Abuse Of Human Rights Research Articles

COVID-19 and the constructions of Africa in African news media

This article examines the constructions of Africa in COVID-19-related stories that were produced by African news media. Dominant scholarship indicates that western media generally reproduce and perpetuate harmful stereotypes on Africa. Given that there is scant literature on how African media covers Africa, this article uses the COVID-19 pandemic as an entry point to explore the disease narratives on Africa. Drawing on Afrokology as decolonial perspective, this article examines the discourses and narratives on Africa that were produced by African news organizations. Data were drawn from ten news organizations from Ghana, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, South Africa and Egypt. A quantitative corpus analysis and a qualitative critical discourse analysis were used to analyse the COVID-19-related stories. Findings demonstrate that harmful disease stereotypes about Africa as a place of danger, darkness, tragedy and human rights abuses were reproduced by the African media.

In the Wake of Bonsucro: Multi-Stakeholder Initiatives and Third-Party Certifiers at the Test Bench of OECD National Contact Points

AbstractIn January 2022, the UK National Contact Point (UK NCP) issued a final statement in a specific instance claim brought against Bonsucro, a multi-stakeholder initiative (MSI) that aims to promote sustainable production of sugarcane. The claim alleged that Bonsucro had failed to comply with the OECD Guidelines because it had not carried out appropriate due diligence towards one of its members, accused of human rights abuses. While NCP complaints had been brought against MSIs and certifiers before, the UK NCP’s final statement is the first to recognize the leverage MSIs have over members due to their ability to deny membership and related reputational benefits to companies wishing to show sustainability logos, and to affirm their responsibility to use this leverage to avoid abuses. The statement sheds light on the accountability of actors involved in private voluntary sustainability standard systems, with possible impacts on other actors such as third-party certifiers.

Global mental health and climate change: A geo-psychiatry perspectiv

Climate changes affect planet ecosystems, living beings, humans, including their lives, rights, economy, housing, migration, and both physical and mental health. Geo-psychiatry is a new discipline within the field of psychiatry studying the interface between various geo-political factors including geographical, political, economic, commercial and cultural determinants which affect society and psychiatry: it provides a holistic overview on global issues such as climate changes, poverty, public health and accessibility to health care. It identifies geopolitical factors and their effects at the international and national levels, as well as considers the politics of climate changes and poverty within this context. This paper then introduces the Compassion, Assertive Action, Pragmatism, and Evidence Vulnerability Index (CAPE-VI) as a global foreign policy index: CAPE-VI calculates how foreign aid should be prioritised for countries that are at risk or already considered to be fragile. These countries are characterised by various forms of conflict, disadvantaged by extremes of climate change, poverty, human rights abuses, and suffering from internal warfare or terrorism.

Amnesty International’s Human Rights Campaigns and Transnational Democracy in South Korea in the 1970s

This article examines the intersection between Amnesty International(AI)’s global human rights expansion policy and South Korea’s pro-democracy movements in the 1970s. It argues that local pro-democracy actors vernacularized and mobilized AI’s concept of and global campaign for prisoners of conscience, thereby transforming their struggle into a transnational movement. In making this argument, the article highlights a multi-directional conflict over the meaning and uses of human rights between local and international actors. Against the backdrop of seeking to establish a local chapter of AI, pro-democracy actors challenged AI’s political neutrality policy by advocating for South Korean political prisoners as well as for prisoners in other countries; they also challenged the distinction that AI drew between political prisoners and prisoners of conscience. Finding the UN unresponsive to their appeals and recognizing the role of US Cold War policy in buttressing Park Chunghee’s authoritative regime, South Korean pro-democracy actors, acting in concert with liberal internationalists in the US Congress, shifted the primary stage for addressing international human rights abuses from the United Nations to the US Congress. This shift placed the spotlight on US foreign policies that facilitated the South Korean government’s human rights abuses, which in turn led both the US and South Korean government to devise counteractive human rights campaigns that drew on humanitarian and anti-communist rhetoric to preserve the status quo.

