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Plain language summaryOur article raises concerns about the basis on which a recent report on “prostitution and violence” by a UN human rights expert, rests its arguments. We wrote as researchers and advocates working around the world. We think that evidence is strong that criminal law making both the buying and selling of sex a crime hurts the very people who are most at risk. Our own work has also led us to engage with how inter-connected ideas about gender, race, age and sexuality matter to support rights for everyone. We also argue that “trafficking” is not the same as “sex work”. While we claim these ideas as a feminist approach, we know that there are researchers and advocates, including the author of the UN report, the Special Rapporteur on violence against women, who disagree with us.Because there is no agreement in international human rights law about what laws best protect the rights of people who sell sex, clear information by experts in the UN, where states debate law, are important. While there are often disagreements within the world of contested rights, we argue that independent experts’ reports should contribute to new law with accuracy and transparency. We say in our article that the SRVAW misuses evidence by inaccurately reflecting other UN experts’ work, especially on state responsibility for rights; not precisely presents facts; and ignores dissenting voices, such as sex workers of all genders and identities. We raise these concerns carefully in our article because we want to build the case for good practices to support the future of human rights, as human rights as a space of dignity and freedom are under attack. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

I present a research study aimed at understanding the discourses and practices regarding police violence that human rights defenders in Chile have. Using an ethnographic methodology (2020-2022), I worked with defenders from a state institution, a civil organization that supports victims, and another civil organization that monitors protests. I conducted 16 interviews, document reviews, and daily activities observations. The integrated ethnographic analysis aimed to understand how discourses and practices maintain and promote certain social relations. This research allowed me to identify practices directed toward the State, society, and the organizations themselves. The meanings of these resistance practices come together in three interrelated areas that characterize this institutional violence: invisibilization, naturalization and impunity. I conclude that filing complaints and educating to promote cultural changes create paths to face the causes of police abuses associated with the productive role of the police in a racialized and class-based order. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transnational Human Rights Violations (THRV) are infringements of individual rights that originate outside the jurisdiction in which they take effect. Ranging from violent and criminal forms of transnational repression through to coercion against targets' family members abroad, digital surveillance, and legal intimidation, THRVs today generate widespread and systemic constraints on the exercise of human rights in jurisdictions around the world. At present, however, targets of THRVs typically find few avenues through which to raise complaints, receive assistance or pursue redress. This article proposes a new domestic institutional mechanism to directly address this situation. It first examines the mutually reinforcing, additive effects of transnational surveillance, coercion and censorship in the digital era. Next, it identifies relevant human rights standards showing state responsibilities to monitor and counter THRVs within their jurisdiction, and the growing recognition of additive, systemic effects of THRVs on broad populations. The third section examines policy responses in the United States, Australia, United Kingdom, and international organizations, noting that none has adequately addressed the contemporary nature and scope of THRVs as international standards require. The final section argues that to meet their obligations, states should establish Transnational Rights Protection Offices (TRPOs) to provide a clear contact point for targets to raise complaints and receive support; monitor and report on the situation of THRVs taking effect within the state's jurisdiction; advise and inform government departments on THRV issues; and develop evidence-based policy recommendations. We conclude by laying out the rationale for its institutional status within National Human Rights Institutions (NHRIs). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The policy documents of the European Union underline its self-image as a leader in promoting and protecting human rights in multilateral fora. The leadership claims are based on the EU's example in domestic human rights protection and willingness to promote externally the same set of values and norms. However, drawing on interactionist role theory, this article emphasises the extent to which the roles depend on recognition by others. Hence, leadership claims need acceptance from other stakeholders. The article studies external perceptions of EU's leadership in the Human Rights Council framework using data from interviews of Geneva-based, non-EU diplomats and human rights experts. The findings present a variable picture; while structural and exemplary leadership is recognised, incoherencies diminish EU's credibility. The EU has improved its cognitive leadership, but its agenda is contested by others. Finally, the EU has negotiation capacities, but its strategy does not always optimally support the leadership ambitions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Between 2015 and 2023, authoritarian backsliding triggered significant changes in the Polish judiciary, prompting some judges to adopt a new approach in their interpretation of the European Convention on Human Rights, both on and off bench, taking a more explicit stance as individual applicants against the Polish government in the European Court of Human Rights. This article employs the paradigm of relational legal consciousness, attributing this embrace of human rights law to judges’ interactions and relationships with various actors, including judicial associations, lawyers, human rights activists, and civil society. Furthermore, the article extends the concept of relationality in legal consciousness to encompass the intricate interplay between law and politics as intertwined social relations and practices. The article's original contribution lies in theorizing judicial legal consciousness in relation to authoritarian backsliding and the resultant liminality of structures and strategies for action. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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]

