Rock y derechos humanos

Armed Conflict and Human Rights in Colombia

Article opens a general characteristic of activity of human rights organizations in the system of human rights protection. The role of human rights organizations as important element of development of democracy and respect of the human rights promoting increase in effectiveness of implementation of protection and restoration of the violated rights and freedoms of the person and citizen is traced. The thought that despite expansion of activity of human rights organizations for the last decade in the Russian Federation, they to these do not realize fully tasks which are assigned to them is proved. Result of low knowledge of work of socially oriented non-profit organizations, absence them in "field of vision" of citizens are mistrust to human rights organizations, difficulties with attraction of material resources, narrowing of network of supporters and volunteers, small number of strong and competent leaders and a weak position in the market of services. In this connection, concerning the social directed human rights organizations it is necessary to develop intensively the information environment of the public sector for distribution of results of their activity. Besides, in human rights protection it is necessary for increase in a role of human rights organizations also in a standard order, and in the information environment accurately to draw a distinction between the social directed and political human rights organizations. Authors, analyzing the main problems in activity of human rights organizations, indicate the need development of cooperation of various structures of civil society among themselves that in turn promotes strengthening of human rights organization, the socially important tasks focused on the decision, fight against an arbitrariness of public officials and authorities, tortures in prisons, political persecution, etc. It is obvious that the stable relation of such interaction is the brightest sign of the developed democracy.

This chapter surveys global South publics’ definitions of “human rights” and perceptions of local human rights organizations. Many human rights practitioners fear negative public opinions about human rights ideas and organizations, such as seeing them as protecting criminals or terrorists, imposing foreign ideas, or offering a rhetorical “cover” for offenses of governments. Data show, however, that people generally regard “human rights” very positively and have high levels of trust in local human rights organizations. Another key finding is that pro-human rights constituents generally have anti-power worldviews, including mistrust in their national governments, the US government, and multinational corporations. Findings do not show evidence of a strong middle class human rights constituency, as some have argued, but instead suggest a constituency based more in worldview or ideology than materialist explanations.

The article analyzes the peculiarities of gender equality provision in Ukraine by non-governmental human rights organizations. The authors identified the problems of effective participation of Ukrainian human rights NGOs in the field of gender equality provision and suggested the ways to tackle them. The purpose of the article is to define the nature and the rate of engagement of non-governmental human rights organizations in the issue of provision of gender equality in Ukraine. Materials and methods: The investigation was based on the theoretical methods that cover the content analysis of statutory documents and reports of non-governmental human rights organizations that carry out activities on provision of gender equality in Ukraine. The empirical methods are related to the processing of statistical data on the amount of legal services provided and human rights-related activities of non-governmental human rights organizations in the field of promotion of female rights in Ukraine. Discussion and Conclusion: Human rights NGOs play a fundamental role in the provision of gender equality in Ukraine. Human rights NGOs in the field of gender equality provision founded in Ukraine are of international, national, and local levels. Most human rights NGOs in the field of gender equality provision are concentrated in large regions of Ukraine. Ways of increasing the amount of gender-related human rights NGOs are suggested. Human rights NGOs in Ukraine carry out educational, advocacy, consulting, monitoring, and research activities. The most common activity carried out by Ukrainian human rights NGOs is educational. Few Ukrainian human rights NGOs publish reports on the results of their activities, which demonstrates the low level of transparency of such organizations’ activities. Due to weak connection of human rights NGOs with governmental human rights and research institutions, there is a low number of gender-related monitoring and scientific projects within the activity of human rights NGO. Enhancement of such connection based on the policy documents of the Ministry of Science and Education of Ukraine is suggested.KeywordsGender equalityHuman rights NGOWomanPrecariatDomestic violence

