Foreign Policy Blogs

Tag Archives: human rights

Paradoxical Legacy of a ‘Human Rights Icon’

Paradoxical Legacy of a ‘Human Rights Icon’

“It would be my greatest sadness to see Zionists do to Palestinian Arabs much of what Nazis did to Jews.” -Albert Einstein

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Liu Xiaobo Plaza: Renaming of Streets as a Human Rights Tactic

Liu Xiaobo Plaza: Renaming of Streets as a Human Rights Tactic

In February, the U.S. Senate unanimously passed a bill to rename the street in front of the Chinese embassy “Liu Xiaobo Plaza” in honor of the imprisoned Chinese dissident and Nobel Peace Prize laureate.

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Obama Lifts Arms Embargo on Vietnam

Obama Lifts Arms Embargo on Vietnam

Despite concerns human rights violations in Vietnam, Obama opted to fully lift the arms embargo on lethal military equipment during his recent visit.

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Causeway Bay Incident: Swedish Diplomacy under Challenge

Causeway Bay Incident: Swedish Diplomacy under Challenge

The Causeway Bay Bookstore incident and Beijing’s response has posed a serious challenge to Sweden’s “human rights diplomacy.”

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UN Calls on Vietnam to Respect Freedom of Assembly

UN Calls on Vietnam to Respect Freedom of Assembly

The UNCHR stated that it is “concerned about the increasing levels of violence perpetrated against Vietnamese protesters expressing their anger over the mysterious mass deaths of fish along the country’s central coast.”

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Chinese Government Front Groups Act in Violation of U.S. Law

Chinese Government Front Groups Act in Violation of U.S. Law

If Chinese government front groups are operating illegally in the United States, the U.S. government has a responsibility to act in the matter and enforce the Foreign Agents Registration Act.

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China Attempts to Save Face at UN Human Rights Council

China Attempts to Save Face at UN Human Rights Council

China tried to save face last week, by lashing out at those critical of its human rights record during a meeting of the UN Human Rights Council.

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BURDEN OF PEACE: A Candid Discussion with Filmmaker Joey Boink

BURDEN OF PEACE: A Candid Discussion with Filmmaker Joey Boink

Paul Nash of the Foreign Policy Association spoke with director Joey Boink about “Burden of Peace,” the challenges of he faced while filming in one of the world’s more dangerous countries, and human rights in Guatemala.

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By Any Other Name: The Words We Use

By Any Other Name: The Words We Use

The words we use have an impact on the world around us. For people who have been trafficked and exploited for sexual purposes, such an apparently minor thing as language can tangle their lives and seriously affect their future.

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Saudi Arabia and Iran’s Backyard Politics

Saudi Arabia and Iran’s Backyard Politics

The Iran-Saudi “cold war” carries, for both countries, a dimension that raises particular security concerns: the presence of minority communities in their respective backyards that show sympathy to the other side due to domestic repression.

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Azerbaijan to U.S.: What About Human Rights?

Azerbaijan to U.S.: What About Human Rights?

What is clear is that Azerbaijan, like Russia, is placing renewed emphasis tried-and-true Soviet-era techniques, including “whataboutism,” a term coined by U.S. analysts to describe the Soviet officials’ attempts to deflect Western criticism by appealing to the West’s failures.

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Candid Discussions: Gissou Nia on Iran’s Human Rights in 2014

Candid Discussions: Gissou Nia on Iran’s Human Rights in 2014

Ms. Nia sat down with Reza Akhlaghi of the Foreign Policy Association to discuss Iran’s human rights record in 2014 and share her perspectives on the challenges the Iranian society faces in greater recognition of human rights.

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Against the end of history

Against the end of history

Word has it that China will surpass the U.S. as the world’s largest economy by the end of this year, according to a recent World Bank report. This is an event of dramatic, albeit symbolic, importance for the way the world will conduct its affairs. With this in mind, what can be expected from international […]

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Defining Sexism in the Middle East, Latin America and Everywhere Else

Defining Sexism in the Middle East, Latin America and Everywhere Else

One famous singing icon who has a particularly strong following in Latin America and the Middle East due to her cultural connections to both regions is Shakira. Recently, a debate arose worldwide over her boyfriend, famous footballer Gerald Pique “forbidding” Shakira from doing sensual music videos with men, raising the question to whether a partner […]

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China Charges Uighur Scholar Ilham Tohti with Separatism, Denies Access to Lawyer

China Charges Uighur Scholar Ilham Tohti with Separatism, Denies Access to Lawyer

Chinese authorities have formally charged outspoken Uighur scholar and human rights activist Ilham Tohti (Uyghur: ئىلھام توختى‎, Chinese: 伊力哈木土赫提) with inciting separatism. Arrested in Beijing in January, Tohti is currently being held in China’s far western Xinjiang region and has been denied access to a lawyer on the grounds that his case involves “state secrets.” […]

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