What’s Wrong with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR)?
The UDHR or Universal Declaration of Human rights (UDHR) had the trigger for its codification in the aftermath of the Second World War, as a way for states all over the world to collectively avoid such atrocities and for suffering
Guantanamo Bay: an example of American Hypocrisy?
After the terrorist attacks in the USA on 11 September 2001, the George W Bush administration declared a ‘War on Terror’, and with that the establishment of Guantanamo Bay: a place for the US authorities to hold people perceived to
Assessing China: For Worse or Better
To assess how serious a threat China is to our society and our values, it helps to take a step back in time. The 1940s were among the most momentous in modern history. The end of World War II, the
Gender As Symbolic Glue For Different Extremist Movements
The demonization of ‘gender ideology’ has become a key rhetorical tool in the construction of a new conception of ‘common sense’ for a wide audience. It is simplistic to believe that Kaczynski, Orbán, and Trump have risen to power simply by
The Effects of Globalisation on Languages and Cultural Diversity
Part of the difficulty of advocating linguistic rights as the facilitator of other human rights, like the freedom of socio-economic choices, lies in the fact that a language-based community cannot be free of complexity due to religion, gender, cultural and
Human Rights, Technology and Partnerships
Solid documentation and verified facts are key tools for human rights defenders. Human rights violations happens daily, all over the world, and there is always someone who knows something. The challenge is documenting those violations, placing responsibility, telling the story
The universal validity of human rights
The international community must recognise democratic freedoms and social justice as basic principles in order to secure lasting world peace. Only then can a global civil society develop in which men, women and children can live without fear of discrimination, oppression
Humanitarian Aid Organizations Under Risk
The 2018 Annual Report of Doctors Without Borders (MSF), an organization for humanitarian purposes, has been released. The new Director General of the Office for South America, Josefina Martorell, has confessed that 2018 was not an easy year for MSF or
Digital Outreach: Be the Story
There is a twilight zone lived in by family members of the disappeared. Daily life, joys and frustrations happen against an internal backdrop that is difficult to share. Gulruy Asqar writes movingly about this in Missing: Loved ones in East
The ICC is Taking a Pro-Active Approach to Myanmar
The International Criminal Court (the ICC) is the only permanent international criminal tribunal with the mandate to investigate and prosecute mass atrocities. However, the ICC is a treaty-bound tribunal, the treaty being the Rome Statute. This very fact prevents the
Carrying on the Flow
Expanding the Discourse on Menstruation in the Sustainable Development and Human Rights Agendas If 2015 was the year the period went public, 2018 was the year menstruation won its spotlight at the United Nations. From the Commission on the Status of
Universal Education Can be Achieved by 2030 by Investing in Technology
We are in the midst of an education crisis: 100 million young children will never get a chance to attend school while another 250 million go to school yet leave without ever having learned how to read, write, or use