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Indigenous communities in the Peruvian Amazon are establishing their own autonomous territorial governments to protect their land and resources. Olivia Bisa, the president of the Autonomous Territorial Government of the Chapra Nation, has faced threats and persecution for her activism against illegal economic activities and oil spills in her territory. These autonomous territorial governments represent a new model of territorial governance, aiming to protect their territories and resist extractive activities driven by the state. However, they face challenges in gaining recognition from the Peruvian government and conventional Indigenous organizations. Adriana Castro, a lawyer with expertise in Public International Law, has studied this issue. [Extracted from the article]

The article, written by Tim Stainton, discusses the concerns of the disability community regarding Canada's expansion of euthanasia and assisted suicide laws. Stainton criticizes the government for ignoring the opposition of disability organizations and UN human rights experts, as well as for the inclusion of mental illness in the legislation without proper study or review. Stainton argues that the government's dismissal of the disability community's concerns reflects a pervasive ableism in Canadian society. He also expresses concerns about the potential for further expansion of euthanasia laws and the devaluation of disabled lives. [Extracted from the article]

Introduction: Globally, stark inequities exist in access to HIV treatment and prevention. The eastern European and central Asian region is experiencing the sharpest rise in new HIV acquisition and deaths in the world, with low rates of treatment and prevention services, especially for key and vulnerable populations who face a range of human rights‐related barriers to HIV prevention and treatment. Methods: An implementation learning evaluation approach was used to examine the implementation of the Breaking Down Barriers initiative targeting key and vulnerable populations in Ukraine. Between September 2022 and April 2023, researchers conducted 23 key informant interviews with individuals from the Ukrainian government, implementing organizations and human rights experts. Using a concurrent triangulation design, researchers and key informants, in a process of co‐creation, sought to describe programme accomplishments, challenges and innovations in implementation, between 2021 and 2023, including periods before and after Russia's February 2022 full‐scale invasion. Results: Eight rights‐based interventions related to HIV were identified in Global Fund programme documents and key informant interviews as making up the core of the Breaking Down Barriers initiative in Ukraine. These included programmes seeking to: eliminate stigma and discrimination; ensure the non‐discriminatory provision of medical care; promote rights‐based law enforcement practices; expand legal literacy ("know your rights"); increase access to justice; improve laws, regulations and policies; reduce gender discrimination, harmful gender norms and violence against women and girls; and mobilize communities for advocacy. These programmes received US$5.9 million in funding. Key informants reported that significant progress had been made addressing human rights barriers and scaling up interventions, both before and after Russia's invasion. Programme implementors adopted innovative approaches, including using paralegals, hotlines and other community‐led interventions, to ensure that key and vulnerable populations, including displaced individuals, were able to access prevention and care. Conclusions: An implementation learning evaluation approach examining programmes addressing human rights barriers to HIV services, designed as a process of co‐creation between researchers, programme implementors, government officials and human rights experts, can provide a robust assessment of programme outputs, outcomes and evidence of impact, despite a challenging operational environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The field of computer vision is now a multi-billion dollar enterprise, with its use in surveillance applications driving this large market share. In the last six years, computer vision researchers have started to discuss the risks and harms of some of these systems, mostly using the lens of fairness introduced in the machine learning literature to perform this analysis. While this lens is useful to uncover and mitigate a narrow segment of the harms that can be enacted through computer vision systems, it is only one of the toolkits that researchers have available to uncover and mitigate the harms of the systems they build. In this monograph, we discuss a wide range of risks and harms that can be enacted through the development and deployment of computer vision systems. We also discuss some existing technical approaches to mitigating these harms, as well as the shortcomings of these mitigation strategies. Then, we introduce computer vision researchers to harm mitigation strategies proposed by journalists, human rights activists, individuals harmed by computer vision systems, and researchers in disciplines ranging from sociology to physics. We conclude the monograph by listing principles that researchers can follow to build what we call community-rooted computer vision tools in the public interest, and give examples of such research directions. We hope that this monograph can serve as a starting point for researchers exploring the harms of current computer vision systems and attempting to steer the field into community-rooted work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The enactment and application of the Electronic Transaction Information Law are pivotal for delineating the appropriate boundaries for exercising freedom of opinion and expression within Indonesia's digital sphere. According to reports from international digital rights research and advocacy organisation, online media journalists and human rights activists frequently encounter direct pressure and cyber harassment. This article explores the balance of freedom of expression in Indonesia's digital domain to ensure a secure environment for human rights defenders advocating for human rights. This study uses sociolegal methodologies to draw on data from literature reviews and in-depth interviews. It underscores the need for regulatory reforms to define prohibited hate speech explicitly. SafeNet documented 153 cyber-attacks in Indonesia in 2022, predominantly targeting civil society groups, students, activists, and journalists. Additionally, the National Committee on Human Rights reported that 52% of attacks on human rights defenders occurred in the digital realm. While the protection of digital democracy varies by nation, Indonesia must establish an institution responsible for properly enforcing the ITE Law alongside an independent monitoring mechanism and related policies. Such institutions, including those dedicated to human rights defenders, uphold human rights and demonstrate a commitment to the principles of freedom, respect, equality, and dignity within society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This text discusses the severe human rights crisis in El Salvador since President Nayib Bukele implemented a state of exception in 2022. The suspension of constitutional rights has resulted in mass disappearances, feminicide, and arbitrary detention targeting activists, environmental defenders, and union organizers. Human rights organizations are working to address this crisis, but the government has not provided any information or resolution regarding the detained and disappeared individuals. The most impacted communities are young adults from conflictive areas, and the poor and working-class sectors are disproportionately affected. The text explores the politicization of human rights and the challenges faced by advocates for justice and protection. The future outlook is uncertain, and international support is needed to defend human rights. Solidarity, memory, and collective action are emphasized in addressing forced disappearance. [Extracted from the article]