Research on the relationship between contentious action and news production has often focused on the coverage and framing of specific events, not on the careers of keywords of the protest lexicon itself. However, these keywords play a central role in the negotiation of common understandings of social problems, the legitimation of claims and tactics, and even the shared imaginary of grassroots politics within communities of readers. This article seeks to contribute to this second avenue of media research by studying use of the concept activism and associated subject, activists. I ask how this word, which was a negative term for most of the twentieth century until the introduction and popularization of its modern sense in the 1960s, became a keyword of modern political participation by the public. A conceptual history grounded in insights of distributional semantics and semantic field theory, this article studies patterns of use of 'activist' and 'activism' in two major British quality newspapers, The Guardian and The Times. This comparative approach aims to identify both historical and media-internal factors that contributed to activism becoming a meaningful category in news reporting. Coverage is compared for three episodes of heightened civic contention: the student protests of 1967–1969; Eastern European human rights activism around the Helsinki Accords, 1975–1977; and the industrial strikes of the 1980s, particularly the period around the miner's strike, 1984–1986. • Operationalizes the sociological concept "protest lexicon" to study newspaper communication. • Theorizes the role of keywords in the negotiation of mass media messaging and legitimation. • Provides a conceptual history and reputational career of the keyword "activism". • Combines quantitative and qualitative discourse analysis methodology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article examines the limited engagement of human rights scholars with the policies implemented during the COVID-19 pandemic. It critiques the book "States of Exception: Human Rights, Biopolitics, Utopia" by Costas Douzinas for its disorganized nature and failure to address key dilemmas. The book argues for a radical re-arrangement of society and questions the sufficiency of human rights for achieving justice. However, it is criticized for not addressing the trade-offs between freedom and security, lacking a coherent theory on the relationship between human rights and the state, and having contradictory views on immigration, asylum, and the right to protest. The article suggests that these conceptual weaknesses undermine the practical effectiveness of human rights. [Extracted from the article]

The article discusses the issue of forced labor in Turkmenistan and the new EU forced labor ban regulation aimed at eradicating forced labor and child labor in global supply chains. Turkmenistan faces challenges with state-imposed forced labor and child labor in its cotton sector. The need for Turkmenistan to implement the Roadmap for Cooperation with the ILO is emphasized, along with the importance of strengthening labor inspection, social protection, and worker rights. The article calls for international cooperation and dialogue to address forced labor issues and improve working conditions in Turkmenistan. [Extracted from the article]

