• Human Rights

     

    When Intervention by Foreign Powers Is Justified

    by  • April 24, 2013 • Human Rights, Peace and Security, Security Council, Women's Issues • 1 Comment

    David Phillips

    One of the most complicated dynamics in international relations is whether foreign powers should intervene when a government is creating a humanitarian crisis among its own people. David L. Phillips, a former a senior adviser to the United States Department of State and to the United Nations, has repeatedly dealt with this problem, and in [...]

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    Western Sahara: A Chance for Change or to Stay Stuck in Time

    by  • April 10, 2013 • Africa, Human Rights, Peace and Security, Refugees, Security Council • 

    MINURSO Monitors Ceasefire in Western Sahara

    The saga of Western Sahara, a disputed territory that has been stuck in limbo in North Africa for decades, will receive its annual nod this month by the United Nations Security Council, but this time actual changes may be afoot if the council acts more decisively, particularly on human-rights matters. Christopher Ross, the UN secretary-general’s [...]

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    In Iran, the Point of Torture Is to ‘Break the Human Soul’

    by  • April 8, 2013 • Asia, Human Rights, Women's Issues • 1 Comment

    Iran 2009 Election Protests

    Iran has remained prominent on the radar screen of the United Nations Human Rights Council and other international human-rights groups that are concerned with the poor treatment of Iranians who dare to speak out against repression and corrupt laws. Human-rights groups are waiting to see if similar abuses will increase before the presidential election on June 14, 2013. The current [...]

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    The Recipe for a Better World? Ending Violence Against Women and Girls

    by  • March 7, 2013 • Development, Human Rights, Women's Issues

    57th Commission on the Status of Women at the UN

    Thousands of women worldwide flock to the Commission on the Status of Women’s conference at the United Nations every March, and this year is no exception, for good reason: the theme is eliminating and preventing all violence against women and girls. Violence is a phenomenon that all females can relate to day after day, however [...]

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    Domestic Workers: Long Hours, Backbreaking Jobs and Few Rights

    by  • February 28, 2013 • Asia, Human Rights, Middle East, Women's Issues • 4 Comments

    Children selling postcards in Petra, Jordan.

      Two years ago, commemorating International Domestic Workers Day on June 16, governments, labor unions and employers’ associations voted overwhelmingly to create global labor standards to help promote the rights of the 50 to 100 million domestic workers worldwide. The United Nations International Labor Organization, or ILO, adopted such a convention, No. 189, in 2011, [...]

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    Canadian Native Groups Vow to Fight on for Land Rights

    by  • February 7, 2013 • General Assembly, Human Rights • 1 Comment

    Idle No More in Ottawa

    The sounds of drums and chanting outside the United Nations in New York battled to be heard over traffic recently. In a continuation of rallies and demonstrations held in front of the UN earlier in January, seven Native American protestors gathered behind a large purple banner to show their solidarity with the Idle No More [...]

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    Rape in War: It’s Not a Given Any Longer

    by  • January 9, 2013 • Africa, Human Rights, ICC, International Justice, Women's Issues • 4 Comments

    Women at the Stop Rape in Conflict Now campaign in Cartagena, Colombia

    One of Fatou Bensouda‘s missions as the new chief prosecutor for the International Criminal Court is to make rape during conflicts a thing of the past. Until 20 years ago, she said in a speech at the United Nations recently, sexual violence and other sexual attacks were “all but ignored and dismissed as regrettable but [...]

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    Deep Flaws in UN Response to Sri Lanka Include R2P Failure

    by  • December 20, 2012 • Asia, Human Rights, Humanitarian Aid, Responsibility to Protect, Secretary-General • 2 Comments

    Tamil Tiger cadres loading up in Sri Lanka

    The United Nation’s internal report on its role during the final stages of the prolonged civil war in Sri Lanka was unusually critical of the Secretariat and highlighted major shortcomings in the UN’s response to the fighting. The report, which was leaked to the BBC days before its official release on Nov. 15, forced top [...]

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    UN and US Congress Act to Curtail Female Cutting Globally

    by  • December 23, 2012 • Africa, General Assembly, Health and Population, Human Rights, Middle East, Women's Issues • 2 Comments

    Young girls in Sierra Leone about to be circumcised

    Only four days before Christmas, when many minds were fixated on the year-end holidays, two important steps were taken almost unnoticed to combat female genital mutilation globally, raising hopes that millions of girls might be spared the excruciatingly painful and harmful yet persistent practice. In what Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called “historic” UN action, the General [...]

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