Links to recent news and analysis on the implementation of international human rights law in all respects, including democracy and the impartial rule of law.
Moscow court orders closure of Memorial Human Rights Center
29/12/2021: A Russian court has ordered the liquidation of the Memorial Human Rights Center, a group focused on helping political prisoners. The ruling has sparked an international outcry.
Source: DW
Unbridled loss of freedoms as Aung San Suu Kyi sentenced
6/12/2021: Amnesty International has condemned the sentencing of Aung San Suu Kyi to four years in prison as the latest example of the military's determination to eliminate all opposition and suffocate freedoms in Myanmar. It is clear that intervention by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations has failed to yield truly meaningful results.
Source: Amnesty International
Making the case for CEDAW ratification by the United States
7/9/2021: The US is one of only a handful of countries that has yet to ratify the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), in common with Sudan, Somalia, Iran, Tonga, and Palau. There are good reasons why the Biden administration should rally bipartisan support to ratify CEDAW to advance the human rights of women around the world.
Source: Inter Press Service
Beijing wants more children, but only a certain kind
15/6/2021: The Chinese government has announced that it will allow all couples to have three children, an increase from two. But one-child, two-child or three-child policies are all the same. All are infringements on women’s reproductive rights: treating human beings as instruments of achieving the goals of the state.
Source: The Interpreter
Pandemic sets back sexual and reproductive health rights
15/4/2021: The UN's State of the World Population 2021 report paints a disturbing picture of maternal health. The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in increasing sexual violence, more unintended pregnancies, and new barriers to reproductive health services, contributing to a maternal mortality ratio of 211 for every 100,000 live births.
Source: Devex
China considers new actions to lift flagging birth rate
19/2/2021: China's National Health Commission has issued a statement saying it will conduct research to “further stimulate birth potential". Despite ending its controversial one-child policy four years ago, the plunging birth rate continues to threaten to economic progress and social stability, .
Source: CNA
Biden acts to undo Trump damage to women’s health
28/1/2021: President Joe Biden has issued a presidential memorandum that addresses four regressive policies of the past administration. In particular, it revokes the Protecting Life in Global Health Policy, also known as the “Global Gag Rule.”
Source: Human Rights Watch