Copyright of Politologija is the property of Vilnius University and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This article explores the uses of homophobia as a part of the Soviet repressive apparatus. It examines the case of the Lithuanian dissident, political prisoner, and human rights activist Viktoras Petkus (1928-2012), in particular, the accusation of sodomy he faced in 1978, as a part of the highly political case related to Petkus' involvement with the Lithuanian Helsinki Group. I employ the concept of political homophobia to analyse the ways that the KGB tried to destroy Petkus' reputation and defame the Lithuanian dissident movement for human rights, which the Soviet authorities perceived as particularly threatening. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The 2017 World Health Assembly resolution on integrated cancer prevention and control provided clear guidance on creating an enabling environment for cancer care. Through a variety of mechanisms, including civil society advocacy, some countries have secured overarching legislation in the form of national cancer acts to promote equitable access and outcomes for cancer patients. In South Africa, cancer incidence is set to double by 2030; and, while existing legislative and policy frameworks do address cancer prevention and control, these are fragmented, poorly implemented and have had limited success. Methods: This study assessed the feasibility and potential impact of promulgating a dedicated national cancer act in South Africa through exploratory in-depth interviews with 25 purposively selected key informants from various stakeholder groups, including cancer survivors; legal scholars; human rights advocates; health care providers; public health specialists and academicians. Findings: Following thematic analysis, three key themes were identified: the content of a dedicated national cancer act, the socio-political leveragability of an act and accountability mechanisms that would support such an act. Conclusion: While most respondents had not considered the possibility of a dedicated national cancer act, they were open to the concept for South Africa. Concerns about widening inequities, duplication, funding and accountability would need to be addressed against the current backdrop of health inequities and limited human rights leveraging for health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 1983, the world ʼs first rehabilitation centre for torture victims opened in Copenhagen. Individual Chilean activists in European exile had already set up smaller psychosocial centres before. In the dictatorships of the Cono Sur and Central America, but also in other parts of the world, local human rights activists had also begun to join theory and practice of their struggle for liberation with the psychosocial care of survivors of socio-political traumatization processes. Liberation psychology, which also reached the founders of the first European centres through international solidarity, played a key role in this. The essay traces this intertwined history of liberation struggles, human rights work, international solidarity and the founding of therapy centres. From the very beginning, the fight against torture focused on the individual and social rehabilitation of survivors as well as the criminal prosecution of perpetrators. Today, however, many of the centres that have since been founded in numerous German cities have swapped this orientation for a self-image as pure care facilities. Additional political commitment focuses at best on supporting traumatized refugees in Germany. The authors therefore call for a revitalization of international solidarity partisanship in German psychosocial centres and for reconstructing their self-image of being part of the international human rights movement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article provides a summary of the podcast "Dissident at the Doorstep," which focuses on the life of Chen Guangcheng, a blind Chinese human rights activist. The podcast examines Chen's transition from being a symbol of freedom to supporting Donald Trump, exploring the complexities of his life and broader themes of freedom, power, and the law. The hosts, including Yangyang Cheng, offer diverse perspectives and personal reflections on Chen's story. The article also highlights the experiences of two individuals, emphasizing the need to understand the context and trauma behind their views rather than criticizing them. It discusses the limitations of using the law for social change and the alignment of state interests and global capital in legal reform efforts. The article concludes by discussing the potential for change through collective action and the importance of the White Paper movement. [Extracted from the article]

