Foreign Policy Blogs

Tag Archives: human rights

China Begins Trial of Dissident Xu Zhiyong Despite International Objections

China Begins Trial of Dissident Xu Zhiyong Despite International Objections

Prominent Chinese legal scholar and human rights activist Xu Zhiyong (许志永) will go on trial January 22 on charges of disrupting public order. A founder of the pro-democracy New Citizens’ Movement (中国新公民运动) and an outspoken advocate of greater transparency in Chinese government, Xu has been detained since July 2013. Xu and his lawyers believe that […]

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U.S. and EU Speak Out on China’s Detention of Uighur Scholar Ilham Tohti

U.S. and EU Speak Out on China’s Detention of Uighur Scholar Ilham Tohti

Prominent Uighur economics professor and dissident Ilham Tohti (Uighur: ئىلھام توختى‎, Chinese: 伊力哈木土赫提) was detained by police in Beijing on January 15, according to multiple reports. Also detained were at least six of Tohti’s students. Tohti’s family has not been informed of his whereabouts or the nature of the charges against him. The U.S. State […]

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Turning the Tide: Three Years Later Tunisia Is Still the Forerunner of the Arab Spring

Turning the Tide: Three Years Later Tunisia Is Still the Forerunner of the Arab Spring

On January 9, Ali Larayedh dutifully resigned as the Prime Minister of Tunisia, fulfilling his promise to end the political deadlock in Tunisia following the crises that ensued as a result of the assassination of secular politician, Mohamed Brahmi in July 2013. Although strikes and protests have plagued the country since 2011, the transition to […]

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Where the ‘Ikhwan’ goes, so shall Egypt

Where the ‘Ikhwan’ goes, so shall Egypt

There are many—both in the East and the West—who have been confidently betting on the overt plan to marginalize, and, in due course, eradicate the Muslim Brotherhood (Ikhwan) as a sociopolitical movement. In light of the on-going vicious Ikhwanophobia and emboldened brutality of the coup regime, it is hard to counter such contemptuous optimism. But, […]

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Britain’s Bold and Blistered Year on Human Rights

Britain’s Bold and Blistered Year on Human Rights

Slender forms in decadently jeweled red and gold glide across the stage. Delicate white flower petals cling to dark hair and long limbs grab the air in soft waves.  This traditional dance marked a stunning welcome to the mid-November commencement of the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting (CHOG) in Colombo, Sri Lanka.  The  ceremony provided a much needed moment of glitz and […]

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Remembering Mandela and his Foreign Policy

Remembering Mandela and his Foreign Policy

When I heard the news that Nelson Mandela, our beloved Madiba, was gone, I had flashbacks to the first time I laid eyes on my South African wife. I didn’t know much about South Africa at the time, and for some reason or another I kept calling her “Mandela” over the course of the entire […]

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The Corruption Tango

The Corruption Tango

Any unchecked authority or power—especially when involving monies—ultimately leads to corruption. That is why it is necessary to put in place mechanisms to monitor, audit, reward, and, when necessary, punish.All laws stemming from a moral or a legal code are based on a system of rewards and punishments. By corruption I mean: Abuse of authority […]

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Human Rights Are Not Negotiable

Human Rights Are Not Negotiable

  Show your support on Twitter and Facebook by reposting and retweeting United for Iran’s messages on Monday, November 18th and Tuesday the 19th. Use the hashtag #IranVote. As the United Nations General Assembly Third Committee prepares to vote on the resolution on the promotion and protection of human rights in Iran on November 19, 25 […]

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Khodorkovsky, Revisited

Khodorkovsky, Revisited

This day marks a decade in Mikhail Khodorkovsky’s imprisonment, a journey all too similar to the hopelessly frigid Siberian settings of Dostoevsky’s stories and Solzhenitsyn’s novels — except in one regard. In his younger years, Khodorkovsky was a corrupt oil tycoon and pragmatic oligarch successfully basking in the Russian government’s economic malaise. It was Khodorkovsky […]

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Post-Windsor Progress

Post-Windsor Progress

Federal agencies are beginning to revise their policies in the wake of the decision in United States v. Windsor, where the Supreme Court of the United States struck down the controversial definition of marriage contained in the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). This paradigm shift has the potential to promote a rapid change in the […]

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Repatriation Still a Far Cry in Bhutan, Says Exiled Journalist

Repatriation Still a Far Cry in Bhutan, Says Exiled Journalist

Evicted from Bhutan at the age of 11, Vidhyapati Mishra spent two decades in U.N.-funded Bhutanese refugee camp in eastern Nepal before resettling in the United States. Just a week before his departure from Nepal to Charlotte of North Carolina, self-learned journalist Mishra also featured in the New York Times with his powerful narrative story […]

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The G20 on Syria: Who Represents the Victims of Chemical Attacks?

The G20 on Syria: Who Represents the Victims of Chemical Attacks?

In family courts, judges do not tend to take the position of either parent in cases that involve the health and custody of children. Judges take the position of the child as if they were of mature age and speaking to their own personal benefit and well being. We need to be reminded that over […]

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The Unwanted Federally Administered Tribal Areas

The Unwanted Federally Administered Tribal Areas

There are few places in the world that do not afford its citizens basic human rights, or at least a garb of human rights. The Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan (or better known as “FATA”) are one of those areas. FATA are the semi-autonomous areas in the northwest frontier of Pakistan, bordering both the […]

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Asia’s Pivot: Stepping on Human Rights, Reviving Realpolitik

Asia’s Pivot: Stepping on Human Rights, Reviving Realpolitik

In late July, following 28 years of authoritarian rule in Cambodia by the Prime Minister Hun Sen, citizens of the impoverished southeastern Asian state went to the polls for elections. What followed was a shocking setback: Mr. Sen’s ruling Cambodia People’s Party (CPP) saw its number of seats in the 123-seat parliament reduced from 90 […]

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Chong Chon Gang Saga Encouraging More International Scrutiny of DPRK

Chong Chon Gang Saga Encouraging More International Scrutiny of DPRK

The recent international shipping scandal involving the Chong Chon Gang, a decrepit, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea-flagged (DPRK) cargo ship with a dodgy track record has raised many important questions involving contemporary issues on the international laws of international security, maritime law, human rights, and labor rights. This high-profile incident occurred not long after the […]

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