Latin America, as a case in Argentina clearly shows. Can more organizations make such similar shifts in a sustainable ...

Resilience in non-democratic contexts: Perspectives from Venezuela

By: Rafael Uzcátegui
Español

As elected governments increasingly launch power grabs and smear campaigns against their critics, NGOs across Latin America must work together to restore democracy, ...

Legal empowerment allows indigenous Ecuadoreans to fight multinationals

By: Juan Auz
Español

Activism against environmental exploitation in Ecuador requires going up against titanic powers, and legal empowerment has helped indigenous groups do just that.

Family separation: a flashpoint in the global migrant crisis

By: Brian Root  & Rachel Schmidt

Situations of inhumane treatment and abuses of power are where we need human rights the most, and the family separation issue in the United States is symptomatic ...

Creating a healing space for women human rights defenders

By: Ana María Hernández Cárdenas & Nallely Guadalupe Tello Méndez
Español

Self-care and collective care do not erase the stress and tensions of everyday life, but using these strategies can sustainably improve our coexistence and work ...

Fighting for indigenous rights in the Trump era

By: Tereza M. Szeghi
Español

American Indians are actively resisting Trump’s efforts and working to achieve their civil and human rights, even as US federal and state governments work to erode ...

New climate change lawsuit in Colombia part of growing, worldwide trend

By: Camila Bustos
Español

A new lawsuit in Colombia involving young plaintiffs seeks to protect their rights to life and health by preventing deforestation and holding the government accountable ...

Participatory grantmaking helps to shift power relations in Mexico

By: Jenny Barry
Español

Powerful results surfaced when a Mexican women’s rights funder began to give decision-making power to local activists.

Using cross-movement collaborations to tackle human rights complexities

By: Claudia Samcam
Español

Human rights problems are increasingly more complex and cross-cutting. Can collaboration across issue areas and geographic regions make advocacy more effective?

Why is the Inter-American Human Rights System lagging on climate change?

By: Juan Auz
Español

The Inter-American Human Rights System is an important tool for Latin American human rights defenders, but why are the Court and the Commission lagging behind on ...

Trump’s threats to a liberal world order are not entirely new

By: David Forsythe

Trump’s attitude towards human rights is not entirely new: our presumed liberal world order is more about liberal economics and pursuing wealth than about protecting ...

Scientists and activists collaborate to bring hard data into advocacy

By: César Rodríguez-Garavito
Español

A new collaboration in Colombia is bringing together activists, scientists, physicians and other experts to collect hard evidence on the human rights impacts of ...

Is the UN a friend or foe?

By: Charles T. Call & David Crow & James Ron
Español | Français | العربية

Many Republicans believe that the UN curbs America’s interests, but people in the global South often view the UN as a tool of the United States. Why?

How not to produce energy: lessons from Brazil’s Belo Monte dam

By: Astrid Puentes Riaño
Español | Português

Due to lack of community consultation and negative socio-environmental impacts, the Belo Monte dam in the Brazilian Amazon has become a prime example of how not ...

Reforming drug laws to reduce prison populations in Latin America

By: Ana Jimena Bautista
Español

Three Latin American countries are experimenting with drug law reforms to reduce prison populations, but getting to the root of the issue is the hardest part.

Court judgements are shaking political foundations—and upholding rights

By: James A. Goldston
Español

In Kenya, Guatemala and Brazil, courts have defied presidents and shaken up politics—is court-centric advocacy one of the few remaining avenues to legitimately ...

Defending free speech when laws do not apply equally to everyone

By: A. Kayum Ahmed

When the ACLU uses civil rights and free speech to defend white supremacists, it reflects the ideological foundations of rights discourses that try to erase white ...

The forgotten advocates of children's rights in Guatemala

By: Myrella Saadeh
Español

In Guatemala, children’s rights advocates are often the most heavily burdened and the most frequently ignored.

The legitimization of violence to solve social problems in Brazil

By: Samira Bueno & Renato Sérgio de Lima
Español | Português

Many Brazilians indicate that they would accept authoritarianism and government violence to solve social problems.

New threats against human rights defenders require new kinds of protection

By: Padre Melo
Español

Human rights organizations and funders in Latin America need to rethink how they protect defenders in light of increasing threats from non-state actors and impunity ...