At the present stage of their development the Ukrainian society and the state are characterized by their pursuit to provide maximum realization of human and civil rights and to create a full-scale civil society. Obviously, in this context, a significant attention is paid to the human rights in Ukraine, however there is insufficient research systematically conceptualizing the human rights employing philosophical and legal instruments and methodology. The author highlights that particular attention in the mechanism of organizational and legal remedies is paid to judicial and extrajudicial protection of human and civil rights. In accordance with the Article 55 of the Constitution of Ukraine the judicial protection of human and civil rights is maintained through the system of general jurisdiction courts of Ukraine. The state ensures the right of every person to appeal in court against any decisions, actions or inactivity of the state bodies, local self-government bodies and government officials that violate human and civil rights. In case of exhausting all remedies of his/her rights and liberties protection in national courts the person can appeal to the international courts, e.g. to the European Court of Human Rights. At present, Ukraine holds the third position in the number of its citizens’ appeals to this distinguished international legal institution. Every person is able to appeal to the extrajudicial institutions authorized to protect the constitutional human and civil rights and liberties. In Ukraine there is a special body for this purpose — the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights, whose activities are determined by the Law of Ukraine «On the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights» of 23 December, 1997. In case when all extrajudicial remedies of human rights protection are exhausted, a person has the right, guaranteed by the Constitution of Ukraine, to appeal to the international human rights organizations (Art. 55). In terms of the current theory and practice of guaranteeing the constitutional human and civil rights, together with the national regulatory, organizational and legal guarantees, it is worth to distinguish the international guarantees of the constitutional human and civil rights and liberties in Ukraine. The special international legal guarantees of the human and civil rights and liberties are usually divided into regulatory and institutional ones. Key words: human and civil rights and liberties, constitutional state, national legal doctrine, international law, imitation of human rights, constitutional and legal mechanism for ensuring human rights and liberties.

Human Rights and Reform: Changing the Face of North African Politics, by Susan E. Waltz. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1995. xiv + 237 pages. Notes to p. 269. Index to p. 281. $45 cloth; $16 paper. Reviewed by Maryam Elahi The human rights movement in the Maghrib has had significant impact in influencing public debate and bringing discussions on democratization and political reform to the forefront of Maghribi political society. With this book, Susan Waltz has succeeded in examining the role played by the Maghribi human rights movement in integrating the notion of civil and political rights in modem Tunisian, Algerian, and Moroccan political culture. I highly recommend Human Rights and Reform to anyone interested in North African contemporary history and politics. It examines the struggle of human rights activists and the cultural and political impediments that challenge them. This book discusses the development of modern state structures in Maghribi societies. One cannot get a sense of contemporary North African politics without understanding the role of the human rights movement-of whom it consists, what it strives for, and its undeniable influence over the substance of political discourse in the region. The author also discusses the impact that the international community has had in influencing the public debates and political measures, in some cases merely cosmetic, on human rights. In addition, these external forces, be they human rights organizations or the US Congress, have bestowed credibility and thereby protection to the domestic human rights organizations. Unlike other regions in the world where the human rights activists come from labor, indigenous movements, or political parties, the movement in the Maghrib was dominated initially by professionals: academics, doctors, and lawyers. Thus, being part of the professional elite, they had easier access to the political apparatus and developed a somewhat confusing rapport with the government, which at times they respectfully challenged and at other times they threatened. The birth of human rights organizations in each of the three countries has its own specific stories. In Tunisia, the Tunisian League for Human Rights was formally recognized by the government in 1977. Its original leadership chose individuals who had a reputation for being politically independent to head the organization and its executive committee. The League immediately proved itself to be a serious human rights group by organizing a commission of inquiry to look into detainees' situations and by sending observers to attend political trials. …