Environmental human rights defenders (EHRDs) play a key role in the realization of the environmental rule of law and in strengthening social and ecological sustainability. States have the duty to protect and empower the EHRDs, while businesses, investors, and financial institutions also have responsibilities to respect human rights. Although the literature on human rights defenders is comprehensive, the article offers a theoretical analysis of the challenges facing the EHRDs by using Lawrence Lessig's New Chicago School approach to explore the opportunities for bridging the gap between the theory and practice concerning the protection of EHRDs. The article endeavors to contribute to the literature by methodologically explaining the importance of legal regulation and State intervention for creating a safe and just space for the activities of the EHRDs. It demonstrates the effects of the four modalities in Lessig's theory—i.e. the law, the social norms (culture), the architecture (technology), and the market—on the behavior of EHRDs, and ultimately on democracies while emphasizing the power of law as one of these modalities and being one of the imperative elements of the environmental rule of law. It argues that the adoption of international agreements, laws and policies regulating culture, technology, and markets, would empower civil society and encourage broad participation in the decision-making processes both within the States and the businesses to ensure accountable, transparent, and inclusive governance. It concludes that strengthened legal protection mechanisms for the rights of the rights' defenders is an urgent need to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals and the environmental rule of law. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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This article asks how we should reconceptualize decolonization when it is hijacked by authoritarian/fascist forces. It focuses on the notorious Bhima Koregaon case in India in which 16 intellectuals/human rights defenders from across the country were imprisoned without trial as alleged terrorists. It shows how, on the one hand, decolonization is hijacked by the Hindu authoritarian regime and, on the other hand, colonial artifacts are resymbolized by the colonized to oppose oppression by native elites. It urges attention to the questions of who is mobilizing the language of decolonization and why. It argues that the most important anticolonial intellectuals may not use the language of decolonization and may not be in universities, but on the streets, with social movements, and in prison. It proposes that contemporary decolonization debates center processes of domination and oppression created by the state and global capital nexus, processes that are cultural, psychological, political, and economic. These processes are shown to entrench casteist/racist hierarchies, work through Indigenous elites, and create internal differentiation within marginalized communities, eschewing a unitary concept of indigenous ontology/cosmopolitics/worldviews. Calls for an emancipatory politics, such as that of decolonizing anthropology or the university, would be well placed to center these global processes and local nuances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The obituary in the American Anthropologist journal commemorates the life of Paul Edward Farmer, who passed away in 2022. Farmer, a prominent public anthropologist and global health physician, co-founded Partners In Health (PIH) and dedicated his life to advocating for health justice and providing medical care to the poor in various countries. His work focused on addressing structural violence, promoting health equity, and advancing global health policy, leaving a lasting impact on the fields of anthropology, public health, and medicine. [Extracted from the article]

This article is an attempt to understand the Adivasi landlessness in the context of the implementation of the Forest Rights Act (FRA) in Kerala. Kerala has been projected as a model of development so far as social development indicators are concerned. Based on in-depth personal interviews with 72 Adivasis and three Adivasi and human rights activists in eight districts of Kerala, this article examines whose landholding has been a topic of debate in various political platforms. The study was carried out to explore whether the State's development initiatives and economic growth trajectory had any space for the Adivasis of Kerala. Adivasi landlessness and lack of efficient land distribution may be attributed to the so-called State-led development narratives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dr Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar (Ambedkar henceforth) is not merely known as the chief architect of the Indian constitution, social activist, philosopher, and social reformer but also as a great human rights defender in India. His idea and vision of human rights have been referencing points for creating an egalitarian society and formulating social policies. Despite his strong vision, teaching, and philosophy about an equal and just society, the pedagogy of social work is underutilized in social work education. His ideas of human rights were enshrined in the Indian constitution which even prevented marginalized social groups such as Dalit (Dalits are ex-untouchable caste group who live at the bottom in Indian social structure), tribal, and women from exploitation and protect their human rights. We argue that Ambedkar’s strong vision for a just and egalitarian society, and his rights and policy-based framework are key human rights features to introduce in the curriculum of social work education within India and outside India. This will not merely equip social work professionals to be better human rights defenders but also equip them significantly to contribute to creating a just and equal society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Besides state actors, non-state actors and particularly private companies target human rights defenders (HRDs) and violate their rights to intimidate and stop them from challenging their interests. Despite the absence of responsibility of non-state actors in international human rights law, the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs) set out global standards and acknowledge the role of HRDs in the promotion of human rights, urging corporations to work closely with defenders. Considering the effectiveness of the UNGPs, the article explores the potential for protecting HRDs within the framework and concludes that the UNGPs could be utilised to enhance the protection of defenders in relation to business activities. It also suggests that current efforts of implementation would be strengthened by mandatory human rights due diligence laws at the national and regional levels, and emphasises that a clear inclusion of corporate responsibility to respect defenders is required, as it would be beneficial for both sides, defenders and business enterprises. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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]

