Latin America Operation Condor trials offer lessons

2018 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Latin America ◽  
Driving Force ◽  
Political Will ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Political Dynamics ◽  
Guantanamo Bay ◽  
Operation Condor ◽  
Set Up ◽  
Enhanced Interrogation

Significance Because of their backgrounds, US President Donald Trump’s choice of two highly divisive figures, Mike Pompeo and Gina Haspel, to become secretary of state and CIA director respectively has spurred discussions on the use of controversial “enhanced interrogation techniques” and secret prisons like Guantanamo Bay for questioning detainees overseas. Such considerations evoke memories of Operation Condor, the South America-wide covert operation set up in the 1970s using a borderless network of clandestine detention centres and rendition flights. Impacts Lack of political will continue to hamper efforts to confront past human rights violations in Latin America. Victims’ relatives and civil society activists will remain the main driving force behind justice demands. The UN and inter-American human rights systems support accountability efforts, but progress will depend on local political dynamics. A mixed picture on accountability is likely to endure, with some countries continuing to progress and others lagging behind.

Escazu offers framework for progress in Latin America

2021 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Latin America ◽  
Environmental Protection ◽  
Political Will ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Effective Implementation

Significance The ‘Escazu Agreement’, as it is also known, could become a fundamental tool in promoting human rights and environmental protections regionwide. Full and effective implementation nevertheless looks likely to pose challenges, raising doubts as to whether the agreement’s goals will be achieved. Impacts Progress in environmental protection will depend on more countries joining the current twelve in fully committing to the agreement. A lack of political will and pressure from economic groups will see governments drag their feet on signing and ratifying the agreement. Honduras’s absence and the failure of Brazil, Colombia and Guatemala to ratify will undermine efforts to protect environmental defenders.

Turkey’s tough minister is useful but unlikely to rise

2019 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Driving Force ◽  
Military Coup ◽  
Content Type ◽  
South Eastern ◽  
The Eu

Subject A profile of Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu. Significance The removal from office of the Kurdish mayors of south-eastern Turkey’s three largest cities -- Diyarbakir, Van and Mardin -- early on August 19 underscored the importance of Turkey’s hard-line interior minister, Suleyman Soylu. He has been the driving force behind a series of unprecedented crackdowns on several political fronts since he became interior minister at the end of August 2016, six weeks after the abortive military coup. Impacts Soylu's relative isolation in the party could become an electoral liability for the AKP. He will continue taking advantage of publicity via the largely pro-government media. His dismissive attitude towards the EU and scant regard for human rights will be another obstacle in Turkey’s EU relations.

scholarly journals Wielding the human rights weapon against the American empire: the second Russell Tribunal and human rights in transatlantic relations

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Umberto Tulli
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Latin America ◽  
Driving Force ◽  
Recent Literature ◽  
American Foreign Policy ◽  
Human Rights Violations ◽  
American Empire ◽  
Documentary Sources ◽  
The Usa

AbstractThe article discusses the evolution from the 1966–1967 “first” Russell Tribunal, an unofficial and political gathering that censured the USA for its aggression in Vietnam, to the “second” Russell Tribunal, which took place in Rome and Brussels between 1974 and 1976 and put human rights violations in Latin America in the international spotlight. Both Tribunals shared a profound anti-Americanism and an explicit proximity to Third Worldism. Yet, there was also an important difference, since the language of human rights shaped only the “second” Tribunal. The article is mostly based on documentary sources held by the Fondazione Lelio and Lisli Basso in Rome. This choice is based on the importance Italian Senator Lelio Basso had for the Tribunal. Basso was the main organizer and the driving force of the Tribunal and coordinated many transnational groups in support of this event. Moreover, his intellectual reflections on decolonization as a revolutionary force and his fierce anti-Americanism offered a blueprint for the proceedings and the sentence of the Tribunal. Bringing together the recent literature on the emergence of human rights during the 1970s and that on European anti-Americanism, the article shows how some prominent European intellectuals and politicians appropriated human rights jargon to criticize American foreign policy and denounce its responsibilities for ongoing human rights violations in Latin America. In doing so, it argues that the human rights language renewed European anti-Americanism during the 1970s.