Paul Hunt: UN Special Rapporteur on the right to health

Globalizing Human Rights: The Work of Transnational Human Rights NGOs in the 1990s Jackie Smith (bio), Ron Pagnucco (bio), and George A. Lopez (bio) I. Introduction This paper summarizes the results of a mailed survey sent to nearly 300 transnational human rights organizations, of which more than half responded. The survey was designed to identify the geographic distributions of human rights organizations, their political activities, their work with international agencies, their organizational structures and resources, their links with nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), and their definitions of human rights goals. This study is part of a larger project to better understand how the work of transnational human rights NGOs influences global political and social change. [End Page 379] A. Background 1 Research on the development of international human rights law and institutions has identified the crucial role played by nongovernmental agents in defining international human rights norms, developing institutional mechanisms to ensure adherence to international norms, and monitoring national and local human rights practices. In recent years, researchers have made more concerted efforts to understand how NGOs operate and interact with other global actors to promote changes in local and global policies. 2 This research grows in part from the observation that a growing number of NGOs are engaging in international political activities. An increasing number of these groups are organized across national boundaries. This study is directed toward a better understanding of the work being done by transnational human rights NGOs. Much of the existing research on transnational human rights NGOs consists of: case studies of individual organizations working for human rights; 3 comparative studies of a select number of organizations; 4 studies of the work of human rights organizations and institutions in specific countries or regions; 5 and studies of the political processes surrounding human rights standard-setting and enforcement. 6 This study complements previous research [End Page 380] with a systematic survey of the population of transnational human rights NGOs, addressing questions about how these groups are organized and how they seek to influence global human rights work. The survey was intended to help answer, in a systematic way, a series of questions involving the array of transnational human rights NGOs, their locations, resources, structures, and memberships. Special emphasis was placed on the distribution between the Global North and South, and whether these transnational human rights NGOs are mass-based organizations with many individual members or, rather, are comprised largely of small professional staffs. There is an underlying assumption that the structure and the configuration of organizations within the movement will have important consequences for the human rights movement’s goals, strategies, and impacts. In addition, the mandates of these NGOs were compared, with emphasis on the difference in the goals on which these NGOs focus and the categories of rights that are receiving their attention. It will be interesting to see what these differences reveal about the human rights movement. What are the strategies and activities of international human rights NGOs? Is there some kind of specialization or division of labor among them? Do all the groups work with international institutions? How much attention does the human rights movement devote to public education on human rights, standard-setting, implementation, and enforcement? What do the differences in activities tell about the human rights movement? How fragmented and competitive are the NGOs? Is this a diffuse and uncooperative human rights movement, or is there some degree of integration and cooperation? Below follows a description of some of the broad characteristics of international human rights NGOs in an attempt to begin to answer these questions. B. The Survey The survey used in this study was developed in consultation with human rights advocates, scholars of international human rights politics, and researchers familiar with organizational surveys. 7 Several items in the survey [End Page 381] build upon previous studies of national social change organizations such as those John McCarthy has made of US-based organizations working to combat drunken driving 8 and to promote empowerment of the poor. 9 It also builds upon a survey of national and local US-based peace movement organizations 10 and a broad study of US voluntary associations by Dennis Young and colleagues. 11 Relying on previous studies...