Integrating a psychosocial perspective in human rights works

By: Maik Müller
Español

Integrating a psychosocial perspective requires the incorporation of psychosocial support and self-care into job descriptions and work plans

Exploring new possibilities beyond foreign funding in Brazil

By: Amanda Fazano
Español | Français | Português

Brazil has a potentially large philanthropy market, and social media may be key to tapping into this resource.

Monetizing the human rights “brand”

By: David Crow & José Kaire & James Ron
Español

Marketing research can help Mexican rights groups monetize their “brand” and boost public donations.

Using the Sustainable Development Goals as a weapon against populism

By: Martin S. Edwards & Lis Kabashi

The Sustainable Development Goals could give activists the rhetoric they need to hold the Trump administration accountable.

How new data can—and can’t—support academic research

By: Merrill Sovner

Human rights practitioners and researchers often ask very different questions when collecting data—how can we bridge these gaps?

The collapse of authority: violence against prisoners in Latin America

By: Luis Felipe Cruz Olivera
Español

With prison riots and massacres getting out of control in many Latin American countries, what is the future of the region’s prison systems?

Republicans move to break with the United Nations

By: Paige Berges

Republicans are revisiting a move to withdraw from the United Nations and related human rights treaties—what would this really mean?

Will human rights law actually protect us from fascism?

By: Eva Nanopoulos

Human rights regimes such as the European Convention on Human Rights are unlikely to shield citizens against the wave of authoritarianism threatening liberal democracies.

Preparing for terrorism—and potential torture—under President Trump

By: Courtenay R. Conrad & Justin Conrad & James A. Piazza & James Igoe Walsh

Will Trump’s unequivocal position on torture affect how the US responds to future terrorist attacks?

Modi and Trump - voting strongmen, voting hate

By: Zahir Janmohamed

Donald Trump’s win in the US and Narendra Modi’s in India two years ago are both about the majority claiming greater victimhood.

Opportunities for resistance: Trump’s authoritarianism and the law

By: Stuart Wilson

Human rights values and rule of law are lost on authoritarians, but the need to clothe their action in forms of law is not.

Refugee politics from the local to the international

By: Sarah Stroup

The Trump administration is affecting refugee politics from small towns to the world stage, and activists have a long road ahead.

The death knell of American Exceptionalism under Trump

By: David Forsythe

If Trump pushes his agenda too far, Republicans concerned with liberal democracy and rule of law might start to push back.

Ordinary people will pay for rights. We asked them

By: James Ron & José Kaire & David Crow
Español

New research suggests that if human rights organizations use evidence-based fundraising strategies, the public will donate.

Imagining justice for ethnic communities in Colombia

By: Helen Kerwin
Español

Reparations for conflict-related harms as set out in the peace accords are only a fraction of many pending debts owed to Colombia’s ethnic communities.

The world is watching—corporate action on Trump travel ban

By: Salil Tripathi

Many corporations have already taken a stand against Trump’s travel ban, and corporate leaders advising Trump must defend human rights.

Haiti’s “linguistic apartheid” violates children’s rights and hampers development

By: Michel DeGraff
Kreyòl

Haiti’s educational system routinely discriminates against those who don’t speak French—which is the vast majority of the population.

Voter suppression and human rights in the 2016 American election

By: Amelia Shindelar

Increasing strictness in voter ID laws and voter intimidation are threatening the right to vote in the United States.

Human rights as a grassroots, transformative response to Trump’s “America”

By: Chris Grove
Español | العربية

Human rights—as a movement that critiques systemic inequalities and affirms our common humanity—offers a transformative alternative to a politics of fear and exclusion.

Making the human rights movement great again—amidst rising nationalism

By: James A. Goldston

As angry rhetoric and illiberal nationalism soars globally, the human rights movement needs clear thinking rather than sudden shifts.

Human rights groups are secretly US agents. True or false?

By: James Ron & David Crow
Español | العربية

For rights activists, Trump’s victory is a dark cloud with one silver lining. For the next four years, human rights groups will be inoculated against accusations ...

The UN shakes up Guatemala with the Commission Against Impunity

By: Christian Medina-Ramirez  & Luis Mack 
Español

The UN-sponsored International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG) has shaken the country’s political system to its core. However, the long-term consequences ...

Trump’s victory could push the human rights movement to transform

By: César Rodríguez-Garavito
Español

Donald Trump’s victory is a threat to human rights, but could it also push the movement to transform and strategize with greater urgency?