Since the 1980s, human rights activists have constituted political agenda-setting groups in the Maghreb countries, mainly following the international turn towards human rights in the post-Cold War decades. Despite this fact, only scarce attention has been paid to their social and professional background. The article explores this topic and provides hitherto unpublished data about the first generation of human rights activists in Tunisia, in particular the members of the Tunisian Human Rights League (LTDH). Its members were a product of post-colonial Tunisia’s investment in (higher) education, teachers and professors, white-collar public servants, lawyers, doctors and journalists. They formed a committed, intellectual elite concerned with relationship between the state and citizens, seeking to influence public policies, carve out public, independent political spaces and get a share in the management of state affairs. Factual evidence surrounding human rights activists in Morocco and Algeria suggests they shared the same characteristics as LTDH members. Given the human rights situation in the Maghreb countries, the article suggests more research should be done about how human rights activists could more effectively link-up up with moral activism of social–professional groups that are absent from the human rights organisations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Human rights activists worldwide rely heavily on naming and shaming rights‐abusing states at the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) to induce them to comply with international human rights norms. However, what about national‐level actors who seek to shame a government for complying with human rights? This article explores how Sinhala Buddhist ethnonationalist political leaders and ideologues in Sri Lanka invoked the trope of sovereignty as both autonomy and masculinity to shame the new United Front government (2015‐19) and its UN‐supported transitional justice programme designed to address war crimes committed by the state during the last phase of the civil war. In so doing, I draw on and contribute to the literature on shame and global governance and feminist and critical scholarship on sovereignty and masculinity. Moreover, this analysis contends that it is not possible to understand the logic and efficacy of these tropes in postwar Sri Lanka unless we consider the emergence of a hegemonic, anti‐Western, patriotic masculinity and a new idiom of honour that supplements the concept of lajja‐baya (shame and fear of shame) – a central category in the anthropological canon of Sri Lanka. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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]

This article analyzes the work of human rights defenders in 12 states in Mexico, who accompany cases of feminicides and disappearances in a context of a security crisis. Using focus group methodologies, we obtained qualitative information on their experiences. The findings indicate that current state policies, based on institutionalized feminism, fail to adequately address the diversity of women's needs. A transversal approach that considers the variety of experiences and voices of women defenders is suggested to combat gender violence more effectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the plight of the 'Guapinol Eight,' a group of men who were arrested, detained, and convicted by a Honduran court after defending their right to access clean water. Our analysis is situated within a broader doctrinal conversation on the gaps in the conceptual and theoretical underpinnings of human rights defenders. In particular, we highlight the (lack of) effectiveness of protection mechanisms, the complex connections between activism, repression of activism and risk taking, and the usage of legal and administrative mechanisms for repression of human rights defenders. We find that the Honduran criminal justice system largely fails to protect those who speak up against unfair criminal charges, detention, and convictions, while at the same time fails to condemn private companies or individuals who retaliate against the work of human rights defenders with lawsuits, violence, or murder. In the conclusion of this paper, recommendations are made as to steps the Honduran government can take to redress past wrongs and introduce standards that comply with domestic and international law before a chilling effect ameliorates the voice of human rights in Honduras in the years to come. [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]

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 article discusses the book "Advocacy Networks and the Responsibility to Protect: The Politics of Norm Circulation" by Šárka Kolmašová, which examines the role of individual advocates and networks in promoting and sustaining the Responsibility to Protect (R2P) as a norm in global politics. The book analyzes the practices of circulation within the R2P network, focusing on key advocates, the items they circulate, and how they communicate these items. It emphasizes the importance of agency in understanding how norms are propagated and sustained. The article also acknowledges the need to consider a wider range of R2P proponents and the role of critical voices in shaping the discourse. It addresses the balance between normative advocacy and academic critique and suggests further research on the dynamics of R2P implementation and the factors driving its rise and fall. [Extracted from the article]

