Civil & Political Rights – Journalists for Human Rights

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.

05 May

Canada, It’s Time to Really Step Up Against the Uyghur Genocide

Mackenzie Birbrager2020 – 2021, Asia, Civil & Political Rights, Collective & Developmental Rights

The systematic genocide against the Uyghur ethnic group in the East Turkestan region (known in China as Xinjiang province) is not new news. The earliest known Chinese government document which laid the blueprints for the mass internment campaign, which the Uyghur have been subjected to for over five years, is from May 2013. Since 2016, […]

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. […]

16 Apr

The Farm Bills and the Fallout: How Modi’s India Responded to Protests through State Violence and Media Repression

Sophie Sklar2020 – 2021, Asia, Civil & Political Rights, Social & Economic Rights

The Indian agriculture acts of 2020, often referred to as the Farm Bills, are three acts that were passed by the Parliament of India in September 2020. These three very contentious laws have been called a “watershed moment” by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, while they have been deemed “death warrants for farmers” by MP Pratap […]

25 Feb

The Jailing of Environmentalists in Iran

Atussa Kian2020 – 2021, Civil & Political Rights, Collective & Developmental Rights, Middle East

Over the past few decades, Iran has transformed from being the greenest nation in the Middle East to a country grappling with worsening air pollution and rising temperatures. Today, the capital city of Tehran is among the most polluted cities in the world. The rise in air pollution, which in part consists of uranium particles […]

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 […]

05 Feb

#ChallengeAccepted: The Black and White Photos Worth A Thousand Words

Derya Ekin2020 – 2021, Asia, Civil & Political Rights, Europe

Content warning: physical/sexual violence against women. In 2017, the viral #MeToo movement took the world by storm, inspiring women to use their voices to open up about their stories of sexual assault. Social media played an instrumental role in elucidating the toxic rape culture that has long pervaded our society. With the increased time spent […]

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 […]