Why the American Electoral College matters for human rights everywhere

By: Benjamin James Waddell

The history of the American Electoral College demonstrates the importance of combating violators of human rights and the institutions supporting them.

The private, the social, and the political: a human rights perspective on transgender bathrooms

By: Hà Lê Phan & Inga T. Winkler

When it comes to LGBTIQ rights, bathroom politics reflect and are often linked to much broader questions of inequality and empowerment.

Beyond blood diamonds: the violence behind the gold route

By: Natalia Duarte
Español

Illegal gold exchanges between the global North and South are fuelling violence and exploitation, but most consumers are oblivious.

Trump, the other and human rights in society

By: Inga T. Winkler

The stigmatization and “othering” we’ve seen in Trump’s campaign will perpetuate systemic inequalities.

A post-Brexit, post-Trump World could learn from Colombia

By: Christian Medina-Ramirez 
Español

A shell-shocked America, a Brexit-divided United Kingdom and a crisis-stricken Europe: they should all note the conciliatory efforts made by Nobel Peace Prize winner ...

Bringing back waterboarding? Torture policy in Trump’s America

By: Lisa Hajjar

As the US prepares for president Trump, anyone who cares about human rights should be alarmed that he has pledged to restore torture as one of his top five priorities.

Trump’s election makes US human rights pariah

By: David Petrasek
Español | Français

A Trump presidency poses a grave threat to human rights—not only in the US but also worldwide. For human rights advocates, it can’t be business as usual.

Trump and the limits of human rights

By: Samuel Moyn
Español | Français

No matter how good our ancestors were in creating the international human rights system, it cannot change that we might need different options now.

International pressure on US human rights matters now more than ever

By: Kathryn Sikkink
Español | Français

Domestic politics are important, but we need international human rights law in the United States now more than ever.

Fascism rising

By: Stephen Hopgood
Español | Français

Global institutions and principles now face their sternest test. Trump’s victory suggests human rights activists should devote themselves to the morass of domestic ...

Is public opinion an effective constraint on torture?

By: Will H. Moore
Español | العربية

Americans’ support for torture increases depending on who is involved and how it is framed.

No data, no accountability: solving racial violence in the United States

By: Samuel L. Myers Jr.
Português

Without adequate data, the US racial divide remains a matter of perception, rather than of careful empirical analysis.

Small grants can make big impacts

By: Maria Amália Souza 
Português

Building a culture of philanthropy in the global South is a herculean task, but small grants can still make big changes.

The right place for the Left: the World Social Forum in Montreal

By: Jamie K. Mccallum & Sarah Stroup

In August 2016, the World Social Forum brought global justice activists to Montreal, the first time it was ever held in the global North. But this reorientation ...

Fighting misconceptions and logistics to raise funds in Brazil

By: Ana Valéria Araújo & Maíra Junqueira 
Português | Español

Logistical issues and lack of awareness among Brazilians have created significant—but not insurmountable—obstacles to fundraising for human rights.

The UN undermined both public health and human rights in Haiti

By: Valerie Percival 
Español

Failing to acknowledge its involvement in the 2010 Cholera outbreak in Haiti, the UN undermined public health norms and violated the human rights standards that ...

It’s time for development banks to start listening

By: Maina Kiai
Español

The aid community often ignores the wishes of the very people it’s supposed to be helping. The world needs a more bottom-up approach to development.

In Venezuela, data is power

By: Christian Medina-Ramirez 
Español

Venezuela’s lack of reliable data on socio-economic metrics poses both challenges and opportunities for human rights advocates.

Colombia’s constrained peace process: how courts alter peace-making

By: Sandra Borda & Courtney Hillebrecht & Alexandra Huneeus
Español

The Colombia case shows international courts do impact local peace-making, but in ways more subtle and nuanced than commonly claimed.

The political strategy for peace

By: Diana Isabel Güiza Gómez 
Español

After 50 years, the Colombian government has signed a historic ceasefire agreement. But how can we get more Colombians on board?

Why America needs a truth commission

By: Todd Landman 

In the United States, gun deaths over the last three decades far exceed those reported in truth commissions and civil wars around the world in the 1970s, 1980s ...