Ruling party will look inwards ahead of Burundi polls

2019 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Economic Crisis ◽  
Presidential Elections ◽  
Regional Security ◽  
The Political ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Political Dynamics ◽  
Fourth Term ◽  
The Government ◽  
Ruling Party

Subject Political dynamics ahead of 2020 elections. Significance The government has launched talks with CNARED, a forum of opposition parties, to negotiate the return of its exiled leaders ahead of the 2020 presidential elections. President Pierre Nkurunziza, who has said he will not run for a fourth term, appears to be cautiously reaching out to the opposition in an effort to ease his regime’s diplomatic isolation and deepening economic crisis. Impacts The 2020 elections will likely see continued heavy human rights violations and restrictions on the political space. CNARED’s mooted return might increase tensions, rights violations and repression, especially once they try to campaign outside Bujumbura. Burundi’s crisis weighs heavily on regional security, especially in Congo’s South Kivu Province; the elections might exacerbate this.

Gold flows through Uganda are set to increase

2017 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Oil Industry ◽  
The Other ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Eastern Africa ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Conflict Minerals ◽  
On Line ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
Set Up

Subject Uganda's gold trade. Significance In late February, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni officially opened a gold refinery at Entebbe, although it has operated since 2014. The 20-million-dollar facility -- set up by the joint Belgian-Ugandan African Gold Refinery (AGR) -- is the second dedicated gold refinery opened in sub-Saharan Africa (the other is in Johannesburg). Once fully operational, the Entebbe site will process up to 150 kilogrammes of gold per day from across Central and Eastern Africa. Impacts With Uganda’s nascent oil industry not yet on line, increased gold exports are welcomed and require little infrastructure for high volumes. Scrutiny from the international community, especially human rights groups, will increase as gold exports rise. A repeal or weakening of the Dodd-Frank Act would reverse progress in managing Great Lakes conflict minerals.

scholarly journals Observing Justice at Guantánamo Bay: Human Rights NGOs and Trial Monitoring at the US Military Commissions

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kjersti Lohne
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Guantanamo Bay ◽  
Us Military ◽  
The Us ◽  
September 11 Attacks ◽  
Military Commissions ◽  
Trial Monitoring ◽  
Set Up ◽  
The Military

AbstractThe article critically considers the role of NGOs at the US naval base in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. On the basis of observation of pre-trial hearings for the case against Khalid Sheik Mohammed et al.—those allegedly responsible for the September 11 attacks—the article analyses NGOs as trial monitors of the US military commissions set up to deal with ‘alien unprivileged enemy belligerents’. In spite of continued efforts by human rights NGOs and incremental improvements in the military commissions’ institutional arrangements and practice, the article shows how NGOs have become so much a part of the everyday operation of justice at ‘Gitmo’ that they legitimate the military commissions’ claim to be delivering fair and transparent justice.

China's Latin America funding brings calculated risk

2015 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Direct Investment ◽  
Latin America ◽  
Direct Investment ◽  
Financial Flows ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Chinese Investment ◽  
Political Dynamics ◽  
The Past ◽  
Political Risks ◽  
Calculated Risk

Subject Chinese engagement in Latin America. Significance While Chinese investment in Latin America has grown rapidly over the past decade, most financial flows are sovereign loans, mainly to Argentina, Ecuador and Venezuela. Foreign direct investment (FDI), by contrast, remains comparatively small. In both cases, most financing has targeted natural resource sectors, raising concerns over excessive Chinese control. China's objectives are diverse, varying across sectors and countries, and increasingly attuned to local political dynamics, as well as the risks inherent in some of its regional deals. Impacts Loans will continue to outstrip FDI in China's financing for the region. Investor-unfriendly policies will increase some countries' dependence on Chinese finance. However, Chinese lending will not be immune to financial and political risks.