The extension of academic censorship on Palestine to the medical world is, despite its pervasiveness, relatively unknown. In the latest iteration, a letter highlighting the Gaza Strip's vulnerability to the Covid-19 pandemic was removed from The Lancet's website after a swift pressure campaign. While the immediate effects were minimal — despite its short shelf-life, the piece is among the top 5% most discussed research publications11 "Overview of attention for article published in The Lancet, March 2020: Structural violence in the era of a new pandemic: the case of the Gaza Strip," Altmetric, https://www.altmetric.com/details/78453242. — the chilling effect of such campaigns on writers and editors is profound and enduring. This commentary outlines the struggle to make space for discussion and academic inquiry into the health impacts of the ongoing suffering inflicted on the Palestinian people. As Palestinians marked Land Day on March 30,22 Yara Hawari, "Commemorating Land Day amid lockdown in Palestine," Al Jazeera, March 30, 2020, https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/celebrating-land-day-lockdown-palestine-200329162501923.html. The Lancet, one of the world's oldest and most prestigious medical journals, silently removed from its website a commentary that was published three days prior.33 The original piece is still available from ScienceDirect at the following link: David Mills, et al., "Structural violence in the era of a new pandemic: the case of the Gaza Strip," The Lancet, March 27, 2020, https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0140673620307303#!. At just over 400 words, "Structural violence in the era of a new pandemic: the case of the Gaza Strip," draws on the deep historical and political forces that have rendered the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip particularly susceptible to an impending Covid-19 outbreak. Mirroring numerous warnings that continue to be published elsewhere, including a statement by 20 Palestinian, Israeli, and international health and human rights organizations,44 Adalah – The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel, et al., "Palestine: a possible COVID-19 epidemic in the Gaza Strip," Medecins Du Monde, April 8, 2020, https://www.medecinsdumonde.org/en/news/moyen-orient/2020/04/08/palestine-possible-covid-19-epidemic-gaza-strip. our commentary highlights the impact of pandemics on "populations burdened by poverty, military occupation, discrimination, and institutionalised oppression." Its critical tone is consistent with other Lancet commentaries targeting various national and global responses to Covid-19.55 Richard Horton, "Offline: COVID-19 and the NHS—"a national scandal"," The Lancet 395, no. 10229 (2020): 1022 https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(20)30727-3/fulltext; Sarah L. Dalglish, "COVID-19 gives the lie to global health expertise," The Lancet 395, no. 10231 (2020): 1189; https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(20)30739-X/fulltext. While hoping the swift removal was just a technical error, our experience working on Palestine made us suspect otherwise. A hint came via the elated tweet of a Canadian endocrinologist who had been involved in prior efforts to censor scholarship connecting Israel's occupation and human rights abuses to Palestinian health outcomes. The next day we understood the impetus behind the commentary's sudden disappearance: a message had been circulated to the scientific community in the United States (and beyond) calling — ironically, given the hostility to similar boycott calls directed at Israel — for a boycott of The Lancet for publishing the piece. To understand The Lancet editorial staff's swift decision to remove the commentary, we need to go back to 2014. At the height of Israel's large-scale military assault on the Gaza Strip, The Lancet published "An open letter for the people in Gaza,"66 Paola Manduca, "An open letter for the people in Gaza," The Lancet 384, no. 9941 (2014): 397–398; https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(14)61044-8/fulltext. setting off an aggressive years-long campaign with demands that both the open letter and the editor-in-chief be removed. Neither occurred after a thorough review by The Lancet ombudsman. The controversy culminated, however, with five 2017 Lancet Series papers designed to "outline Israel's achievements in health and health care."77 "Health in Israel," The Lancet, May 8, 2017, https://www.thelancet.com/series/health-in-israel. While the papers commemorated one of the world's most efficient healthcare systems,88 Lee J. Miller and Wei Lu, "These are the economies with the most (and least) efficient health care," Bloomberg, September 19, 2018, https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-09-19/u-s-near-bottom-of-health-index-hong-kong-and-singapore-at-top. missing was any discussion of Israel's institutionalized oppression over the Palestinian people that leaves millions without the ability to develop or even access similarly exemplary healthcare. Indeed, the authors of the introductory piece of the series decided to "not comprehensively address historical or political issues, except when directly pertaining to health,"99 A. Mark Clarfield, "Health and health care in Israel: an introduction," The Lancet 389, no. 10088 (2017): 2503–2513; https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(17)30636-0/fulltext. as if there were any other comparably important factors determining the stark health (and other) inequities between Israeli-Jewish and Palestinian inhabitants of the region.1010 Ido Efrati, "Huge disparities between Israeli, Palestinian health-care [sic] systems, says rights group," Haaretz, January 10, 2015, https://www.haaretz.com/.premium-huge-disparities-between-israeli-palestinian-health-care-1.5358335; "Concluding observations on the combined seventeeth to nineteenth report of Israel," Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, December 12, 2019, https://tbinternet.ohchr.org/Treaties/CERD/Shared%20Documents/ISR/INT_CERD_COC_ISR_40809_E.pdf. The aftermath of the publication of the 2014 letter explains how The Lancet, a high-profile outlet courageously and almost uniquely willing to cover the political and historical forces impacting Palestinian health, came to publish an entire edition—perhaps the most prominent example of "healthwashing"—that sweeps these defining issues under the rug. "An open letter for the people in Gaza" denounced Israel's 2014 military assault on the besieged Gaza Strip, highlighting the widespread killing and severe injury of Palestinian civilians, including children. Noted was the extraordinary loss of infrastructure, leaving more than 100,000 people homeless,1111 "4.5 years after Israel destroyed thousands of homes in Operation Protective Edge: 13,000 Gazans still homeless," B'Tselem, March 3, 2019, https://www.btselem.org/gaza_strip/20190303_13000_gazans_homelsess_since_2014_war. and the dramatic impacts of Israel's ever-tightening blockade on access to essential medicines, food, and potable water. The authors criticized the complicity of third states, as well as that of Israeli health professionals who failed to speak out against this massacre.1212 Ido Efrati, "Israeli docs mobilize against anti-Israel letter in The Lancet," Haaretz, July 28, 2014, https://www.haaretz.com/docs-target-anti-israel-letter-in-the-lancet-1.5257147. Precisely