The article examines the media coverage of the XueBing case, which involves Chinese activists Huang Xueqin and Wang Jianbing. It points out the biases in the media's portrayal of the case, with a disproportionate focus on Huang and minimal mention of Wang. The article also discusses the contributions of both activists to social movements in China and emphasizes the need for accurate and balanced coverage. It further highlights the lack of recognition for low-profile activists in China's social resistance movements and argues for a more nuanced approach to documenting and acknowledging activists and social struggles in the country. [Extracted from the article]

Copyright of Maguaré is the property of Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Departamento de Antropologia and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Acotaciones: Investigación y Creación Teatral is the property of Real Escuela Superior de Arte Dramatico and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

As South Africa approaches 30 years of democracy, it is important to pause to reflect and analyze the trajectory of human rights since the fall of the apartheid regime and the advent of multiracial democracy. Although there was a large global movement against apartheid, this movement's vigilance for human rights in South Africa quickly declined and dissolved with the advent of South African democracy. There is little critical engagement with South Africa's contemporary human rights record and policies by global human rights activists, nongovernmental organizations, and civil society and still less active campaigning in defense of the human rights of South Africans, especially South Africa's most vulnerable and disadvantaged black majority. The energy that was summoned to protest apartheid and to boycott it never returned since the advent of democracy. This commentary explores the current state of human rights in South Africa, their prospects, and challenges to their respect, protection, and fulfillment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, we have identified a Twitter network of bad actors mostly affiliated with Iraqi militias that are closely connected to the federal Iraqi government. Using disinformation and threats of legal action, these users often target journalists and news organizations that are critical of them. Three datasets were collected totaling about 16,000 tweets by using 6 Arabic hashtags. We found three major themes: public shaming and personal attacks; legal threats and misinformation accusations; and glorifying Shiite heroism and promoting conspiracies. These bad actors also created a coordinated attack against journalists, news organizations, and human rights activists and even the UN representative in Iraq, Jeanine Plasschaert, falsely accusing her of fabricating the 2021 federal election results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Executive Summary: The near collapse of the Venezuelan economy since 2015 and the concomitant erosion of public order have led to an exodus of over seven million people by mid-2023, the largest forced migrant flow in recent Latin American history and the second largest globally after Syria. It occurs against a global backdrop of a 400 percent increase in persons displaced across borders between 2010 and 2021. Colombia hosts the largest number of Venezuelan refugees — with about 2.5 million officially recorded by the government. This has occurred during a politically tumultuous period in Colombia, which has featured the reconfiguration of competing illegal armed groups since the signing of the 2016 Peace Accord between the government and the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC), a major COVID-19 outbreak in 2020–2021, and a crippling and protracted national strike in 2021. Within the hemispheric context, Colombia serves as a stop-gap to stem the flow of Venezuelan refugees northward, roughly similar to the role played by Mexico to intercept and diminish migration to the United States. This has especially been the case since the January 5, 2023 announcement by US President Biden, which specified that refugees cannot declare asylum in the US if they attempt to cross the US border without first seeking asylum in their initial transit country. For Venezuelan refugees, the first country they enter is typically Colombia. Further, in May 2023, the Biden administration announced it was considering sending US troops to the Darien Peninsula in Panama, and will perhaps train Colombian forces, to diminish the "trafficking" of Venezuelan refugees and other refugees passing through Colombia and headed north. The result, according to leaders of NGOs and other who work directly with refugees, has been more pressure on Colombia to retain them. The argument here is twofold. First, human security threats for Venezuelan refugees should be viewed intersectionally in the particular spaces through which they pass — from the collapse of order in their home countries (which qualifies them as refugees), through the borderlands with Colombia that pose specific threats to their safety and wellbeing, and to their destinations within Colombia that offer their own peculiar array of opportunities and human security challenges. Second, regularization programs such as the Estatuto Temporal de Protección de Migrantes Venezolanos (ETPMV) are the best way to promote human security for refugees in Colombia in the short and medium terms, but this process needs to be more inclusive.1 The first half of this paper discusses the conceptual underpinnings that link power/mobility/space to human security for refugees. The second part brings those concepts to life through interviews with an assortment of refugees. The paper draws from a database of interviews with 72 Venezuelan refugees in Colombia in 2022 and 2023 regarding the intersectional nuances of human security. It also relies on interviews with dozens of security, migration, and human rights experts in Colombia since 1997. A unique conceptual perspective is developed regarding critical human security for Venezuelan refugees. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Activists present themselves on- and offline using a diverse range of tools, discursive strategies, and means of self-presentation, all conducive to making both themselves and their cause well known. To that end, of paramount importance is their ability to make audiences and readers empathize, and a key factor all strategies have in common is the repetitive nature of their multiplatform, multimodal discourse. I build on previous research about platforms such as Twitter and TED talks as forms of self-narration to look at the ways human rights activists deploy such strategic communicative techniques to construct a public persona. I focus on young women from the Global South using English as a lingua franca. These tend to re-use rhetoric drawn from famous historical figures who stood for social justice in the past, and nuanced repetitive techniques characterized by emotion and affect to mobilize various constituencies. Both kinds of repetition, enhanced by the affordances of technology, create a new kind of ubiquity and can thus potentially influence policymaking. The article makes the case that the recent global viral popularity of young women activists such as Malala Yousafzai, Bana Alabed, and Nujeen Mustafa deserves deeper analysis. At stake is whether digital affordances of immediacy and reach can not only amplify such activists' messages, but help them cross new borders and create new kinds of transnational solidarity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Several Southeast Asian nations, including Vietnam, enforce mandatory detoxification in detention facilities for individuals with substance abuse issues. Since 2010, growing concerns regarding human rights abuses associated with compulsory drug detention centres have been expressed by various United Nations agencies, human rights experts, and other stakeholders, prompting calls for their closure since 2012. Despite these concerns, the Vietnamese government persists in employing this strategy under the guise of the "war on drugs," and its discontinuation appears improbable in the near future due to numerous political and social hurdles. This study employs established legal research methods to assert that compulsory detoxification constitutes a breach of human rights. It aims to elucidate to the global academic community the reasons behind Vietnam's persistent use of this measure. By utilizing both Vietnamese and international legal frameworks alongside statistical reports on the outcomes of compulsory detoxification, the research argues that these practices can be viewed as violations of human rights. The article highlights the challenges impeding the prompt elimination of compulsory detoxification in Vietnam based on practical experiences, including insights from random surveys gauging public opinions. The findings indicate a prevalent concern among the majority of individuals who are unwilling to coexist with drug addicts in their communities. This study presents compelling arguments urging the Vietnamese government and policymakers to acknowledge compulsory detoxification as a violation of human rights. Simultaneously, it provides insights for the global community of human rights experts, helping them understand the complexities that hinder Vietnam from abolishing this measure despite objections from human rights organizations. The outlined initiatives in the article also serve as a guide for Vietnamese policymakers and international human rights organizations to comprehend and address the challenges faced by Vietnam in protecting the human rights of individuals struggling with drug addiction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revista CES Derecho is the property of Universidad CES and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Maguaré is the property of Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Departamento de Antropologia and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Digitalization and social media established world-encompassing publics that engage with international organizations. While scholarship has analyzed how international organizations communicate with such digital publics, this article determines who participates in these publics. We created a novel dataset to map the UN's digital public on Twitter and analyzed the bios of 243,168 accounts that have interacted with the UN. Members of this public provide self-identifications (such as researcher, consultant, or scientist) that indicate a professional interest in the UN. We analyzed clusters of users that self-identify with similar words. We find high heterogeneity in the UN's digital public: Clusters of professional, academic, and organizational users suggest that the technocratic history of international organizations reflects in the members of its digital public. At the same time, the digital public of the UN extends to very different groups (human rights activists and K-Pop fans feature in the UN's public on Twitter). We demonstrate for future research how multiple correspondence analysis can reveal clusters in unstructured biographical data. The article contributes the first analysis of self-identifications in digital publics of global politics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article "Urban Memories of the Feminist Movement during the Civil-Military Dictatorship in Chile (1983-1990)" analyzes the participation of the Chilean Feminist Movement during the dictatorship led by Augusto Pinochet. During this period, human rights were violated, there were detentions and disappearances, and the neoliberal economic model was implemented. The Feminist Movement made its first public appearance at the National Protest Days in May 1983 and held a rally at the National Library in August of the same year. The interview with Verónica Matus, a lawyer and human rights activist, provides an insight into the events and the participation of the Feminist Movement during the dictatorship. Additionally, the importance of demonstrations and the use of public space as a form of feminist political action is highlighted. [Extracted from the article]

