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Begin New Search Topic Human Rights Content Type Working Paper Publication Year within 25 Years Publication Year within 5 Years

41. Challenge of Statelessness—The Indian Response

Author:
V. Suryanarayan
Publication Date:
12-2020
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
India International Centre (IIC)
Abstract:
There are stateless people all around the globe. The problem is very acute in the Asia–Pacific region. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) estimates that there are 10 million stateless persons across the world. A stateless child is born every ten minutes. What does it mean to be a stateless person? It means you have no identity, you have no nationality. You are not recognised as a citizen of any country. As UNHCR has rightly pointed out, ‘Often they are excluded from cradle to grave— being denied a legal identity when they are born, access to education, health care, marriage and job opportunities during their life time and even the dignity of an official burial and a death certificate.’ Over one-third of the world’s stateless are children
Topic:
Human Rights, Refugees, Constitution, Citizenship, History, and Stateless Population
Political Geography:
South Asia and India

42. The French Revolution, Napoleon, and the Jews

Author:
Michael Nutkiewicz
Publication Date:
12-2020
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
India International Centre (IIC)
Abstract:
This paper brings together ideas from several interests: the Western political tradition, Jewish history and human rights. The issues addressed are: • Why theFrenchRevolutionwas awatershed in theWestern political tradition. • The debate before and during the Revolution known as ‘The Jewish Question’, and Napoleon’s role in that debate. • The ambiguous resolution of the ‘Jewish Question’. • The legacy and implications for today regarding the relationship between the state and religion in the West.
Topic:
Human Rights, History, Jewish community, French Revolution, and Napoleon Bonaparte
Political Geography:
Europe and France

43. La transición hacia energía renovables en México: Oportunidades y desafíos respecto a las empresas y derechos humanos

Author:
Jacob Ramirez
Publication Date:
01-2020
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centre for Business and Development Studies (CBDS), Copenhagen Business School
Abstract:
Los gobiernos y las empresas argumentan que invertir en energía eólica contribuye al desarrollo sostenible global y la conservación ecológica. Sin embargo, las consecuencias sobre las tradiciones socioculturales y económicas de los pueblos indígenas desafían estos argumentos. Las confrontaciones entre las empresas y los pueblos indígenas sobre la energía renovable se remontan a la continuidad de la opresión y la represión de los gobiernos y las empresas hacia los pueblos indígenas, lo cual se denomina colonialismo interno. Basado en un estudio longitudinal en el Istmo de Tehuantepec en Oaxaca, México, este artículo ofrece una forma diferente para discutir derechos humanos y empresas en inversiones eólicas en dicho país. Asimismo, a través de los conceptos de colonialismo interno y justicia ambiental, analiza los Principios Rectores sobre las Empresas y los Derechos Humanos de las Naciones Unidas. El colonialismo interno expone la profundidad de las dinámicas conflictivas en las inversiones eólicas, en los territorios de los pueblos indígenas con respecto a la injusticia ambiental en sus derechos humanos.
Topic:
Human Rights, Business, Renewable Energy, Indigenous, and Wind Power
Political Geography:
Latin America, North America, and Mexico

44. Factsheet: The Human Cost of Guantánamo Bay Detention Camp

Author:
Bridge Initiative Team
Publication Date:
07-2020
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Bridge Initiative, Georgetown University
Abstract:
Guantánamo Bay military prison is a site of egregious and ongoing human rights violations perpetrated by the United States government. Opened in early 2002 on a U.S. naval base in Cuba, the prison has housed 780 adults and minors from around the world—all Muslim—most of whom have been subjected to torture and severe abuse at the hands of the U.S. armed forces and the CIA. Most were never formally charged with any crime and were detained for years without trial. As of 2022, thirty-nine remain imprisoned at Guantánamo Bay prison.
Topic:
Human Rights, Torture, Prisons/Penal Systems, War on Terror, Guantanamo Bay, and Arbitrary Detentions
Political Geography:
Cuba, North America, and United States of America

45. Factsheet: Legal Challenges to Guantánamo Bay Detention Camp

Author:
Bridge Initiative Team
Publication Date:
07-2020
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Bridge Initiative, Georgetown University
Abstract:
U.S. legislation and case law have both upheld and challenged the legal authority of the Guantánamo Bay military prison. This includes the 2001 Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF) and the Military Commissions Act of 2006, as well as Supreme Court cases such as Hamdan v. Rumsfeld (2006) and Boumediene v. Bush (2008). Serious legal issues have arisen around the legal rights and protections of those imprisoned, including the right to habeas corpus and the right to be tried under the U.S. legal system (as opposed to U.S. military tribunals). Attorneys for those imprisoned at Guantánamo Bay military prison have been subjected to surveillance and interference by the U.S. government, and the U.S. government tightly controls the release of information about the military prison and those imprisoned there.
Topic:
Human Rights, Law, Guantanamo Bay, and Habeas Corpus
Political Geography:
Cuba, United States of America, and Guantanamo