the same complicity was noted in a Lancet editorial following Israel's 2008–2009 military assault on the Gaza Strip.1313 "The medical conditions in Gaza," The Lancet 373, no. 9659 (2009): 186; https://www.thelancet.com/jour-nals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(09)60049-0/fulltext. The journal's editors deplored the "silence of national medical associations and professional bodies worldwide in response to this destruction and dislocation of health services," singling out medical association leaders, who "through their inaction, are complicit in a preventable tragedy that may have long-lasting public-health consequences not only for Gaza, but also for the entire region." Within a context of pervasive Israeli impunity,1414 "Resolution adopted by the Human Rights Council on 22 March 2019," UN Human Rights Council, April 3, 2019, https://documents-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/G19/096/44/PDF/G1909644.pdf?OpenElement. the 2009 and 2014 Lancet statements were — and remain — bold calls for action. Each historical juncture was accompanied by an expectation that now, finally, the world should stand up and address the root causes prolonging the injustice and suffering of the Palestinian people. While this ultimately did not occur, The Lancet offered readers the option of adding their signatures to the 2014 letter;1515 "Smear campaign against The Lancet's "Open Letter" on crimes against humanity in Gaza," Global Research News, April 19, 2015, https://www.globalresearch.ca/smear-campaign-against-the-lancets-open-letter-on-crimes-against-humanity-in-gaza/5443762. tens of thousands did so, signaling that a chord of outrage had been resonantly struck. But the extremeness of Israel's military actions in the summer of 2014 did not dilute the potency of the reactionary outcry from its defenders the world over. The response to The Lancet letter took two main forms. First, there was a slew of letters and email invective launched at The Lancet, generally, and at the journal's editor-in-chief, Richard Horton, in particular. And not just Horton, who was vilified as an anti-Semite with a photo of a uniformed Nazi conjoined to his.1616 Ido Efrati, "After accusing Israel of war crimes, Lancet medical journal devotes entire issue to Israeli health care," Haaretz, May 10, 2017, https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/lancet-devotes-whole-issue-to-israeli-health-care-1.5470008. The verbal abuse extended to his wife and school-age daughter, reminiscent of the vicious personal attacks on Judge Richard Goldstone following the 2009 release of his United Nations Fact Finding Mission report on the Gaza conflict, which included an attempt to ban him from attending his own grandson's bar mitzvah at a synagogue in Johannesburg.1717 Akiva Eldar, "What exactly did Goldstone 'retract' from his report on Gaza?" Haaretz, April 11, 2011, https://www.haaretz.com/1.5150611. The harassment of medical editors who publish material critical of Israel's policies and actions long predates the modern siege on the Gaza strip. In 1981, the editor of World Medicine, Michael O'Donnell, was targeted in a similarly aggressive campaign, ultimately leading to his dismissal and even the dissolution of the journal. What O'Donnell makes clear in his 2009 chronicling of the 1981 attacks, is that these are not spontaneous outcries of protest, but carefully orchestrated lobbying campaigns designed to obscure the truth about Israel's systematic denial of Palestinian rights. The goal is not only to silence editors but to inhibit would-be writers, many of whom reasonably fear professional and personal consequences. "The technique has endured for decades because it is effective," O'Donnell writes,1818 Michael O'Donnell, "Commentary: standing up for free speech," British Medical Journal 338 (2009): a2094; https://www.bmj.com/content/338/bmj.a2094?ijkey=a750758b30f7cd89d23d514cec8fb8d995e8475d&keytype2=tf_ipsecsha. and if this reemergence in 2020 has any lasting significance, it will be to test and challenge whether this remains so. The second type of response to the 2014 letter came in the form of tacit mobilization of powerful interests to limit free speech on the health impacts of Israeli policies and practices. These tactics are by now well-known outside the medical world,1919 Ben White, "Delegitimizing Solidarity: Israel Smears Palestine Advocacy as Anti-Semitic," Journal of Palestine Studies 49, no. 2 (2020): 65. https://online.ucpress.edu/jps/article/49/2/65/107373/Delegitimizing-Solidarity-Israel-Smears-Palestine?searchresult=1; "UN rights experts denounce Israel's growing constraints on human rights defenders," OHCHR, March 3, 2017, https://documents-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/G19/150/38/PDF/G1915038.pdf?OpenElement. falling within the broader context of concerted efforts led by the Israeli government to outlaw Palestine solidarity and delegitimize human rights defenders, organizations, and activists who challenge Israel's abuses and seek justice and accountability.2020 "Israel / Occupied Palestinian Territory: ongoing smear campaign against Al-Haq staff members Mr. Shawan Jabarin and Ms. Nada Kiswanson," International Federation for Human Rights, November 10, 2017, https://www.fidh.org/en/issues/human-rights-defenders/israel-occupied-palestinian-territory-ongoing-smear-campaign-against. In January of 2015, explicitly identifying the 2014 letter to The Lancet as the motivator,2121 "ADA/AACE/EASD/TES Statement in Response to a Recently Published Letter to the Editor in The Lancet and an Editorial Addressing the Israeli-Palestinian Fighting in Gaza," PR Newswire, November 3, 2014, https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/adaaaceeasdtes-statement-in-response-to-a-recently-published-letter-to-the-editor-in-the-lancet-and-an-editorial-addressing-the-israeli-palestinian-fighting-in-gaza-281311631.html. the Presidents of the American Diabetes Association, the European Association for the Study of Diabetes, the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists, and the Endocrine Society, as well as the editors-in-chief of eight diabetes and endocrinology journals, issued a statement of principle that proclaimed "our respective journal will refrain from publishing articles addressing political issues that are outside of either research funding or health care delivery."2222 "Statement of principle," American Diabetes Association, Diabetes 64, no. 1, (2015): 311; https://diabetes.diabetesjournals.org/content/64/1/311.full-text.pdf. Leaving aside the oddness of diabetes professionals' unwillingness to publicly tackle the political factors that drive the disease in which they specialize — a position even more untenable as the Covid-19 pandemic exposes the political underpinnings of health with drastically inequitable infection and mortality rates2323 Zeeshan Aleem, "New CDC data shows Covid-19 is affecting African Americans at exceptionally high rates," Vox, April 18, 2020, https://www.vox.com/coronavirus-covid19/2020/4/18/21226225/coronavirus-black-cdc-infection. — an ethical question lingers here. Should physicians and scientists be permitted to publicly narrate the historical, structural, commercial, social, and political forces that lead to avoidable death, illness, and suffering? Given the clear link between these forces and ill health, and