Naming crimes: genocide and public opinion in the United States

By: Benjamin A. Valentino & Ethan Weinberg 

Debates about the label “genocide” distract from the substantive discussion about whether and how to stop the killing.

Cross-movement organizing in Mexico leads to new resources

By: Jenny Barry
Español

Feminists and environmentalists are coming together in Mexico to form new partnerships with an emphasis on local resource mobilization.

Will evidence of crimes against humanity change anything in Mexico?

By: Alejandro Anaya Muñoz
Español

A new report argues that widespread human rights violations in Mexico constitute crimes against humanity. But who will stand accountable?

The Trans-Pacific Partnership: a missed opportunity for civil society?

By: Mark Aspinwall
Español

Civil society could have played a key role in the Trans-Pacific Partnership—why were they left out?

Does “de-Kirchnerizing” Argentina mean dismantling human rights policies?

By: Alejandra Dandan
Español

A key concern for many Argentinians, among the numerous changes Mauricio Macri’s government has implemented, is the dismantling of hard-won human rights gains.

Quantitative data in human rights: what do the numbers really mean?

By: Will H. Moore

Everyone loves numbers, but when we use them in human rights, how often are we misrepresenting the data?

Who will take the lead on economic inequality, and who should?

By: Chris Albin-Lackey

Human rights lack the best language and tools to describe and solve inequality’s most pernicious impacts

When national security trumps international humanitarian law, who wins?

By: Brad Gutierrez

International humanitarian law is not a diplomatic conversation devoid of real world implications, and ignoring it creates a free-for-all.

Reclaiming space through UN-supported litigation

By: Maina Kiai
Español

Working together, the UN and civil society are using innovative legal action to protect fundamental human rights and re-open lost civic spaces.

Mexicans expect far more from the Pope than we will ever get

By: Ariadna Estévez
Español

The Pope’s first official visit to Mexico was all talk and no action, but it was exactly what many Mexicans expected.

Human rights at a crossroads: 18 months after Ayotzinapa

By: Janice Gallagher & Paula Martinez Gutierrez
Español

Eighteen months after Ayotzinapa, Mexican civil society has pulled together in new and promising ways to challenge the state.

Inequality is more than just a problem for developing countries

By: Todd Landman 
Español

Advanced economies are also experiencing persistent and increasing inequality, and its effect on human rights is alarming.

Holding businesses to account in Latin America

By: Nelson Camilo Sanchez
Español

Colombia and Argentina are taking steps to hold businesses accountable for human rights abuses – will they be effective?

What does Zika have to do with inequality? Everything.

By: Rachel Schmidt
Español

Women’s rights advocates are using fears around Zika to fight for better access to birth control, but in Latin America the issues run much deeper than that.

Sustainability through direct dialogue: a Latin American success story

By: Mariela Puga & Luz Aquilante & Natalia Eberbach
Español

Building a culture of giving in Latin America takes creativity, persistence and a willingness to invest in people.

Can celebrities and fashion magazines in Mexico really influence social change?

By: Jenny Barry
Español

Partnering with celebrities and seeking visibility is key to mobilizing resources for the women’s movement in Mexico.

The ‘soft vengeance’ of peace in Colombia

By: César Rodríguez-Garavito
Español

An agreement recently concluded between the Colombian government and the FARC rebels promises both peace and justice, and deserves support by human rights advocates.

It’s all in the frame: winning marriage equality in America

By: Kevin Nix 
Español | Français

Was there a magic messaging bullet that helped change American public opinion on same-sex marriage?

When it comes to drones, do Americans really care about international law?

By: Tanisha M. Fazal
Español | Français

Is American public opinion on drones influenced by international law, or is it the low-to-no American casualties that have more sway?

Paying for human rights violations: perceptions of the Colombian peace process

By: Ryan E. Carlin & Jennifer L. Mccoy & Jelena Subotic
Español

New research shows that providing context for human rights issues yields a broader range of responses to peace talks in Colombia.

International law and US public support for drone strikes

By: Sarah Kreps & Geoffrey Wallace
Español | Français

When it comes to public opinion on drone strikes, the UN and NGOs may have more influence than we think.

More than smoke and mirrors: citizen perceptions of human rights

By: Dona-Gene Barton & Courtney Hillebrecht & Sergio Wals
Español

Study finds that Mexicans’ perceptions of human rights protections are linked to individuals’ evaluations of their leaders, their government and democratization.

