By Guest Writer Tatiana Gnuva Image: “Ethnic Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh evacuated from their homes” by Mil.ru is licensed under CC BY 4.0 DEED. Nagorno-Karabakh, also known as “Artsakh,” was home to 120,000 people, most of whom were ethnic Armenians. Artsakh is isolated from the Republic of Armenia and is only connected to the country through the Lachin corridor. The independent republic of Artsakh functioned as a de-facto breakaway Armenian state yet was long claimed by Azerbaijan. For centuries, Artsakh was a primarily Armenian region, but in the early 1920s, it was incorporated into the ..read more

By Guest Writer Aleydis Nissen The United Nations (UN) Committee on Social, Economic and Cultural Rights has historically sidestepped the right to access sports in its concluding observations. Yet, the Committee’s latest  recommendations to Palestine and France mark a significant milestone in recognizing the intersection of sports and human rights. As the global landscape evolves, this development challenges traditional notions of sports autonomy, signaling a crucial step towards ensuring inclusivity and the right to access sports.   A Right to Access Sports for All Unlike other ..read more

By Guest Writer Winston Ardoin Image: “Protest in Cusco, Peru” by illuminaut is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0. Over the last decade, the concept of “democratic backsliding” has captured the attention of political scientists seeking to explain the unsettling increase in government overthrows and authoritarian behaviors around the world. In the Americas alone, several countries have faced democratic instability in recent years, from infamous cases like El Salvador and Venezuela to regional hegemons like Brazil and the United States. In retreating from democratic norms, states have b ..read more

By Guest Writer Nishka Kapoor Recently, the government of Sri Lanka published the new Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA), a new legislation intended to replace the draconian Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) of 1979. This is the second attempt to introduce a replacement bill, following the initial 2018 effort that was met with widespread criticism and subsequently rejected. The latest ATA has also drawn significant criticism nationally and internationally due to concerns regarding its non-compliance with human rights principles.    In early 2022, Sri Lanka faced a severe economic crisis w ..read more

By Guest Writer Nevin Kamath Photo Attribution: James LeeFormerIP at en.wikipedia, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons Perhaps an underreported tragedy of Russia’s war in Ukraine is the ongoing evaporation of freedoms within Russia itself. I recently moderated the American Bar Association’s (ABA) “Challenges Facing Judges, Lawyers, and other Human Rights Defenders in Russia – Where are we now?” presented to the ABA and the general public by the ABA’s International Law Section, International Human Rights Committee in June 2023. What we heard from three experts was a grim reminder of why Russia sco ..read more

By Guest Writer Prabhu Gupta The small Indian state of Manipur has been engulfed in intense civil conflict due to ethnic tensions. The primary Meitei population, along with the smaller Kuki minority, are engaged in a struggle for control and territorial dominance, leading to violent clashes. Recently, a video went viral showing two naked women being paraded naked, molested, and raped by a mob in the violence-inflicted areas resulting in a huge uproar from both within and outside the nation. Factual Backdrop and issues leading to the crisis The northeastern Indian state of Manipur, situated to ..read more

By Staff Writer Zeqi Chen In March 2022, the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), was reauthorized for the fourth time, albeit after a four-year delay. First enacted in 1994, VAWA is the federal legislative milestone against domestic violence that provides protections for individuals who have suffered gender-based harm.  VAWA’s most iconic achievement was the establishment of criminalization as a way to combat intimate partner violence and advance the criminalization of intimate partner violence. This approach, which allocates most of its funding to law enforcement to address domestic viole ..read more

By Guest Writer Shagnik Mukherjea Image by the EU Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid In April 2023, the Sixth Committee of the United Nations initiated a two-year process to deliberate and negotiate the draft articles on the prevention and punishment of crimes against humanity. At the forefront of the multitude of issues being tackled by the International Law Commission (ILC) and numerous States are gender-based issues, with a particular emphasis on reinforcing legal obligations and ensuring safeguards for victims of sex and gender-based violence. Over the past few decades, significant ..read more

By Guest Writer Rafsi Albar For 31 of its 78 years, Indonesia was ruled by the iron fist of the “smiling general,” Suharto. His leadership, known as the “New Order,” originally focused on economic development in order to make up for the losses suffered as a result of President Sukarno’s political manoeuvres. Despite being arguably successful in improving the welfare of its more than 100 million people across three decades, his military background eventually found a way to intervene in the young nation’s supposed democracy. The dual function of the armed forces, more commonly known locally as D ..read more

By Guest Writers Jayam Jha and Pooja Rajawat In the ongoing session of the Rajya Sabha, the seat of the former Indian Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh was shifted from the first row to the last row, due to his inability to walk to the first row because of health-related issues. This has sparked a debate regarding the accessibility of public buildings for persons with disabilities. It asks a pertinent question: what do we do when the parliament of a country is not accessible for persons with disabilities? Out of all other institutions, the need to revamp educational institutions—be it public ..read more