The article summarizes the book "Sospechosos habituales. Diez aproximaciones a los antecedentes históricos del movimiento por los derechos humanos en Venezuela (1936-1999)" written by Rodolfo Montes de Oca. The book analyzes the history of the defense of human rights in Venezuela from 1936 to 1999, focusing on the historical background of this movement in the country. The author, a human rights activist and member of PROVEA, conducts a well-documented research based on his experience in Venezuela. The book consists of ten chapters that address different aspects of human rights in the country, including the systematic violation of human rights during the political conflict and state repression between 1961 and 1969, the role of the Catholic Church and human rights organizations, solidarity with exiles from dictatorships in Latin America, the defense of the right to life against executions carried out by the Venezuelan armed forces and police, the struggle for universal suffrage, women's rights and LGBT rights, the importance of active non-violence in the fight for human rights, and the persecution and murder of human rights activists in the country. [Extracted from the article]

Copyright of Revista Kavilando is the property of Kavilando and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Electoral authorities cited a problem with Rodas's paperwork as the reason for preventing their Movement for the Liberation of the Peoples (MLP) party from running, but their supporters and international observers maintain the decision was politically motivated. At the end of January, the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) blocked both Cabrera and Rodas from registering as candidates citing outstanding "legal charges and a complaint" against Rodas. Guatemala's Democracy in Tatters: An Indigenous human rights defender who won unprecedented support in the last election tried to enter the presidential race with proposals to shake up the status quo. [Extracted from the article]

Hate speech should be tackled and prosecuted based on how it is operationalized. However, the existing theoretical definitions of hate speech are not sufficiently fleshed out or easily operable. To overcome this inadequacy, and with the help of interdisciplinary experts, we propose an empirical definition of hate speech by providing a list of 10 hate speech indicators and the rationale behind them (the indicators refer to specific, observable, and measurable characteristics that offer a practical definition of hate speech). A preliminary exploratory examination of the structure of hate speech, with the focus on comments related to migrants (one of the most reported grounds of hate speech), revealed that two indicators in particular, denial of human rights and promoting violent behavior, occupy a central role in the network of indicators. Furthermore, we discuss the practical implications of the proposed hate speech indicators—especially (semi-)automatic detection using the latest natural language processing (NLP) and machine learning (ML) methods. Having a set of quantifiable indicators could benefit researchers, human right activists, educators, analysts, and regulators by providing them with a pragmatic approach to hate speech assessment and detection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]