President Trump’s travels to Europe are unfailingly met with the angry protests of our democratic counterparts across the pond. From the thousands of protesters in the streets of Germany voicing their displeasure with Trump’s attendance at the G20 summit to the tantrum-throwing-baby balloon floating over Parliament during his trip to London, it seems as if […]
Tag: human rights
Femicide in Mexico: What Happens when the State Looks the Other Way
Laura Velazquez had to identify her sister Diana’s body by her braids because her face and torso were left unrecognizable. Diana left her house in Chimalhuacan, Mexico, on July 2, 2017, where she was raped and choked to death by multiple men. Now, almost two years later, the authorities still have not found her murderers, […]
Love No Border: The Significance of Faith-Based Resistance to Trump Immigration Policy
In an era of xenophobia, nationalism and anti-immigrant sentiment, faith-based sanctuary movements are fighting back. The Trump administration’s efforts to stop what it calls illegal immigration and chain migration, alongside the ending of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program and President Trump’s controversial language around undocumented persons, have galvanized nationwide movements to protect immigrants […]
The World’s Largest Security State Has Created its Own Security Problem
Violence In Western China The capital of the Chinese province of Xinjiang, Urumqi, looks like many Chinese cities. The horizon is full of construction machinery creating new factories, high-rises, and office buildings. More striking is that the streets of the developed sector are largely populated with ethnic Han Chinese. The Chinese government has incentivized Han Chinese to move […]
Development: A Dam Problem
It seems odd to juxtapose “environment” with “refugee”. The environment is a set of conditions that cultivate the life of beings. By definition, it is suited to the livelihoods of certain humans, just as humans are suited to their environments. Both participate in a symbiotic relationship, so the term “environmental refugee” indicates a very […]
Venezuela’s Humanitarian Crisis: Not The Exception, But The Rule.
As Syrian refugees continue to arrive in battered dinghies to the shores of Europe, a migration of similar urgency is taking place in Latin America. The Venezuelan crisis has its roots in the poor transfer of dictatorial power and an over-reliance on oil exports. However, this issue of politics and economics has transformed into a […]
Manus Island and Australia’s Complex Relationship with Humanitarianism
On July 23, 2013, Kurdish journalist and now refugee Behrouz Boochani arrived in Australia via broken-down boat after two months of travel, accompanied by 65 other refugees fleeing Iran. Boochani was leaving his home country to avoid impending arrest and imprisonment for his politically inflammatory writing, and hoped to find in Australia a new home […]
When Universalism Met Culture
As I read the story of Aasia Bibi, the 17-year-old Pakistani girl who unintentionally poisoned and killed 17 members of her family in her attempt to escape the prospect of an arranged marriage, I wonder how many South Asian women have contemplated the same. As a South Indian woman myself, talk of my marriage is […]
Front Lines: The Weak Defence for ‘Human Shields’
Picture this: a young man, branded with a nondescript sign on his chest, being paraded through villages and neighbourhoods as he only just manages to stay on the jeep that he has been so carelessly tied to. The use of civilians as ‘human shields’ in times of conflict and war is not novel or particular […]
Aung San Suu Kyi and The Politics of Power in Burma
Power, what is it good for? Absolutely nothing! Aung San Suu Kyi was once the world’s most famous political prisoner. From her first period of house arrest which was due to her establishing the pro-democracy National League for Democracy to her last day of house arrest in November 2010, Aung San Suu Kyi was under […]