46. Factsheet: Torture at Guantánamo Bay Detention Camp

Author:
Bridge Initiative Team
Publication Date:
07-2020
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Bridge Initiative, Georgetown University
Abstract:
A majority of those imprisoned at the Guantánamo Bay Detention Camp were subjected to various forms of physical and psychological abuse—techniques that were developed by two American psychologists contracted by the CIA to develop its torture program. The torture included but was not limited to waterboarding, sexual harassment and abuse, physical abuse, and sleep deprivation. Those formerly imprisoned still experience physical and psychological distress and trauma as a result of their treatment in Guantánamo Bay. A 2014 U.S. Senate intelligence report found the torture program was ineffective in its stated goal of obtaining military intelligence.
Topic:
Human Rights, Torture, Trauma, and Guantanamo Bay
Political Geography:
Cuba, United States of America, and Guantanamo

47. Factsheet: Saida Keller-Massahli

Author:
Bridge Initiative Team
Publication Date:
03-2020
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Bridge Initiative, Georgetown University
Abstract:
Saïda Keller-Messahli is a self-described Islamic human rights activist of Tunisian-Swiss heritage who is among the most prominent voices mainstreaming Islamophobia in Switzerland. She is frequently featured as an interviewee by Swiss media and has often been invited to Austrian state agencies as a public voice and “expert” to support discriminatory policies against Muslims.
Topic:
Human Rights, Islam, Islamophobia, and Saida Keller-Massahli
Political Geography:
Europe and Switzerland

48. The state of the war-wounded in northern Uganda

Author:
Dyan Mazurana, Anastasia Marshak, and Teddy Atim
Publication Date:
03-2019
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Feinstein International Center, Tufts University
Abstract:
Few large-scale, structured surveys have been conducted on the prevalence of alleged war crimes or crimes against humanity committed by warring parties against civilians and how this relates to disability. Using data from a panel survey carried out in 2013, 2015, and 2018 that is representative of all of Acholi and Lango sub-regions in northern Uganda, this working paper reports the prevalence of alleged war crimes or crimes against humanity for individuals and households; their association with disability; and the resulting effects over time on people’s lives in terms of food security, wealth, access to basic services, and healthcare. The study contributes to an understanding of people who have experienced alleged war crimes or crimes against humanity that affect them physically and psychologically; the relationship between experience of these alleged crimes and their experience of disability; the effects of these crimes on their wealth, food security, and access to livelihood and social protection services; the effects of these crimes on their access to basic and therapeutic healthcare; and a better understanding of the key obstacles faced by victims of these alleged crimes when they are unable to receive basic and therapeutic healthcare.
Topic:
Conflict Resolution, Human Rights, War, and Conflict
Political Geography:
Uganda and Africa

49. Historical injustice and “Bogus” claims: Large infrastructure, conservation and forest rights in India

Author:
Kanchi Kohli
Publication Date:
06-2019
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centre for Policy Research, India
Abstract:
This essay examines the role of India’s 2006 Forest Rights Act in the procedures that regulate transfer of forest land to large infrastructure projects. Specifically, it shows the gap between the legally mandated requirements and how these are implemented in project approval processes. This is illustrated through a case study of the coal mining approvals in the Hasdeo Arand forest region in the central Indian state of Chhattisgarh. The essay also outlines the different actors who have influenced the discourses on forest rights of Adivasi and other forest dwelling communities and what they identify as factors that challenge the implementation of this law on the ground. It juxtaposes this analysis in the context of the recent decision of the Supreme Court of India on eviction of forest dwellers and examines whether that would bring in any structural change in the way the law is implemented.
Topic:
Environment, Human Rights, Infrastructure, Courts, Conservation, and Land Rights
Political Geography:
South Asia, India, and Asia

50. Weapons Systems Supply and Operational or Logistical Support under the PSSA

Author:
Tobias Vestner and Alessandro Mario Amoroso
Publication Date:
05-2019
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Geneva Centre for Security Policy
Abstract:
Tobias Vestner and Alessandro Mario Amoroso, from the GCSP Security and Law team, are the authors of a Training Guide designed for Swiss private security companies to fulfil the obligations introduced by the Federal Act on Private Security Services provided Abroad (PSSA). The guide is tailored to the needs of companies operating and maintaining weapons systems and/or providing installation services, training on equipment and systems, and/or operational or logistical support to armed forces. Its purpose is to enable company personnel to understand key concepts and standards of human rights and international humanitarian law, including the risk and avoidance of direct participation in hostilities. The various chapters provide the necessary knowledge and tools to train company personnel to identify, prevent, and report activities that can constitute direct participation in hostilities or complicity in human rights and international humanitarian law violations. The guide includes thirty practical scenarios for training on direct participation in hostilities, with answers, which can be used to discuss the risk and avoidance of activities amounting to direct participation in hostilities.
Topic:
Security, Human Rights, Weapons, and International Humanitarian Law (IHL)
Political Geography:
Switzerland and Global Focus