The Violation of Human Rights during the Bakassi Peninsula Conflict from 1965 to 2013

The military skirmishes over the Bakassi peninsula between Cameroon and Nigeria was as a result of the vestiges of colonialism and the discovery of large deposits of natural resources in the area. This study explores the violations of human rights in the Bakassi peninsula during the Bakassi conflict. The study mainly explores how, when and where these human rights abuses were committed, and to a lesser extent why and who committed these abuses. The study adopts the qualitative research method and from it, historical consolidation and content analyses in terms of data collection. The use of secondary data, applied with the thematic approach in this study brings to the fore that there were lots of human rights violations during the Bakassi conflict in the Bakassi peninsula. This study could be utilised by researchers and policy makers to understand human rights trends in the Bakassi peninsula area.
 Keywords: Cameroon, Nigeria, Violations, Human Rights, Bakassi Peninsula Conflict

Intergenerational Trauma in the Aftermath of Genocide

Intergenerational trauma can be understood as the transmission of historical trauma and its adverse effects and impact across generations. This has been witnessed across many nations, populations and marginalized groups, particularly in countries that have experienced long histories of war, systemic violence and/or human rights abuses. The article focuses on Cambodia in the aftermath of the Khmer Rouge and subsequent genocide as the impact of this short but profoundly devastating period in the country’s history continues to permeate many layers of life in Cambodia today. Some examples of trauma-informed research from Rwanda are also presented to highlight cross-cultural understandings of trauma and resilience. Through the research, this article explores the long-standing impacts of intergenerational trauma on the Cambodian population and discusses resilience in the aftermath of human rights violations.

Remembering Wiji Thukul, Indonesia's Murdered Poet-activist

ABSTRACT Modern Indonesia has been shaped by human rights abuses, with the military regime of Major-General Suharto (1966 −1998) standing at the fulcrum of this history. Over twenty-five years since its fall, survivors and their families continue to struggle with this legacy. This paper focuses on the case of Wiji Thukul, a disappeared poet-activist whose life and work continue to inspire progressive Indonesians decades after he played an important role in the movement that helped topple Suharto’s dictatorship. It translates for a non-Indonesian audience his life, which was characterised by a creative practice that gave voice to working-class people like himself. It asserts that remembering Thukul has helped energise and galvanise efforts to advance Indonesia’s conflicted and fragile democratic project. In doing this, it also charts how, in the first two decades of the millennium, he came to be an underground icon of activism and public discourse on unresolved human rights abuses and democratic reform, notably through the ‘refusing to forget’ movement. This has been significant in resistance to the return of authoritarianism. Beyond this, it examines how his memory has been translated for a new generation that never experienced the regime and argues for his significance in an international context.

Genocide in Kashmir: Right of Self-Determination, UNSC Resolutions and Holding India To Account Under International Humanitarian Law

Kashmir has been a flashpoint of conflict since independence from British rule in 1947 and the partition of India into two states. These two countries, India, and Pakistan, have both claimed the land on the northern most sector of the Subcontinent the focal point of which is the Valley of Kashmir. The conflict is not a domestic dispute or a regional issue between the two protagonists but engages international law because of the human rights violations and the atrocities committed that has engaged international humanitarian law. The occupation by India of Kashmir was controversial from the start as it went against the aspirations of the population who had close affinity and kinship with Pakistan. The United Nations Security Council mandated a referendum to decide the future of the territory divided by a Line of Control, a military boundary, but India has refused to implement the resolutions. The Indian army has cracked down on the population under the Special Powers Act 1958 and various other opaque ordinances that oppress the population. The final act in this de facto occupation was transformed into de jure control by the Indian Parliament when it revoked Article 370 and Article 35 of the Constitution and annexed Kashmir. The Valley has been placed under lockdown and the population disfranchised with all political activity banned and demographic changes underway by a government appointed by India. The pogroms committed by the Security forces and the gross abuses of human rights have been catalogued in two UN Human Rights Council reports that implicate the Indian forces. The argument of this paper is that there should be rigorous application of international law and war crimes tribunals should be invested to prosecute the Indian officials for breaches of human rights established in the conduct of non-international conflicts (NIC).

