Civil & Political Rights – Journalists for Human Rights

18 Feb

A Game of Survival: Unhoused Individuals of Montréal Brace the Winter, COVID-19, and the Federal Government’s Apathy

Tess PilkingtonCivil & Political Rights, Rights, Social & Economic Rights

In 2006, the UN declared homelessness in Canada a “national emergency.” What should have been a wake-up call for the federal government to tackle the country’s history of growing homelessness since the 1980s has, instead, been largely ignored. Today, COVID-19 has only exacerbated issues related to homelessness as rates of unhoused individuals have risen, making […]

17 Feb

The Weaponization of Smartphones: Targeting Dissent in the 21st Century

Derya EkinCivil & Political Rights, Newspaper

The most invasive surveillance imaginable can be found within your smartphone. Without the user ever noticing it, smartphone spyware technology can access every message or email individuals have ever sent or received, as well as every photo or video ever taken. It can turn on microphones and cameras to record screens or surroundings and even […]

14 Feb

Canada Unveiled: The Reality of Canada’s System of Migrant Detention

Sara Selma MarefCivil & Political Rights, Newspaper, Regions, Rights, The Americas

Immigrant detention lacked media attention in Canada until the years 2013 and 2016 when detainees in Vancouver and Toronto died within provincial jails. This brought to light the poor conditions Canada imposes on migrants who have been imprisoned. What is Migrant Detention? Migrant detention detains and holds individuals imprisoned because of their non-citizen status under […]

25 Nov

Your Internet Privacy and What’s at Stake: The Weaponization of the Digital World

Sarina MacleodCivil & Political Rights, Collective & Developmental Rights, Newspaper

With the recent shift to an almost entirely digitized world, algorithms are drastically changing the way we use the internet, or more accurately, how the internet uses us. Before, planning trips and booking accommodations would take substantial amounts of research. Now, one quick search of the town you wish to go to, and your entire […]

18 Nov

Remember Who Suffers To Make Your Clothes

Haajar Khalid Abu IsmaliAsia, Civil & Political Rights, Newspaper, Social & Economic Rights

Fast fashion is a source of global crisis. As the second most wasteful industry in the world, it loses only to oil. As of 2020, fast fashion was responsible for 10% of worldwide CO2 emissions with textile production alone adding up to 1.5 trillion litres of water per year. The environmental implications of this industry […]

17 Nov

Social Media: A Human Rights Issue?

Camille DeslongchampsCivil & Political Rights, Collective & Developmental Rights, Newspaper

My parents have warned me countless times about the dangers of social media. I had to beg them to allow me to download Instagram and Snapchat, even (embarrassingly) creating powerpoints to demonstrate my responsibility. Now, however, I regret it. Earlier this year, Frances Haugen, former Facebook (now Meta) employee, leaked hundreds of internal documents, alleging […]

17 Nov

The Phenomenon of Missing & Murdered Indigenous Women & Girls (MMIWG) in Canada

Sara Selma MarefCivil & Political Rights, Newspaper, Social & Economic Rights, The Americas

Background & Statistics The disappearance and murders of Indigenous women are not merely a new news phenomenon, but rather, they are an integral part of an ongoing pervasive problem in Canada. Murdered Indigenous women’s cases are not considered murders, but accidental deaths and disproportionate numbers. “According to the Native Women’s Association of Canada, only 53% […]

04 Nov

The Humanitarian Plight of the Uyghur Minority

Haajar Khalid Abu IsmaliAsia, Civil & Political Rights, Collective & Developmental Rights, Newspaper, Social & Economic Rights

The Uyghur community in Xinjiang, China has been subject to horrific human rights violations. Forced sterilization, torture, sexual abuse, and cultural genocide are a handful of the crimes this minority has suffered over the past years and continues to suffer today. An article by the BBC from June 1st states that “China has detained more […]

08 Jun

Key Forces Behind China’s Uyghur Detention Camps: Why we repeatedly feel powerless in the face of catastrophe

Derya Ekin2020 – 2021, Asia, Civil & Political Rights, Collective & Developmental Rights

According to experts and US government officials, since April 2017, between 800,000 to 2 million Uyghurs and other Muslims, including ethnic Kazakhs and Uzbeks, have been detained in high security prison camps in Xinjiang. The ruling Communist Party of China (CPC) describes them as “re-education camps” necessary to provide vocational training and deradicalization in response […]

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.