Starting from the question: what are the deontological dimensions in the regulations from the Escazú Agreement that contribute to the development of an ecological citizenship? this work described citizenship as a predefined category containing different dimensions, as that of ecological citizenship. Later on, a deontological analysis of the Escazú Agreement regulations that contribute to the configuration of this kind of citizenship in Colombia was performed. A qualitative methodology design was employed, with a dogmatic legal approach supported by the deontological dimension of the study of regulations, that can be derived from the trial vision of law, under hermeneutical guidelines, over documentary sources where the debates about citizenship and access rights in environmental issues are held. This allowed the triangulation of sources to build the analysis. It was concluded that the deontological dimensions in the Escazú Agreement connect to a citizenship conceived primarily from the correlation right-duty. Here, duty, as an element for the ecological citizenship, is progressively gaining preponderance, with a preferential differentiating approach that thinks of the reality of the human rights activists in environmental issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article investigates the strategies that women human rights defenders use to engage in legal mobilization and overcome gendered barriers to justice. It does so through analysis of a specific health and safety dispute involving women workers and the Republic of Korea's biggest semiconductor corporation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The term 'human rights-based approach' is common in rights and international development literature. Yet there is no single, universally agreed definition of a human rights-based approach, let alone its application to the right to health. This article uses a PRISMA-informed systematic literature review to address the question, 'What is the current status of the human rights-based approach to health in international law?' Previous reviews have described how international organizations and development donors have tackled human rights-based approaches to development generally and discussed prominent works on human rights-based approaches to health. However, this is the first review to sample the peer-reviewed literature systematically. The study revealed that authors use the terms 'human rights', 'human rights-based approach' and 'right to health' to import a raft of legal implications, or none at all. Similarly, readers may assign legal meanings to these terms, or none at all. Confusion arises because although these terms often have different meanings for authors and readers from different disciplines, this is not commonly acknowledged, and authors rarely clarify their perspectives. The author concludes that scholars should seek co-authors with human rights law or public health qualifications, as relevant. Most academic institutions research and teach health and law separately; interdisciplinary centres of excellence in health, law and human rights offer an opportunity to overcome these historical obstacles to interdisciplinary dialogue and understanding. The study and its conclusions will be of interest to legal researchers, human rights advocates, public health scholars, and advocates from other disciplines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on Seamus Heaney's exploration of human rights through his Greek-inspired poetry and translations, illustrating his deep engagement with classical thought. Topics include the thematic connections between Heaney's work and Greek culture, the rhetorical devices employed in his poems, and his reflections on privilege and social responsibility within the context of human rights activism.

Rafia Zakaria's book, "Against White Feminism: Notes on Disruption," challenges the role of whiteness in global feminisms. Zakaria argues that white feminism, defined as the refusal to acknowledge the role of whiteness and racial privilege in universalizing feminist concerns, is exclusionary and perpetuates inequality. She examines the history of white feminism and its impact on issues such as neoliberal globalization, the military industrial complex, and feminist solidarity. Zakaria also highlights the erasure of feminists of color and calls for a more inclusive and transformative feminist politics. This book provides valuable context for understanding global inequities and issues of race, class, gender, development, conflict, and epistemology. [Extracted from the article]

Social leaders and human rights defenders (SLHRD) in Colombia have been under increasing attack for defending the rights of communities affected by violence. From 2016 to 2022, over 600 SLHRD were assassinated, resulting in a serious violation of both individual and community human rights. The media's portrayal of these attacks can shape public perceptions and influence efforts towards peacebuilding and promoting human rights. This study examines the media's framing of violence against SLHRD in Colombia between 2016 and 2020, a period marked by an escalation of violence after the signing of the 2016 peace accord between the Colombian government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). We analysed 1506 textual publications from seven media outlets using a lexicometric approach and identified two frames of news articles: episodic and thematic. Our findings suggest that the episodic media framing may present a simplistic and non‐political perspective of the issue, which can impede peacebuilding efforts, while the thematic frame can raise awareness of violence against SLHRD and promote human rights defence. Our study highlights the media's significant role in shaping public opinion on violence against SLHRD, offering practical implications for advocacy and activism. [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]