An Investigation of Cutting Down of Trees as Human Rights Abuse in the Global World

Purpose: To investigate the current cutting down of trees as a human rights abuse in the global world.
 Methodology: The study employed a documentary review secondary data collection method. Documentary review is a data collection technique in which data is gathered from reports, journals, Magazines, Newspapers, and articles that have data linked to the research being undertaken (Creswell, 2014). A documentary review was employed to investigate the current cutting down of trees as a human rights abuse in the global world by examining the causes, impacts, and how it’s an abuse of human rights.
 Findings: It was found out that cutting down trees in the forest is deforestation. The direct causes are caused by people who clear land for crops, and animal grazing and obtain wood for fuel, manufacturing, and construction. The study found that deforestation affects many species that are so specialized to microhabitats within the forest that they can only be found in small areas. Their specialization makes them vulnerable to extinction. In addition to the species lost when an area is totally deforested, the plants and animals in the fragments of forest that remain also become increasingly vulnerable, sometimes even committed, to extinction. The edges of the fragments dry out and are buffeted by hot winds; mature rainforest trees often die standing at the margins. Cascading changes in the types of trees, plants, and insects that can survive in the fragments rapidly reduce biodiversity in the forest that remains. The study further found that deforestation is a human rights abuse because it denies people the right to life. Trees reduce the amount of stormwater runoff, which reduces erosion and pollution in our waterways and may reduce the effects of flooding but when they are cut they cause flooding which erodes people’s houses and cause losing lives which is a human rights abuse against the declaration of human rights 1948 (Everyone born in this world has human rights that must be protected by the law).
 Unique Contribution to Theory, Practice and Policy: the governments of the global world should work as the team to fight this devise by ending deforestation and thwarting pandemics to address six of the United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals: the guarantee of healthy lives, zero hunger, gender equality, responsible consumption and production, sustainably managed land, and climate action (intact tropical forests absorb carbon dioxide, whereas burning them sends more CO2 into the atmosphere).

Lessons Learned in Qatar: The Role of the Netherlands and Its Businesses in Addressing Human Rights Abuses in Mega-Sporting Events

Mega-sporting events (MSEs) can have a negative impact on human rights throughout their lifecycle, from the bidding stage, over to the planning and preparation stage, the delivery of the event, and also as part of their legacy after the event has concluded. They can be linked to land grabbing, forced evictions, forced labour and many other human rights abuses. The problem is that only a very few of these cases are actually addressed in the sense that rights-holders receive an effective remedy and those responsible for the abuse are held to account. MSEs are jointly organized and staged by public, private, national, and international actors, which each contribute in different ways to the associated human rights impact. Rather than looking at the responsibility of those actors directly involved in organizing and staging the event, this article looks at the responsibility of the participating actors of states that are represented at the event, namely businesses and sports bodies, using the Netherlands and the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar as the guiding example. The central questions it tries to explore based on lessons learned and opportunities missed in Qatar are how such actors are connected to adverse human rights impacts associated with MSEs, which responsibilities under the human rights framework flow from those connections, and how participating states should then ensure that businesses live up to their responsibilities.

The Role of Private Military Companies in Defense Policy and Military Operations

This research explores the role of private military companies (PMCs) in defense policy and military operations. This research utilizes a qualitative approach, primarily relying on secondary data sources such as government reports, academic articles, and legal documents. The findings highlight PMCs' diverse legal and regulatory landscape, including international conventions and national legislation. These frameworks aim to provide oversight and accountability for the activities of PMCs, addressing their status, recruitment, and operational limitations. Furthermore, the study highlights the ethical considerations associated with using PMCs, such as human rights abuses, transparency, and accountability issues. Lastly, it uncovers the geopolitical implications of relying on PMCs, including the potential erosion of state sovereignty, regional power dynamics, and the risk of conflict escalation.

Inclusive diets within planetary boundaries

Inclusive diets within planetary boundaries

Putting Russia's Ban in Historical Perspective: A Curated Interview

Putting Russia's Ban in Historical Perspective: A Curated Interview

Editorial: The EU’s Magnitsky Act: Obsolete in the Face of Russia’s Crimes in Ukraine?