Turkey's election will be plebiscite on Erdogan

2015 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Interest Rates ◽  
Prime Minister ◽  
Political Will ◽  
Content Type ◽  
National Assembly ◽  
The Government ◽  
Set Up ◽  
Intelligence Service ◽  
Political Figure ◽  
Constitutional Changes

Subject Early campaigning for the June 7 general election. Significance The election is turning into a plebiscite on President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's highly personal style of government. At particular issue is whether he should be enabled to set up an executive presidency by winning the two-thirds majority in the next National Assembly that would allow constitutional changes. With no serious rivals inside or outside the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), Erdogan's attempts to impose his political will regardless of consequences have triggered a slide in the value of the lira and a confrontation with the head of the country's intelligence service. Impacts Relations between Erdogan and Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu are uneasy, but Davutoglu is unlikely to be changed before the elections. Erdogan seems to have called a truce with the Central Bank, but this appears not to extend to allowing it to raise interest rates. This reflects a certain underlying pragmatism to the president's outlook, provided he has advisers around him who dare warn him of dangers. Ocalan is now a pivotal political figure in Turkey as the government has made some sort of settlement with the Kurds a key goal.

Same-sex ruling will face challenges in Latin America

2018 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Latin America ◽  
Significant Progress ◽  
Religious Groups ◽  
Same Sex ◽  
Transgender People ◽  
Same Sex Marriage ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Right

Subject LGBTI rights in Latin America. Significance On January 9, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights issued a landmark ruling, requiring that states party to the American Convention on Human Rights must recognise same-sex marriage. The ruling also recognised the right of transgender people to change their names on legal documentation. The region has seen significant progress on LGBTI rights over recent years, but the ruling will face strong pushback from some states and religious groups. Impacts Opposition in some countries will be driven by factors including a heavily ‘machista’ culture, and moral hostility from religious groups. Legislation alone will not reduce the risks of violence and discrimination faced by LGBTI communities. The difficulty of imposing uniform LGBTI rights across regions will be replicated elsewhere.

FGM in Egypt between socio-cultural barriers and lack of political will

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 252-262 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yasmin Khodary ◽  
Nehal Hamdy
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Cultural Context ◽  
Special Focus ◽  
Gender Inequalities ◽  
National Council ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Political Will ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Rights Of The Child ◽  
Main Factors

Purpose This study aims to detect the main factors impeding the anti-female genital mutilation (FGM) efforts in Egypt post the January 25 revolution, with a special focus on the era of president El-Sisi. The purpose of this paper is to explain the reasons behind the continuation of violence against women in Egypt, namely, FGM, in light of the patriarchal structures and the state willingness to address that challenge. Design/methodology/approach The study utilizes a qualitative methodology. The study embarks on in-depth semi-structured interviews with 23 participants who experienced FGM and nine key informants from medical, religious, political and civil society backgrounds, including a professor of pathology, a gynecologist, a diplomatic researcher in Al-Azhar, three members of parliament, a representative of the Ministry of Population, the reporter of the National Council for Women and a representative of Nazra non-governmental organization for feminist studies in Egypt. Findings The findings reveal that FGM remains prevalent not only due to the persisting socio-cultural context that continues to embrace and reproduces gender inequalities, but also because of the insufficient political will to combat FGM and enforce the required laws. Social implications FGM is considered one form of gender inequality perpetuated by social, cultural and economic structures. It is recognized internationally as a crime and a violation against women’s rights as per the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, the Convention on the Rights of the Child, etc. Although the Egyptian Government passed laws banning the practice of FGM, it continues to form a challenging problem to social workers, women activists, human rights groups and public health officials. Originality/value Little work has been done to investigate FGM post the January 25 revolution in Egypt and identify the main factors impeding the anti-FGM efforts in Egypt. This work fills this gap and concludes with some lessons learnt to fight FGM and improve the anti-FGM efforts.

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