Human rights NGOs contribute to the formation of norms and policies around penality, and inform social understandings of what constitutes acceptable punishment. This article turns to the symbolic group-making work of human rights workers as agents who work with prisoners, and who also construct the image of the prisoner for the rest of society. I zoom in on the case of prison NGO work in Russia, a non-democratic country, and answer two questions: first, how do prison NGOs construct the image of the prisoner, and articulate their relationship with their social base and their networks of civic engagement? Second, what organizational behaviors do these articulations encourage? Drawing on 18 semi-structured interviews and observation at prison NGOs based in Moscow, the study shows that Russian NGO workers often view themselves and act as members of a middle class social movement in Russia. While NGOs tend to focus on the most economically disadvantaged and socially isolated groups in their work, the prisoners they depict when addressing the public and the press tend to represent more educated groups with higher levels of symbolic capital (political prisoners, those convicted of economic crimes, and former state employees), reflecting a desire to put prison on the middle class agenda. At the same time, prison NGO employees employ a class lens in their work with prisoners, and determine how to help prisoners based on their assessment of how the socio-economic background of the prisoner intersects with ethnicity, religion, ability/disability, region where they are serving their sentence, and region where they are from. In other words, prison NGO workers view prisoners through the resources they can accumulate using the simultaneous, intersecting dimensions of their status and their relation to other groups both in prison and outside. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Starting on September 1, 2021, the state of Texas implemented a new abortion restriction referred to as Texas Senate Bill 8 (SB 8), which prohibits abortion after approximately 6 weeks of pregnancy. Despite legal challenges, the Supreme Court declined to intervene, leaving open the possibility for future public hearings or challenges. Methods: We collected tweets containing the hashtag #TexasAbortionBan from public Twitter accounts over a 30-day period (September 1 to September 30, 2021). A total of 104,097 tweets were analyzed during this time frame. The current project employed social network analysis to study the discourse among Twitter users in relation to the #TexasAbortionBan. Results: The current project examined the top ten dominant users within the #TexasAbortionBan network. These users were classified into four groups: journalists/news organizations, activist (political/human rights activist), Internet personality/influencer, and nonprofit and non-governmental organization. The primary topics of discussion revolved around women's access to abortion care and their rights to make decisions regarding their bodies. Conclusions: The findings suggest that the Texas Abortion Ban is the harshest "heartbeat" law among all the states that implemented similar legislation in 2021, and it triggered an uproar in the political discussion. Policy Implications: The social network analysis, a computer-mediated research method, can provide valuable insights for researchers and policymakers seeking to understand a political and controversial topic, such as abortion. The Texas Abortion Ban is seen as a pavement for eventually overturning of Roe v. Wade. Understanding the discourse surrounding abortion-related topics on Twitter holds significance for women, healthcare providers, and policymakers interested in engaging in public advocacy to maintain legal abortion rights. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ben Collier's book "Tor: From the Dark Web to the Future of Privacy" delves into the history and significance of Tor, a privacy-preserving technology that allows users to browse the internet without leaving digital traces. The book explores the development of Tor, its unique features such as onion routing, and its diverse user base, including intelligence officers, journalists, and human rights activists. Collier also addresses the paradox of why the U.S. government has supported a tool that limits its surveillance capabilities, highlighting the complexities and evolution of Tor over the years. [Extracted from the article]