In response to Russia’s full-scale invasion and gross violations of human rights in Ukraine, the EU has adopted no less than ten sanctions packages in the first year alone. Yet none of the targetted persons and entities were blacklisted under the Global Human Rights Sanctions Regime (GHRSR). This relatively new thematic sanctions tool, which is also known as the ‘EU’s Magnitsky Act’, aims precisely at targeting the most serious of human rights violations and abuses worldwide, including genocide and crimes against humanity, the proof of which has —literally— been piling up in Ukraine. This raises the question whether the GHRSR is fit for purpose. EU sanctions; Russia; Ukraine; genocide; crimes against humanity; human rights

Providing Remedy for Corporate Human Rights Abuses Committed Abroad: The Extraterritorial Dimension of Home States’ Obligation Under ICESCR

International human rights law, as a system underpinned by the Westphalian paradigm, heavily relies on the role of territorial States in the protection of human rights. However, the territorial model that allocates human rights obligations within and between territorial States suffers serious limitations regarding corporate human rights abuses. Host States, within whose territory corporate human rights abuse occurred, are often unwilling and/or unable to hold TNCs liable and provide remedies for victims. This explains why home States are increasingly urged to remove or reduce various barriers and serve as a potential forum for victims to seek and obtain a remedy for corporate human rights abuses committed abroad. However, whether home States should provide a remedy as a matter of legal obligation under international human rights law or just as a domestic policy consideration remains contentious, particularly under human rights treaties containing jurisdictional clauses.1 Against this, the article seeks to highlight how home States’ obligation to provide remedy for abuses committed abroad by corporations incorporated or domiciled within their respective territories is increasingly recognized within the practice of the Committee on ICESCR.

The prevalence of major depressive disorder and anxiety disorders among asylum seekers in South Florida

The rapidly growing population of asylum seekers in the United States often seeks asylum following persecution and severe traumatic events. Asylum evaluations play an influential role in the process by objectively documenting human rights abuses. The purpose of this study was to describe the prevalence of major depressive disorder (MDD) and anxiety disorders among asylum seekers and analyze differences in the severity of disease by time and sub-group. Data was collected from a retrospective review of medical affidavits written from 2017 to 2020 following asylum evaluations in South Florida. Decision trees were utilized to make diagnoses for each individual's current mental health status in the U.S. and retrospectively for while in their home country. These diagnoses were recorded according to the Global Burden of Disease study criteria and utilizing validated mental health screeners. The prevalence of MDD was found to significantly decrease from 75.8% in patients' home countries to 46.7% in the U.S. Similarly, prevalence of anxiety disorders significantly fell from 85.8% to 64.2%. Gender and being a victim of sexual assault were significantly associated with severity of MDD and anxiety disorders. This reduction in the burden of mental health disease after relocation to the United States demonstrate the benefit of asylum not only as a human right, but also as a mental health intervention. Through their connection with higher application success rates and referrals to follow-up care, physician-performed asylum evaluations can thus be linked to improved health outcomes.

Post-traumatic stress disorder and associated factors among adult war survivors in Northwest Ethiopia: Community-based, cross-sectional study.

A person may endure or witness a traumatic incident, such as being exposed to war, and, as a result, develop post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). There is a lack of information about post-traumatic stress disorder in low and middle-income countries such as Ethiopia. However, armed conflict, abuse of human rights, and violence motivated by race are becoming more commonplace. This study aimed to assess the prevalence of PTSD and associated factors among war survivors in Nefas Meewcha Town, South Gondar Zone, Ethiopia, 2022. A community based cross-sectional study was carried out. 812 study participants were chosen using a multi-stage sampling process. A face-to-face interview used a post-traumatic stress disorder checklist (PCL-5) to evaluate PTSD. The association between PTSD and other demographic and psychosocial characteristics was investigated using bivariate and multivariable binary logistic regression analysis. A P-value of 0.05 was declared as statistical significance. The prevalence of PTSD in this study was 40.8% with a 95% CI of 36.2 to 46.7. The likelihood of developing PTSD was significantly associated with the fallowing factors. A close family member killed or seriously injured (AOR = 4.53, 95% CI = 3.25-6.46), being female (AOR = 1.98, 95% CI = 1.3-3.0), moderate (AOR = 3.51, 95% CI = 2.52-4.68) and high perceived stress (AOR = 5.23, 95% CI = 3.47-8.26), depression symptoms (AOR = 4.92, 95% CI = 3.57-6.86), anxiety disorder symptoms (AOR = 5.24, 95% CI = 3.72-7.63), a chronic medical illness (AOR = 3.51, 95% CI = 2.52-5.41), physical assault (AOR = 2.12, 95% CI = 1.05-3.72) and being in a war fighting situation (AOR = 1.41, 95% CI = 1.21-3.14). This study reported that the prevalence of PTSD was high. Being female, having a previous history of chronic medical illness, depressive symptoms, anxiety symptoms, history of a family member or friend was injured or killed, poor social support, high perceived stress, physical assault, and being in a war fighting situation were statistically associated with PTSD. Hence, regular patient assessment by mental health organizations for those with a history of trauma and facilitation of ways to support such residents is highly recommended.

