Social & Economic Rights – Page 2 – Journalists for Human Rights

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, […]

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 […]

31 Dec

A Look into Africa’s Conflict-Ridden Sahel Region in 2020

Derya Ekin2020 – 2021, Africa, Civil & Political Rights, Editors' Picks, Social & Economic Rights

2020 has undoubtedly been a year of mass uncertainty and loss. Worsening climate change and the COVID-19 pandemic have elucidated the importance of establishing stability and security within our lives. For families living in the Sahel Region of Africa, the added threat of violent conflict makes for a daunting circumstance. However, years of learning to […]

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 […]

05 Dec

Refugee Education Policies in Turkey: A Lost Generation?

Mackenzie Birbrager2020 – 2021, Collective & Developmental Rights, Middle East, Social & Economic Rights

As civil war erupted in Syria in 2011, the world watched as millions of Syrians were faced with the unimaginable peril of uprooting their lives to flee violence and persecution. Many sought refuge in Turkey with newfound hopes of stability and safety; once there, however, they experienced novel challenges to their survival, subjected to multifaceted […]

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 […]

20 Nov

The Purity Paradox: How Cultural Populism Tarnishes Progressive Politics

Alexander Mclaren2020 – 2021, Civil & Political Rights, Newspaper, Social & Economic Rights, The Americas

Progressive political values have, by and large, provided the impetus for improving universal human rights standards. However, even though the ends ought to be the principal objective of any political framework, the means can affect the ends in surprising and widespread ways. While it is admirable to fight for progressive outcomes, the means of cultural […]

03 Nov

History Repeats Itself: Pandemics’ Disproportionate Impact on LMICs

Enora Lauvau2020 – 2021, Africa, Asia, Newspaper, Social & Economic Rights

At the June 2020 General Assembly, United Nations (UN) Secretary General Antonio Guterres declared that the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic are falling “disproportionately on the most vulnerable: people living in poverty, the working poor, women and children, persons with disabilities, and other marginalized groups.” His statement accurately depicts the asymmetric effect that this pandemic […]