Human Rights

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Snapshot,
Samuel Moyn

The Supreme Court decision on Kiobel v. Royal Dutch Petroleum Co. seemed to deal a blow to foreign victims of foreign human rights abusers who wished to the Alien Tort Statute to sue their abusers in U.S. courts. But the decision might be a blessing in disguise. The ATS never proved that useful in advancing human rights worldwide, and by slamming the door on it, the Supreme Court has pushed the human rights movement to focus on using other tools.

Comment, Mar/Apr 2013
Pierre N. Leval

This week, the U.S. Supreme Court dealt a blow to foreign victims of foreign human rights abusers who wish to use U.S. courts to sue their abusers. As a top legal scholar and federal judge wrote in this article--which Justice Stephen Breyer cited in his opinion--such lawsuits offered victims some measure of solace and gave substance to underenforced human rights laws.

Response,
Michael Ledeen

Iranian dissidents will tell the United States what they need. But before that happens, Washington must clearly state of its commitment to their cause: regime change.

Review Essay, Jul/Aug 2012
Patrice L. R. Higonnet

Democratic revolutionaries always confront the same problem: how to replace the old order without replicating its flaws. A new biography of the French revolutionary Maximilien Robespierre's reveals that today's radicals might learn from Robespierre's failure to resolve that dilemma. 

 

Snapshot,
Anne Phillips

Although shooting female FARC members first during battle is not official policy, a retired Colombian colonel told the author in 2009, any sensible soldier would do so. With their "Kamikaze-like" mentality, he said, they are the deadliest combatants. This profile of one former member illustrates how the abuses women face once inside the group create such a mindset.

Snapshot,
Robert Jenkins and Anthony Lake

UNICEF officials explain why development approaches that emphasize equality are also the most cost-effective.

Snapshot,
Sharon K. Hom

As popular discontent and citizen activism have spread online in recent years, they have also broadened in scope to include demands not only for political reforms, but also for official accountability on environmental crises, rampant corruption, tainted consumer products, theft of community land, dangerous workplaces, and increasing social and economic equalities.

Snapshot,
Anna Husarska

China's Chen Guangchen, the asylum seeker of the moment, is hardly unique. All oppressive regimes generate defectors, but each regime deals with them in its own way.

Author Interview,
Akil Hashem

A onetime high-ranking Syrian Army officer on the state of the revolt in Syria.

Snapshot,
Leon Goldsmith

The Alawites stand by Assad out of a historic fear of Sunni persecution. Although some Alawites are breaking ranks, most face a dilemma: by continuing to support the regime, they may invite the very Sunni revenge that they dread.

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