Rings in the Water: Felt Externalisation and its Rippling Effect in the Extended EU Borderlands

ABSTRACT Ripple effects of European border externalisation have transformed everyday life in the Tunisian coastal town of Zarzis. Building on ethnographic fieldwork among artisanal fishermen, and actors involved in two migrant cemeteries in Zarzis, the article provides an understanding of entangled processes and of how violence and death co-exist in the externalised borderlands of the EU. The felt and lived embeddedness and simultaneity of otherwise separately viewed policy issues is revealed through a focus on intersecting processes coming together in one place. The article analyses the ripple effects of these policies on third actors (the fishermen), the environment (marine life), and space (two migrant cemeteries) in Zarzis. The article unpacks how externalisation translates into human rights abuses, environmental crisis, and death, and how these are distinctly intertwined. I propose the concept ‘felt externalisation’ as a theoretical contribution which ties together the three core themes: the actors, the environment, and the space. In doing so, the article brings together three different, yet interrelated dimensions of border externalisation that are still largely understudied in the literature. By looking at externalisation from a spatial and geographically situated angle the paper makes not only an empirical but also a conceptual and theoretical contribution, by seeking to expand the empirical basis but also the very meaning of externalisation and its effects, in the extended EU borderland.

The Gibean solution (Jgs 19-21) - a mirror to reclaiming women dignity in Zimbabwe

Chronicling the history of gendered and sexualised violence in Zimbabwe, our article upholds the view that what transpired in Judges 19:20–48 offers the contemporary readers some important lessons that are worth pondering over. Looking through feminist hermeneutical lenses, we engage in a comparative analysis of the gender-based violations, human rights abuses, and the lack of hospitality depicted in Judges 19–21 with the lived realities of Zimbabwean women in our contemporary times. The discussion draws to a close by proffering a theology of restorative justice. It is our argument that Zimbabwe needs healing through a non-retaliative response to some wrongdoing that prioritises repairing harm and the recognition that maintaining positive relationships with fellow humans is a core human need. This is the only way forward to reclaim and restore the humanity and dignity of women exposed to diverse forms of gender-based violence in our Mother Earth.Contribution: This article reveals the link between the violations and brutality endured by the woman in Judges 19–21 with the history of sexualised violence in Zimbabwe. It is worth noting that in African Traditional Religion, the three worlds (spiritual, natural, and human) are intertwined and make up the cosmic totality; sexually violating women is tantamount to desecrating Mother Earth.

The human rights of children with disabilities: How can medical professionals better fulfil rather than breach them?

The vulnerability of children with disabilities to human rights abuses, including in health care, is well documented. Medical professionals can too often breach rather than fulfil the rights of children with disabilities, often through misunderstandings about the law, an inevitable consequence of, as identified by the United Nation's Committee for the Rights of the Child, medical professionals too often not receiving systematic and effective training in children's rights. This paper explores some key rights vital to the health and well-being of children with disabilities and shows how the guidance known as General Comments published by the United Nation's Committee on the Rights of the Child can assist medical professionals in ensuring the rights of children with disabilities in their care are fulfilled. It will also outline the human rights model of disability and explain how adopting this model in day-to-day practice, as required by international law, will empower medical professionals to help fulfil the human rights of children with disabilities. Suggestions are also made as to how training in human rights for medical professionals might be facilitated. WHAT THIS PAPER ADDS: The rights of children with disabilities are wide-ranging and come from multiple sources. Education and training of medical professionals in the rights of children with disabilities is often poor and low priority, resulting in rights breaches. Partnership training and gaining familiarity with United Nations General Comments and the Human Rights Model of disability can promote the human rights of children with disabilities.