This article proposes the concept of 'memory script' to analyse how, in the aftermath of political violence, memory activists narrate their lives in a way that is practised, repetitive and performative. Through a self-reflective life history of Aluízio Palmar, a Brazilian human rights activist and former political prisoner who suffered intense torture under military rule, this approach seeks to elucidates the personal and political contours of somebody's decision to transform their experiences into a public narrative. A close reading of Palmar's various platforms of memory-sharing reveals the complex moral reckoning of an activist's own trauma. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Medical students (NSB, NM, JDW) spearheaded revision of the policy and clinical practice for shackling incarcerated patients at Boston Medical Center (BMC), the largest safety net hospital in New England. In American hospitals, routine shackling of incarcerated patients with metal restraints is widespread—except for perinatal patients—regardless of consciousness, mobility, illness severity, or age. The modified policy includes individualized assessments and allows incarcerated patients to be unshackled if they meet defined criteria. The students also formed the Stop Shackling Patients Coalition (SSP Coalition) of clinicians, public health practitioners, human rights advocates, and community members determined to humanize the inpatient treatment of incarcerated patients. Changes pioneered at BMC led the Mass General Brigham health system to follow suit. The Massachusetts Medical Society adopted a resolution authored by the SSP Coalition, which condemned universal shackling and advocated for use of the least restrictive alternative. This will be presented to the American Medical Association in June 2024. The Coalition led a similar effort to coauthor a policy statement on the issue, which was formally adopted by the American Public Health Association in November 2023. Most importantly, in an unprecedented human rights victory, a BMC patient who was incarcerated, sedated, and intubated was unshackled by correctional officers for the purpose of preserving human dignity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is a growing position among human rights advocates, academics and UN officials, predicting "the death of the death penalty", and forecasting that it will completely disappear soon. This article questions and problematizes this prediction, exploring the assumptions, premises and gaps that underpin the optimistic outlook. Based on analysis of abolitionist discourse, three fallacies are identified and analyzed: a progressive fallacy, assuming the death penalty is a barbaric anachronism in the "civilized" modern world and displaying a teleological belief in its demise; a classificatory fallacy, entailing defining-down the prevalence of the death penalty through the category of "de-facto abolition"; and a functional fallacy, assuming that repudiating the death penalty as a crime-fighting tool will cause its demise, overlooking its transformation into an institution serving political-symbolic functions. In concluding, I suggest viewing the global death penalty as bifurcated: dying as an ordinary law-enforcement tool, but relatively healthy as an extraordinary political symbol. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Indigenous communities around the globe increasingly resort to courts to seek protection for their individual and collective rights. Not only has the use of strategic litigation by Indigenous peoples to defend their human rights been underexplored but the role of Indigenous lawyers and experts is also a blind spot. Drawing on interdisciplinary, qualitative and collaborative research with Indigenous lawyers, experts and legal activists who are involved in the legal defence of the rights of Indigenous peoples in Guatemala, we foreground a complex legal ethnographic landscape regarding their intergenerational legal-political battle in a society facing transition from recent mass violence and the imposition of extractive economies. This article explores how their Indigenous lawyering is rooted in their Indigenous being and embedded in Indigenous water and land ontologies. We demonstrate how these Indigenous litigators are advancing through counter-hegemonic legal practice that goes beyond dominant Euro-Western and colonial legal positivistic assumptions about human-water-life relationships embedded in a racialised neoliberal legal structure. We argue that in contrast to human rights activist lawyers, they are occupying and exercising a differentiated role, through their positionality and their non-conventional practices, as transformative connectors of worlds before the courts or political ontological knowledge brokers, without falling into romanticism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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The main aim of this paper is examining the impact of globalization on human rights, focusing on the tragic Rana Plaza collapse in Bangladesh. Globalization has led to increased international trade and investment, but it has also raised concerns about its potential negative impacts on human rights, such as labor exploitation and unsafe working conditions. A qualitative case study approach was used, involving government official documents, and human rights activists' campaigns. The findings indicate that the pursuit of profit and cost reduction in a globalized economy has contributed to the erosion of labor rights in Bangladesh. The Rana Plaza collapse revealed systemic failures in safety regulations, labor law enforcement, and corporate accountability. The disaster had a devastating impact on human lives and deepened social inequalities. To mitigate the negative impacts of globalization on human rights, the study recommends to strengthen labor laws and enforcement mechanisms, promote responsible business practices and fair labor policies, enhance workers' rights to organize and bargain collectively, increase investment in worker safety and health, provide access to justice and compensation for victims of labor rights violations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]