• Why Delhi should care about the Rohingya
    Nov 30, 2012

    Burmese leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s visit to India this month spotlighted the shared histories between the two nations and the need for a stronger alliance between them. A new reform agenda and Suu Kyi’s election to parliament offers New Delhi a chance to recalibrate its Burma policy to include greater focus on human rights, rule of law and democratic governance.

  • Indefinite Detention Is Already Bad, Don't Add Discrimination
    Nov 29, 2012

    Late last year, Congress passed and the president signed into law the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for fiscal year 2012. The NDAA codified, for the first time since a never-used McCarthy era law, indefinite detention without charge or trial.

  • Still time for House to do the right thing and pass Senate VAWA bill
    Nov 28, 2012
    Congress is at an impasse over renewing the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), the country’s primary national legislation addressing domestic abuse, sexual violence, and stalking. With the remainder of the 112th Congress now a matter of weeks, it is a very real possibility that the act will not be renewed.
  • UAE No Model of Progress
    Nov 28, 2012
    Ever since the European Parliament adopted its first resolution on the United Arab Emirates in late October, expressing profound concerns about its human rights record, the UAE has gone to great lengths to contest its accuracy.
  • The State of Kuwait
    Nov 27, 2012
    On November 5, Kuwait’s emir, Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad Al Sabah, confirmed that he would go ahead with the changes he made in the Kuwait’s electoral law this past October 19, explaining that the measures will “protect national unity.” This amendment to the electoral law ahead of the December 1 parliamentary elections is likely to escalate the political crisis in Kuwait, as opposition groups have, in response, threatened to boycott the elections. The resulting political instability is threatening to strip the country of its history of strong political participation.
  • South Africa can contribute to ending bloodshed in Syria
    Nov 27, 2012

    To limit the violations by both sides and ensure justice for victims, South Africa and other key members of the international community should support the referral of Syria to the International Criminal Court.

  • Lessons of war - the misuse of schools by militaries
    Nov 26, 2012
    The contrast was striking. Outside the laughter of boys playing echoed around the school courtyard while inside one classroom a nervous 14-year-old, Ashraf, described the day bullets and shells rained down on his school. "When they started shooting, the principal led us all to the basement," he told me.
  • India: The Question Hangs
    Nov 26, 2012

    Ajmal Kasab’s execution marks an end to India’s widely hailed unofficial moratorium on capital punishment since 2004, when prime minister Manmohan Singh’s government took charge. It signifies a sad regression in India’s near-decade move away from the death penalty. 

  • A human-rights cold room - Catherine Ashton to visit Central Asia
    Nov 24, 2012
    At the height of summer, when foreign ministers adopted the European Union's new human-rights strategy, Catherine Ashton, the high representative for foreign affairs, was eloquent in promising to make these issues a core ingredient in the EU's foreign relations.
  • A year of progress in eliminating violence against women
    Nov 24, 2012
    On November 25 every year, a grim accounting takes place: the world takes stock of violence against women, the toll it takes, and progress toward eliminating it. The International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women has been commemorated on November 25 for more than three decades. It’s a day each year when my colleagues and I focus on the courageous women we have met, the injustices they’ve suffered, and the hope they inspire.