Human Rights Archive

Editor’s note: This article is part of an ongoing WPR series inviting authors to identify the biggest priority—whether a threat, risk, opportunity or challenge—facing the international order and U.S. foreign policy today. America’s traditional role in promoting democracy and human rights abroad has fallen out of favor in a serious way. It has rarely registered a mention during this year’s presidential campaign, and Republican candidate Donald Trump has suggested that the United States lacks the standing to criticize human rights lapses abroad, given social turmoil at home. For all its various legacies, the Obama administration will leave little mark on […]

Last month, a warlord turned senator in Liberia named Prince Johnson kicked off his candidacy for next year’s presidential election with a sharp denunciation of sexual minorities and those who defend them. “A government under our watch will never, ever accept gay rights,” said Johnson, who is best known for his role in wartime atrocities, including the torture and killing of President Samuel Doe in 1990. “Liberia is not Sodom and Gomorrah.” The statement, and the attention it received from local journalists, was consistent with a campaign in which the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Liberians have taken […]

Oman rarely draws international attention in a region overshadowed by the rivalry between Iran and Saudi Arabia and, since last year, the war in Yemen. But the country has emerged as an important element of U.S. policy in the Gulf and wider Middle East, serving as an interlocutor between Riyadh and Tehran. Sultan Qaboos bin Said Al Said—the Middle East’s longest-reigning monarch, having held power since 1970—has maintained Oman’s relative neutrality in regional conflicts, making the country a hub for delicate negotiations. For many years, Oman has enjoyed the best relations with Iran of any member of the Gulf Cooperation […]

Editor’s note: This article is part of an ongoing WPR series on the legal status and socio-economic conditions of indigenous peoples in a range of countries. Last month, police forcibly evicted a group of indigenous Ava Guarani people from their native land in eastern Paraguay, demolishing houses, schools, places of worship and crops. In an email interview, René Harder Horst, a history professor at Appalachian State University, discusses indigenous rights in Paraguay. WPR: What is the legal status of Paraguay’s indigenous peoples, and what are the key issues facing Paraguay’s indigenous communities? René Harder Horst: In 2015 there were an […]

Editor’s note: This article is part of an ongoing WPR series on the status of women’s rights and gender equality in various countries around the globe. On Oct. 3, women in Poland staged a massive strike to protest a proposed law that would have criminalized all abortions, including in instances of rape or incest, and set punishments for women of up to five years in prison. Days later, lawmakers voted down the bill in parliament. In an email interview, Malgorzata Druciarek, the head of the Gender Equality Survey at the Institute for Public Affairs, discusses women’s rights in Poland. WPR: […]

Editor’s note: This article is part of an ongoing WPR series on the legal status and socio-economic conditions of indigenous peoples in a range of countries. The Zapatista Army of National Liberation said that it will choose an indigenous woman to run as an independent candidate in Mexico’s 2018 presidential election, marking a return to political life for the guerrilla group. In an email interview, Michael Danielson, visiting faculty at the University of California Washington Program and a research fellow at the American University Center for Latin American and Latino Studies, discusses indigenous rights in Mexico. WPR: What is the […]

Editor’s note: This article is part of an ongoing WPR series on the status of women’s rights and gender equality in various countries around the globe. Last month, Renho Murata became the first woman to head the opposition Democratic Party in Japan. She is the third woman to recently take up a prominent political position in Japan, following the appointment of Tomomi Inada as defense minister and the election of Yuriko Koike as governor of Tokyo. In an email interview, Linda Hasunuma, an assistant professor at Franklin and Marshall College, discusses women’s rights and gender equality in Japan. WPR: What […]

In this week’s Trend Lines podcast, WPR’s senior editor, Frederick Deknatel, and host Peter Dörrie discuss the cost of U.S. inaction in Aleppo, the attack on humanitarian aid workers in South Sudan, and Germany’s struggle to integrate more than one million refugees. For the Report, Richard Gowan joins us to talk about U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s legacy and the challenges facing the next secretary-general, Antonio Guterres. Listen:Download: MP3Subscribe: iTunes | RSS Relevant Articles on WPR: Can the U.S. Afford the Cost of Inaction in Aleppo? Attack on Aid Workers in South Sudan Was an Attack on Humanitarianism Itself Germany’s Asylum-Seekers […]

Should the United States use military means to try to stop Syrian and Russian forces from massacring the civilian population of Aleppo? If the answer to that question is no, then what level of atrocity is the U.S., and the world, willing to tolerate in Syria—and elsewhere—before intervening? The questions in isolation are relatively straightforward to answer. But when we consider them in tandem, the answers become mutually incompatible. This is the crux of the tragedy of the Syrian civil war for those not condemned to suffer its terrible consequences directly. At first glance, the case for intervening on humanitarian […]

Editor’s note: This article is part of an ongoing WPR series on the status of women’s rights and gender equality in various countries around the globe. A recent report by Human Rights Watch called out the government of Nepal for not doing enough to stop child marriage. Currently 37 percent of girls marry before age 18, and while the government has pledged to end child marriage, few concrete steps have been taken to achieve this goal. In an email interview, Claire Naylor, the co-founder and executive director of Women LEAD, discusses women’s right in Nepal. WPR: What is the current […]

BERLIN, Germany—One year on from a historic wave of migration to Germany, a myriad of challenges remain. And the stakes are high, not only for Angela Merkel’s increasingly unpopular chancellorship. In July, the first Islamist-inspired attacks by asylum-seekers on German soil trained an international spotlight on the country’s efforts to integrate more than a million new arrivals. Last year’s chaotic scenes, which saw hundreds of thousands of asylum-seekers and migrants cross German borders within a few months, have long since given way to a more sober approach. Responding to a perceived shift in public mood after foreigners attacked women in […]