Human Rights

UN-Habitat released its biannual “State of the World’s Cities” report in March, a 250+ page document that covers all manner of subjects about our increasingly urbanized world. More than half of all people now live in cities, and this figure will reach 60% in less than twenty years, and 70% by 2050. A very interesting […]

By Sarah Rose Ch. 4: Shanghai to Hangzhou, September 1848 Robert Fortune was patient as the coolie attended to his new coif. A small blue and white tea bowl sat nearby on a dusty crate, and swirling its sediment of leaves, Fortune spilled the cooling liquid out onto the dirty deck. Floors were the place […]

What is more harmful to a child, verbal or physical abuse? First let me start with saying that both are harmful and I personally find it reprehensible to abuse a child in any form. However I pose the question as I all too often hear people in an unwitting debate as to which is more […]

The Auschwitz Institute for Peace and Reconciliation is holding a conference in Buenos Aires next week from April 12-14. The conference, titled ‘Memory, Justice, Truth and Reparations as Tools for Genocide Prevention’, has been co-organized by the government of Argentina. It will host government officials and policymakers from 40 nations. I spoke today with AIPR’s […]

Those of us in the human rights field often talk as though what we call human rights are clear, obvious, and of course never up to interpretation. This is certainly the case with some rights. It is never acceptable, for example, to imprison an innocent person for political reasons or commit violence for the purposes […]

*U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton argues that achieving women’s equality is central to global security in an op-ed for The Times of London: Women are still the majority of the world’s poor, uneducated, unhealthy and unfed. They are the majority of the world’s farmers, but are often forbidden to own the land they cultivate […]

As a writer on children’s rights, the subject of abuse is commonplace, however the types of abuse are as varied as they are haunting.  Most often I write about the horrors physical abuse, child labor, sex trafficking, etc. Though we often forget to bring much needed attention and awareness to the issues of verbal abuse. […]

The below email is from Manzar Mian, former co-director at the Depilex Smile Again.  Place read my post about Depilex Smile Again for background. And here. ————— Depilex Smileagain Foundation (DSF) has sent a legal notice to its main donor and supporter, Clarice Felli, President Smileagain Italia,  accusing her of defaming DSF. Smileagain Italia lent its name […]

The United States is a country of immigrants – even more so if they are counted successfully in the current 2010 Census. Extra efforts have been made to reach previously undercounted populations, including those arriving as migrants. One reason that recent immigrants are less likely to participate may be lack of information about the Census, […]

The influence of the Roman Catholic church is quickly waning throughout most of Europe. Already, for the most part, secular…the recent scandals of sexual abuse…let’s call it what it is – child rape – has further alienated the Vatican from the very ordinary lives of the common citizen. The Church has for the past several […]

The I.C.C. decided this week to allow the Office of the Prosecutor to move ahead in pursuing charges against Kenyan leaders. From the Office of the Prosecutor: The judges decided. There will be justice in Kenya. To contribute to the prevention of crimes during the next election we must proceed promptly. We will. There is […]

by Jessica D’Itri Mu Sochua, 55, the most prominent woman in Cambodia’s Sam Rainsey opposition party is on the campaign trail three years in advance of the scheduled parliamentary elections. Sochua, a human rights and women’s rights activist, faces a tough and at times vicious campaign. The Prime Minister, Hun Sen, of the ruling Cambodian […]