More Than a Feminist Icon: Daily Brief
Mourning the death of US Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg; EU companies are selling surveillance tools to state agencies in China; leaked documents offer insight into global financial corruption; pro-democracy protests in Thailand and Belarus continue; investigation into Lebanon’s security forces’ use of excessive force needed; migrant workers in Russia desperate to go home; and Fridays for Future calls on schoolchildren to go on strike for the climate.
US Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was more than a feminist icon. Her push for gender equality and for recognizing women's rights as human rights was revolutionary. We should work to ensure that her replacement on the Supreme Court shares her commitment.
European tech companies have been selling digital surveillance technology to China’s abusive public security agencies, a new Amnesty International investigation reveals.
Thousands of secret bank documents leaked to BuzzFeed News offer an unprecedented view of global financial corruption, the banks enabling it, and the government agencies that watch as it fuels criminal and terrorist activities.
Thousands of pro-democracy activists marched in Thailand’s capital Bangkok on the weekend demanding to curb the power of the country’s monarchy.
Pressure is increasing on Belarus with both the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and the UN Human Rights Council launching inquiries into torture and repression of pro-democracy protesters.
Despite evidence to the contrary, the Lebanese Internal Security Forces (ISF) have denied their members used excessive force to quell protests in downtown Beirut in August. Lebanon’s Public Prosecutor should urgently open an investigation into the events.
Hard hit by the financial consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic, thousands of migrant workers in Russia are desperate to return home but can’t.
And last but not least: The Fridays for Future movement, which was sparked by climate activist Greta Thunberg, is calling on schoolchildren around the world to go on strike to protest against a lack of action to mitigate the climate emergency.