the consensus that ignoring them leads to worse outcomes,2424 Seth M Holmes, et al., "Misdiagnosis, Mistreatment, and Harm - When Medical Care Ignores Social Forces," The New England Journal of Medicine 382, no. 12 (2020): 1083–1086; https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp1916269. might it not be their duty, in fact, to do so? Such questions recall Edward Said's influential 1984 paper, "Permission to narrate,"2525 Edward Said, "Permission to Narrate," London Review of Books, February 16, 1984, https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v06/n03/edward-said/permission-to-narrate. in which he juxtaposes the historically uncontested facts of Israeli aggression during the 1982 Lebanon War with the perception in Western media that Palestinians were the primary wrongdoers and agents of violence. "Sequence, the logic of cause and effect as between oppressors and victims, opposing pressures—all these vanish inside an enveloping cloud called 'terrorism,'" Said notes. The narrative is distorted beyond recognition, and "there is every chance that ignorance about Israel's attitude towards Palestinians will keep pace with sustained encomia on Israel's pioneering spirit, democracy and humanism." Particularly when silencing comes within the context of prolonged violations of international law and institutionalized impunity,2626 Jonathan Cook, "Israel is silencing the last voices trying to stop abuses against Palestinians," Mondoweiss, November 12, 2019, https://mondoweiss.net/2019/11/israel-is-silencing-the-last-voices-trying-to-stop-abuses-against-palestinians/; "Israel: Supreme Court Greenlights Deporting Human Rights Watch Official," Human Rights Watch, Press Release, November 5, 2019, https://www.hrw.org/news/2019/11/05/israel-supreme-court-greenlights-deporting-human-rights-watch-official. medical journals have a heightened responsibility to narrate facts within what Said describes as a "socially acceptable narrative to absorb, sustain and circulate them."2727 Edward Said, "Permission to Narrate," London Review of Books, February 16, 1984, https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v06/n03/edward-said/permission-to-narrate. In order to avoid the primacy of ideology over scientific inquiry, publishers must allow for pertinent critique of powerful entities, including states, a willingness Richard Horton has demonstrated frequently during his tenure at The Lancet.2828 Richard Horton, "Offline: COVID-19 and the NHS—"a national scandal,"" The Lancet 395, no. 10229 (2020): 1022. https://www.thelancet.com/action/showPdf?pii=S0140-6736%2820%2930727-3; Yair Amikam, "The Palestinian Medical Crisis: An Exchange," The New York Review of Books, June 14, 2007, https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2007/06/14/the-palestinian-medical-crisis-an-exchange/. With the systematic silencing of voices critical of Israel's violations and refusal to acknowledge a Palestinian counter-narrative, a perspective that highlights the primacy and consequences of Israeli aggression will seem outrageous to many, in 2020 as much as in 1982 or in the aftermath of Palestinian expulsion during the Nakba ("catastrophe") of 1948. In prominent medical journals, Palestinian health narratives feature infrequently. When surveying the literature, the most prominent medical journals in the United States have only one mention of Palestine for every 20 mentions of Israel, compared with a still lopsided one-to-four ratio for leading medical journals in the United Kingdom.2929 Mads Gilbert, "Publication Patterns on Occupied Palestine in Four Key Medical Journals 1990–2016: A Descriptive Study," The Lancet 391 (2018): S24. https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(18)30390-8/fulltext. While one could argue that this reflects a lack of research production from Palestine, which would require its own thoughtful explication, our experience—both recent and historic— suggests this represents a refusal of academic space for those who challenge dominant, ideologically-motivated health narratives. In its willingness to elide uncomfortable historical and political realities,3030 Gideon A. Paul, et al., "A Call for Academic Medicine to Remain Politically Neutral," The Lancet 393, no. 10183 (2019): 1806. https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(19)30027-3/fulltext. the medical association-sponsored silence on Palestine confirms this suspicion, implying a penchant for ideology rather than pursuit of truth in approaches to understanding health. What else could motivate a statement promoting censorship of the root causes of disease? Tellingly, the physicians and scientists who pounced on The Lancet following the publication of our latest piece didn't bother to submit a reasoned reply for the journal's consideration, perhaps because some had already declared "victory" in the journal's pages last year. In a triumphant letter,3131 Julio Rosenstock, et al., "Bringing Closure: Towards Achieving a Better Understanding of Israel," The Lancet 394, no. 10198 (2019): 559. https://www.thelancet.com/pdfs/journals/lancet/PIIS0140-6736(19)31760-X.pdf. ironically political given it was led by a board member of the American Diabetes Association (who is also an associate editor of a journal involved in the aforementioned statement of principle),3232 "Statement of principle," American Diabetes Association, Diabetes 64, no. 1, (2015): 311. https://diabetes.diabetesjournals.org/content/64/1/311.full-text.pdf. the authors celebrated the success of their self-described "sanctions" against The Lancet. Remarkably, when asked whether their boycott of The Lancet weakened the case against boycott of Israel, one of them said, "We had no other option."3333 Peter Kohn, "Pro-Israel doctors end dispute with The Lancet," Australian Jewish News, August 15, 2019, https://ajn.timesofisrael.com/pro-israel-doctors-end-dispute-with-the-lancet/. In addition to the proven historical efficacy of the systematic bullying and censorship touted and euphemized in their letter, there is another plausible reason for avoiding academic debate on our commentary's claims. It is almost certain that none of those lashing out at the journal, neither in 2014 nor today, have meaningful experience living with Palestinians or working on health and human rights in Palestine. On which other topic are the inexperienced and unequipped allowed such sway in the worlds of science and health? And if, despite the experiential gap between us, they wish to press on, shouldn't they have to do so with the same platform available to us—that of reasoned discourse? This isn't just an ivory tower discussion on academic freedom. If the scientific and medical communities refuse to take a strong stand on censorship, bullying, and aggressive lobbying campaigns aimed at silencing academic journals, the well-deserved fear of even the most sympathetic editors—who deserve our staunch solidarity—will allow for the continued erasure of Palestinian health facts, voices, narratives, and experiences. In "Structural violence in the era of a new pandemic: the case of the Gaza Strip," we that violence in historical, and health and that the and response to disease At a when Palestinians are exceptionally susceptible to the Covid-19 the of this ongoing silencing campaign could not be are in the and medical and scientific communities of should that of censorship must be not

