Human Rights

An update from the Modelling Kivalina project, incubated with support from the WJP and developed by a multidisciplinary group of researchers called The Centre of the Earth. Learn more about their program here.    

Team Leader of The GUERREIRASPROJECT (GP), Ms. Caitlin D. Fisher was a speaker on the “Sport and the Rule of Law” panel during World Justice Forum IV. Focusing on gender education and rights training through the lens of futebol, The GUERREIRASPROJECT’s primary demographic is young women (15-35) and their communities.

(This concludes a two-part series on land rights and the rule of law, as shared with us by WJP Strategic Partner Landesa.) During my two decades of work as a promoter of good governance and the Rule of Law, I have seen interest in the field ebb and flow. In the 60s and 70s, the Law and Development Movement centered on developing the Rule of Law progressively and with limited support from bilateral donors or international organizations.

(Following is the first post in a two-part series on land rights and the rule of law, as shared with us by WJP Strategic Partner Landesa.) More than 17 million rural families—children, women and men—across India are invisible. They are invisible to the government and to society because they do not own any land. They do not appear in any government records and that means they cannot access a wide variety of existing and new government services.

The practice of female genital cutting, or female genital mutilation (FGC/M), has been in existence for centuries. Although oftentimes associated with Islam, the practice does not fall under Sharia law and is not practiced by many Islamic groups. Additionally, many non-Muslim communities utliize the practice.

2013 Theme: "Indigenous peoples building alliances: Honouring treaties, agreements and other constructive arrangements" The International Day of the World's Indigenous People (9 August) was first proclaimed by the General Assembly in December 1994, to be celebrated every year during the first International Decade of the World's Indigenous People (1995 – 2004).

India may be the world’s largest democracy, but it is still governed by a vast and powerful bureaucracy. For much of India’s history, that bureaucracy has been largely opaque and unaccountable, legitimized by leftover vestiges of colonial rule, such as the Official Secrets Act (OSA) of 1923.

Political parties are seen by the publics in most countries as the most corrupt institutions in their societies, according to the latest survey by the anti-corruption watchdog, Transparency International (TI) released Tuesday. TI’s Global Corruption Barometer, which was based on interviews with more than 114,000 interviews in 107 countries, also found that a majority of respondents (54 percent) believe their governments are either largely or entirely controlled by a few big entities acting in their own self interest.

On May 23, President Obama gave a speech on counterterrorism in which he called for a winding down of the war that began in the wake of 9-11. To that end, he pledged to close the Guantanamo detention facility, clarify the legal standards that guide the targeted killing program, and work to repeal the 2001 Authorization of Military Force (AUMF).  

On July 10 2013, panelist Roberto Hernandez will discuss the ways in which specific artistic voices emerge in societies; how art can be used to educate people about their rights; the skills and mediums that artists employ to raise awareness; and the effect on the art and the artist when he or she transforms into a representative of the people, or even the government.  ***

Rape and sexual abuse is a threat that hangs over women wherever they live in the world. But in some countries that threat is more terrible because that violence is much more likely to occur. It takes a lot of work and much courage to try to change the culture that breeds it, to educate people to understand that sexual violence in all its forms is abhorrent, and that these atrocities must be prevented at all costs. The High Court of Kenya has recently taken such an admirable step. 

On April 24th, 2013, Bangladesh faced its worst industrial disaster. An eight-story garment factory collapsed, resulting in the loss of more than 1100 lives. A few days after the incident, Christian Amanpour of CNN interviewed the Bangladeshi Prime Minister, Sheikh Hasina, where she responded to the crisis by saying “Anywhere in the world, accidents can happen.

As the most populous city in Eastern Africa, Nairobi, Kenya has many of the problems of any large city (crime, substandard housing, poverty, etc.), and is also at the center of a nation divided by ethnic strife and a vast disparity between those that have much and those that have very little.  These issues came to a head with the Presidential elections in December 2007, which led to large-scale conflict, including between protesters and police.  The violence was most acute in the poorest neighborhoods of Nairobi, including the slums of Kibera, Mathare and Babandogo.

While gender equality is enshrined in the 1948 UN Declaration of Human Rights, in the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and in legislation in most countries, women’s conditions of participation in markets and their rewards from that participation, still remain woefully unequal to men’s.  

When deciding how to produce a film about Zimbabwe several themes ran through my head. Some themes appeared to be narratives with a compelling storyline. But conferring with two colleagues who helped developed the film, I soon began a process of elimination on what could work. I was intrigued when the rule of law was suggested as the prism in which to tell the story of the country. But also initially confused.

What are the changes that happened in the past 50 years that West Papua has been ruled by Indonesia?  Why do I reflect on my personal journey and write this? Because this has been the reality of the lives of the Papuan people under the Indonesian military system  since the 1st of May, 1963 and since the so called Act of Free Choice in 1969 when West Papua through military and political pressure was unjustly integrated into Indonesia. We [West Papuans] have maintained our dignity in the face of oppression, insult and prejudice.

As we reflect on labor rights and workers during the month of May, pause and consider what the working world looks like to someone who cannot see, or hear, or move easily from place to place. Justice Rising contributor Stephanie Ortoleva was recently at the Pacific Rim International Conference on Disability and Diversity in Hawaii, where she delivered this excellent keynote on the obstacles facing women with disabilities in both education and employment as they enter the STEM fields.