Mapping human rights skepticism in Mexico

By: David Crow
Español

Most Mexicans don’t associate human rights with protecting criminals, but surveys show this varies depending on region and political affiliation.

Reframing the justice debate in Colombia

By: Paul Seils
Español

The debate about whether or not—or how—to punish the crimes committed in Colombia’s long civil war should focus instead on the objectives punishment might achieve.

How does professionalization impact international human rights organizations?

By: Carrie Oelberger
Español | Français

The more transnational human rights groups become, the more likely they are to professionalize. This, in turn, can influence the sector’s values.

Muzzling humor in the Ecuadorean Revolution

By: César Rodríguez-Garavito
Español

In Ecuador, Rafael Correa’s government muzzles critique and attacks satirists in an increasingly anti-democratic environment.

The ICC and negotiated peace: reflections from Colombia

By: Rodrigo Uprimny & Nelson Camilo Sanchez
Español | Français

The Colombian case shows the need for flexibility in balancing the duty to prosecute international crimes with the duty to negotiate an end to the civil war.

Where’s the evidence? Moving from ideology to data in economic and social rights

By: Octavio Luiz Motta Ferraz
Español | Português

To advance the polarized openGlobalRights debate on economic and social rights, we need more empirical research, and less ideology.

Home and abroad: balancing Brazil’s human rights commitments

By: Muriel Asseraf
Español | Português

Emerging countries like Brazil are at a turning point, struggling to balance their domestic issues with their international aspirations.

Multiple boomerangs: new models of global human rights advocacy

By: César Rodríguez-Garavito
Español

The global human rights field is being transformed, and activists are inventing new, less hierarchical models of collaboration, including global virtual networks ...

What does the “right to life” really mean for Catholics in Mexico?

By: Renee De La Torre
Español

It’s time for leaders in the Mexican Catholic Church to speak up where they are most needed.

The ‘interests of justice’ require challenging impunity

By: Dan Saxon

The ICC may consider the local context, but no policy or legal decision that permits impunity for gross human rights abuse can satisfy the interests of justice.

Does the ICC advance the interests of justice?

By: Priscilla Hayner
Français | Español

What exactly are the “interests of justice” in the context of the ICC? And should the ICC prosecutor take conflict resolution into account, or do the interests ...

Does “religious freedom” include the right to convert or scam others?

By: José Zalaquett
Español

Does freedom of religion include the right to convert others, or pressure them into giving money?

Myth and reality: the Catholic Church and human rights in Latin America

By: Ariadna Estévez
Español

While the progressive Catholic Church is on the frontline of defending human rights in Latin American, its conservative branch still attacks reproductive rights ...

As the world’s eyes turn to Brazil, local rights groups must seize the day

By: Patricia Mendoca
Português

The world is watching as Brazil prepares for the World Cup and Olympics. As Northern funding for Brazilian human rights groups declines, local groups must take ...

Using faith to reinforce human rights of Bahá’ís in Iran

By: Nazila Ghanea
العربية

An Islamic cleric’s gesture to the persecuted Bahá’í community in Iran shows that in countries where universal human rights standards have little local resonance, ...

Brazil needs new public mechanisms and laws to fund human rights domestically

By: Eduardo Pannunzio
Português

Human rights groups in the global South are dependent on international funds, but those monies are dwindling for NGOs in emerging economies such as Brazil. To survive, ...

Human rights in Brazil: international funders must empower David against Goliath

By: Helle Abelvik-Lawson

Brazil’s recent economic growth – driven by multinational corporations and supported by the government – is a source of human rights violations and perpetuates ...

Mismatch: why are human rights NGOs in emerging powers not emerging?

By: Lucia Nader
Español | Français | Português

There is a perverse see-saw effect in place within the BRICS countries. In Brazil, as the government grows in prominence and companies become more global and voracious, ...

Human rights funding in Brazil

By: Ana Valéria Araújo
Español | العربية | Português

Brazil’s economic success has led to foreign funders pulling the plug on human rights groups but a major education campaign is needed before Brazilian donors will ...

The struggle for a truly grassroots human rights movement

By: James Ron & David Crow & Shannon Golden
Español | Français | العربية | Português | Türkçe

Using cutting-edge human rights perception polls, the authors explore links between social class and domestic human rights movements in Mexico, Colombia, Morocco, ...

 
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