Human Rights – Page 2 – Journalists for Human Rights

08 Apr

Garment Industry: Modern Day Slavery?

Raya Chehabeddine2019 – 2020, Asia, Newspaper, Social & Economic Rights

Prior to the nineteenth century, textile and clothing production relied primarily on made-by-hand methods. The Industrial Revolution of the early nineteenth century marked the transition to a new, more efficient manufacturing process in the Western world. Mechanized methods of manufacturing became widespread, resulting in cheaper and faster clothing production. As consumer prices fell, new apparel retailers emerged to cater to a growing demand for affordable garments, and to create employment opportunities. While the Industrial Revolution provided an incentive to increase profits, these motivations were also responsible for creating deplorable working conditions that exploited the absence of labor protection laws.

02 Apr

The Greatest Threat to the Human Right to Health: Climate Change

Ghislaine Fandel2019 – 2020, Africa, Asia, Europe, Middle East, Newspaper, Social & Economic Rights, The Americas

“The enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health is one of the fundamental rights of every human being without distinction of race, religion, political belief, economic or social condition,” according to the World Health Organization. Health as a human right, however, has been widely overlooked as it becomes increasingly threatened by the effects of climate change. The health effects are not only diverse but also overwhelmingly negative and wide-ranging. These effects being both direct and indirect will therefore impact all individuals as well as economies worldwide. Populations are pressured to change their diets, rapid changes to ice, snow, and land result in more life-threatening accidents, and natural sources of drinking water are disappearing and diminishing in quality. It is estimated that between 2030 and 2050, there will be 250,000 additional annual deaths resulting from heat exposure, malaria, diarrhoea, and childhood malnutrition. The protection of the environment has thus become a crucial part of the contemporary human rights doctrine. According to the Office of the High Commissions for Human Rights, “Human rights law requires each State to do more than merely refrain from interfering with human rights itself; it also requires the State to undertake due diligence to protect against such harm from other sources.” The State has a duty to its people to safeguard their well being even if it means regulating environmentally harmful corporations and industries. Therefore, it is the evident inaction by global institutions, such as governments, relating to the exacerbation of climate change that violates the fundamental human right to health.

27 Feb

Addressing a Threat to the Future of Children: Climate Change

Ghislaine Fandel2019 – 2020, Newspaper, Social & Economic Rights

According to the World Health Organization, approximately eighty percent of the injuries, illnesses, and deaths resulting from climate change are in children. This stems from the increased presence of extreme weather events resulting from human-induced climate change such as droughts, floods, storms, and heatwaves that children are significantly more vulnerable too. These events directly affect people across the globe but it is the most blameless and innocent members of our communities who will suffer the greatest. For the first time in human history, we are in a state of climate emergency, requiring us to defend first and foremost those on the front line who are likely to suffer most from the effects of climate change: children.

03 Dec

Chile: A Political Economy in Despair

Raya Chehabeddine2019 – 2020, Newspaper, Social & Economic Rights, The Americas

Across the world, numerous countries are in the grips of raging protests that have taken to the streets. From Lebanon to Chile, citizens are fighting against economic disparity.

01 Nov

The Rohingya & Islamophobia: A Dire Situation

Ghayas Osseiran2019 – 2020, Asia, Civil & Political Rights, Collective & Developmental Rights, Newspaper

On August 31st, 2017, the lifeless husks of 9 women and 10 Rohingya refugees washed ashore the sands of Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh.1 Under dictatorial rule of the Myanmar army between 1962 and 2011, the Rohingya people of the Rakhine State have been handed a predicament of institutionalized oppression on the grounds of religious and ethnic discrimination. While these acts of terror are often justified by the supposed targeting of extremist subsets within the population, the scale and scope of these acts can only be regarded as a “textbook example of ethnic cleansing,” says United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein. 2

25 Mar

Faith and Freedom: A Panel on Human Rights and Religion

Jhr McGillTV

Journalists for Human Rights in collaboration with Amnesty International presents Faith and Freedom. The areas of focus will include the intersection of religion and human rights in media (specifically: freedom […]