The Americas – Journalists for Human Rights

08 May

Sarah Everard: A Story of Gender-Based Discrimination Within Law Enforcement

Enora Lauvau2020 – 2021, Civil & Political Rights, Europe, Social & Economic Rights, The Americas

The recent assault and murder of London-based marketing executive Sarah Everard by Westminster Metropolitan police officer Wayne Couzens has shone a spotlight on conversations surrounding gender-based violence as well as the role police forces play in exacerbating the threat this poses to women’s safety worldwide. Besides the fact that harassment and assault is far from being an unusual occurrence for women — an already distressing reality — the brutality that has been shown by actors of the law supposedly there to ensure the population’s security further contributes to ongoing feelings of fear. As such, the role of Couzens in Everard’s killing has further opened the debate to questions regarding whether increased policing, particularly that of a male-focused nature, is an appropriate response to growing concerns about the violence faced by women, considering that it tends to be one often proposed by state institutions.

28 Apr

Japanese Internment and Migrant Detention: Twin Tales of Injustice

Atussa Kian2020 – 2021, Civil & Political Rights, Social & Economic Rights, The Americas

At face value, the Santa Anita Park is an infamous but beautiful race track located in a majority-Asian city in Southern California. A backdrop of slender palm trees, purple-y mountains, and blue skies almost distract from the animal cruelty controversies that have circulated the race track and the sport of horse racing in recent years. […]

17 Mar

The War for Water: The Barriers to Clean Drinking Water for Indigenous Peoples in Canada

Sophie Sklar2020 – 2021, Collective & Developmental Rights, Editors' Picks, Social & Economic Rights, The Americas

Access to clean drinking water is not represented equally across Canada, with those living on Indigenous reservations being disproportionately affected by a lack of quality water infrastructure compared to the rest of Canada. Yet according to the United Nations, “The right to water entitles everyone to have access to sufficient, safe, acceptable, physically accessible and […]

10 Mar

Advocates Fighting for Long-Term Solutions to the Plight of Montreal’s Homeless Populations

Enora Lauvau2020 – 2021, Social & Economic Rights, The Americas

Activists for Montreal’s homeless and Indigenous populations, two communities disproportionately affected by COVID-19 in Canada, have been advocating for these groups’ increased protection since the beginning of the pandemic nearly a year ago. The inadequacies previously seen in the country’s health and social policies have only been magnified in recent times. Despite advocates’ constant efforts, […]

17 Feb

The Rising Plight of Anti-Semitism

Mackenzie Birbrager2020 – 2021, Civil & Political Rights, Collective & Developmental Rights, The Americas

As the news broke about the swastika vandalization of the Westmount Congregation Shaar Hashomayim, I thought, “yet another anti-Semitism attack.” Catching myself, I quickly wondered why that was my inital response — how had such a disdainful anti-Semitic event become normalized to me? Adam Scheier, the synagogue’s rabbi, unfortunately echoed my sentiment: “One is not […]

02 Feb

Confronting Home-Grown Terrorism: The Canadian Government Considers Designating the Proud Boys a Terrorist Organization Following the Attack on Capitol Hill

Tess Pilkington2020 – 2021, Civil & Political Rights, Newspaper, The Americas

The Canadian government is considering designating the Proud Boys a terrorist organization following their involvement in the violent attack on Capitol Hill on January 6. Adding the racist, white nationalist group to the list of terrorist organizations would place them alongside Boko Haram, ISIS, and al-Qaeda. The group has spewed violence and hate speech across […]

14 Jan

Addressing Systemic White Privilege: Is the U.S. at a Crossroads?

Sophie Crawford2020 – 2021, Civil & Political Rights, Newspaper, Social & Economic Rights, The Americas

Beginning in 2014, studies have demonstrated that public opinion increasingly recognizes that “anti-black discrimination is widespread, a serious problem, and that the United States has not made much real racial progress in the past 50 years.” Nonetheless, since 2016, the U.S. Department of State warned that white supremacist terrorism is both “on the rise and […]

29 Dec

Isolation, Inequity, and Ineptitude: COVID-19’s Magnification of Health Inequality within Nunavut

Sophie Sklar2020 – 2021, Social & Economic Rights, The Americas

COVID-19 and subsequent lockdowns have amplified Canada’s inequalities in resources, wealth, and — notably — access to medical services, with the nation as a whole growing cognizant of these social and economic disparities. This is particularly acute in Northern Canada (encompassing Yukon, Northwest Territories, and Nunavut), which has long struggled with limited access to health […]

09 Dec

Beyond Brick Walls: Supporting Montréal’s Unhoused Individuals in the Time of Covid-19

Tess Pilkington2020 – 2021, Collective & Developmental Rights, Editors' Picks, Newspaper, Social & Economic Rights, The Americas

It was not until the frigid temperatures of Montréal winter began to bite that the Government took the plight of the city’s unhoused seriously. As if the disproportionate impact that Covid-19 has on unhoused people is not enough, the inability to conduct social distancing in shelters has left much of Montréal’s unhoused population outdoors to […]

02 Dec

The Pantanal Fires: How Brazil’s Far-Right Presidency Hurts the Environment and Indigenous Communities

Enora Lauvau2020 – 2021, Collective & Developmental Rights, Newspaper, Social & Economic Rights, The Americas

Brazil is often celebrated for hosting part of the Amazon rainforest, known for its sheer size and diverse ecosystems, but the country also boasts another, lesser-known wildlife reservoir towards its western border: the Pantanal. This biome, a vast wetland of approximately 200,000 square kilometers spreading over parts of Brazil, Bolivia, and Paraguay, is home to […]