Protesters in the United States and around the world demonstrated last week and over the weekend, calling for the protection of the rights of migrants and refugees, women, and other vulnerable groups, as a new administration assumed power in the United States following a bitterly divisive campaign in which now-President Trump denied sexual assault allegations and promised to enact a
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Civil Society Academics and activists warn that the “global gag rule,” which prohibits funding for organizations that provide abortion services and was implemented by United States President Trump on Monday, will have a chilling effect on civil society programs in Latin America offering family planning, contraception, HIV/Aids, and abortion services. [Guardian] This week, United Nations experts called for the release
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Civil Society In Jordan this week, a military court arrested and charged eight activists with “insulting the King,” and “incitement to spread chaos,” through social media posts. [Al Jazeera] On Wednesday, Turkish authorities denied entry to New York Times correspondent Rob Nordland allegedly based on Nordland’s prior coverage of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party. [Al Jazeera] In Mexico, environmental and land
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Civil Society On Thursday, Human Rights Watch launched its World Report 2017, a 687-page report that chronicles the situation of human rights and identifies impediments to human rights protections, such as the rise of demagogues. [Human Rights Watch] In Israel, Palestinian citizens launched a nationwide strike in response to government demolitions of Palestinian homes on Tuesday. [Al Jazeera] This week,
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Civil Society The United Nations requested the government of Burundi to remove a ban placed this week on a prominent rights group in the region, and to lessen other restrictions waged against civil society organizations in the past three months. [Washington Post] This Thursday, Bahrain reinstated arrest powers within its domestic spy service in a move that diverges from reforms
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The Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACtHR) examined for the first time the issue of informed consent to medical treatment and forced sterilization, in its judgment in I.V. v. Bolivia, released last week. [IACtHR Press Release (in Spanish)] The case involves a Peruvian refugee who was sterilized by a tubal ligation performed without her informed consent in a Bolivian public
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Civil Society In Argentina this week, human rights advocate Milagro Sala, and other members of the organization Tupac Amaru, were sentenced to 2-3 years probation, or suspended prison, for “aggravated damage” after participating in a protest. [Telesur] A United Nations agency condemned the murder of journalist, Larry Que, of the Phillippines, and called for an investigation into the death as
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In the month of January, the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child and the European Committee of Social Rights will convene to assess States’ compliance with their human rights obligations by reviewing State reports and assessing individual complaints. In addition, three UN special rapporteurs will conduct country visits and the UN Working Group on the issue of
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The Inter-American human rights system will soon welcome the entry into force of the world’s first binding convention on the rights of older persons. Costa Rica deposited its ratification of the Inter-American Convention on Protecting the Human Rights of Older Persons on December 12, 2016. [OAS Press Release; IACHR Press Release] Costa Rica is the second OAS Member State—following Uruguay—to
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Civil Society This week, Human Rights Watch reported that police officers regularly mistreat prisoners in India through the use of torture and the failure to bring detainees before a judge soon after arrest. [Washington Post] On Wednesday, a civil society organization reported escalated violence against human rights defenders in Guatemala, including 14 murders and seven attempted murders this year. [FIDH]
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