This chapter analyzes the origins and the development of human rights organizations in Turkey since 1945. It first offers an overview of the limited number of elite organizations established between 1946 and 1974 and the initial skepticism toward human rights activism in the country in the 1960s and 1970s among grass-roots political movements. It then discusses the importance of two major events, the military coup in 1980 and the start of the armed conflict between the Turkish security forces and the PKK in 1984, for the development of human rights–based activism in the 1980s. The chapter then turns to the 1990s, characterized by the proliferation of human rights organizations and diversification of focus areas, ranging from LGBT rights to the rights of women to manifest their religion by wearing headscarves. It links these dynamics to the global rise of human rights activism in the 1990s and the subsequent appropriation of the human rights lexicon by a wide range of domestic social movements. The chapter moves forward with a discussion of the further proliferation of human rights organizations well into the 2000s as Turkey’s EU membership process boosted democratization and pluralism. The chapter ends with an assessment of the impact of the Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi’s authoritarian turn on the transformative power and horizons of human rights organizations in the 2010s.

The execution of Ken Saro-Wiwa and the other environmental and human rights activists in Nigeria in November 1995, represented flagrant violations of human rights. What was exceptional about this case was that the uprising, which ultimately lead to the executions, was not primarily aimed at the Government, but rather at one of the large transnational corporations, Shell Oil. The article analyses the composition of the actors and the various human rights involved in this conflict. It argues that the complexity of the conflict is shown through the wide variety of environmental NGOs, human rights NGOs, international business and organisations that were implicated in it. The article points to the interrelatedness of various human rights - and the interlinkedness to environmental issues, claiming that environmental organisations were forced’ to use rights language, while human rights organisations needed to address environmental issues. And ultimately, the business actor has publicly stated intent to observe a human rights accountability.

