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April 15, 2024

Civil Society Organisations Call on MEPs to Vote Down Harmful EU Migration Pact

Amidst warnings from over 50 Civil Society Organisations, EU lawmakers reached a political agreement on the EU’s New Pact on Migration and Asylum in December. The agreement is a continuation of a decade of policy that has led to the proliferation of rights violations in Europe. Moreover, it will have devastating implications for the right to international protection in the bloc and greenlights abuses across Europe including racial profiling, default de facto detention and pushbacks. Next week, MEPs will be presented with a final chance to reject the files in a Plenary vote, and to give a political signal against the adoption of a Pact that would undermine fundamental rights.
April 15, 2024

Justa Libertad: A Movement to Decriminalize Abortion in Ecuador

An Ecuadorian coalition of eight civil society organizations recently filed a lawsuit before the Constitutional Court of Ecuador seeking to decriminalize abortion. This crucial initiative seeks to ensure that women, girls, and other pregnant people can access safe abortion care.
Women from different organizations that are part of the Justa Libertad movement raise green scarves outside the Constitutional Court of Ecuador in Quito, March 19, 2024.
April 15, 2024

Abu Ghraib Torture Case Finally Goes to Trial

Twenty years have passed since the media broke the story that US forces and the CIA were torturing “war on terror” detainees at Abu Ghraib and other US-run prisons in Iraq. But for the men who were tortured, it feels like only yesterday.
Prisoners stand next to the tents in which they are housed at the Abu Ghraib prison west of Baghdad, Iraq, July 15, 2004.
April 14, 2024

Chinese Women from the Countryside: Views on Marriage

In their first policy document of the year, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Central Committee and the State Council announced that they would “strengthen reproductive support in rural villages (加强农村生育支持)” (Xinhua, February 3). This is the first time this policy phrase has appeared in the annual document, which usually focuses on rural governance. The policy is part of the government’s pivot away from its punitive “One Child” birth control policy, which was in place from the 1980s until it was relaxed in 2013. In 2021, the government shifted to explicitly encouraging births by adopting “supportive reproductive measures (生育支持措施).” The government says it is now focusing on “developing a high-quality population (人口高质量发展)” (Xinhua, July 20, 2021).
Promotion of China’s one-child policy visible on the outer wall of a government office in Bobai, Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, China, August 26, 2021.