International human rights organizations can play a productive role in advancing economic, social, and cultural rights. They can (1) collaborate with partner organizations in the developing world in lobbying for systems of services that meet needs in a manner consistent with human rights requirements; (2) advocate for resources to fulfill economic, social, and cultural rights, especially by lobbying for funds from wealthy countries; and (3) monitor compliance by states with the increasingly explicit obligations, including core obligations, to protect, respect and fulfill these rights. To engage in these activities, international human rights organizations can build on the analytical capacity and other strengths they have developed in advancing civil and political rights but need to develop additional methods and competencies. At the same time, they will need to deepen partnerships with national and community-based organizations.

This study explores the role of human rights organizations in the development of civil society and addresses the issue of their legal status on the international stage. The relevance of the topic is underscored by the growing number of such organizations and their increasing influence at both national and international levels. The paper examines several key areas in which human rights organizations impact civil society, including the protection of human rights, raising public awareness, contributing to the formation of international norms, and engaging in cooperation with governments, other institutions, and marginalized or civically engaged groups. A central issue discussed is the lack of a clearly defined legal status for human rights organizations globally. The study proposes that the international community formally recognize and standardize this status. This proposal is justified by the notable rise in the number of human rights organizations and their expanding influence on global practice. In addition, the paper reflects on how civil society interacts with different domains of public life, particularly the political and economic spheres. This research is intended for legal professionals, human rights advocates, and members or organizers of civic organizations, as well as concerned individuals seeking to contribute to the protection and promotion of human rights.

This study examined the importance of the remedy system at human rights organizations with local governments, aiming to provide an improvement plan. It analyzed three cases of human rights violations, settled between 2019 and 2021, of those employed at social welfare facilities of human rights organizations in Seoul and Gyeonggi-do Province from a restorative justice perspective. According to analysis findings, the remedy system of human rights organizations at local governments was implemented based on the participation from victims, perpetrators, and the community. While the system was useful for assisting victims to recover from damages and providing corrective recommendations to perpetrators, there were issues with how it interpreted human rights violations as merely infringements on the freedom of employees, and the actual effectiveness of corrective recommendations issued to perpetrators. With respect to the findings, the following improvements may be suggested from a restorative justice viewpoint. First, more attention and efforts are needed from social welfare facility employees to boost perpetrators' fulfillment of corrective recommendations. Second, the remedy system of local governments' human rights organizations should be strengthened, and lastly, the decisions of human rights violations at local governments should be publicized more widely.

This paper examines the politics of defending human rights, based on Public Choice Theory. Human rights organizations in Israel turn to the court to defend human rights. We argue that this strategy may prove ineffective in terms of defending human rights for the long run for various reasons. First, the politics of defending human rights is very complex where the power circle beside the court and human rights organizations includes also the relations between politicians, bureaucrats and the public. Second, the political culture that has been established in Israeli society since the 1980s is such that relations between citizens and politicians are based on a bottom-up orientation. Thus, norms and social changes can be hardly imposed from top down, but mainly evolve from bottom up. Directing all human rights strategies toward an elitist institution such as the Supreme Court may bear results in the short run but in the long run attitude change as well as policy decisions towards defending human rights are likely to emerge due to demands from society. Third, by empowering the court, human rights organizations disconnect these issues from the vast majority of Israeli citizens discouraging belief change. The paper concludes that defending human rights must include also attempts of mass mobilization which will create the grounds for human rights organizations to turn to the legislative authorities.