The Chagossians were forcefully displaced in 1971 and continue to be banned from returning. Last year, an agreement was reached between the UK and Mauritius on the return of the Chagos Islands. However, the subsequent question of whether the self-determination rights and the right to return of the Chagossians remain unanswered.
Mauritania has banned slavery again and again, yet thousands of people are still born into it. Almost all of them are Haratin, who make up about 40 per cent of the country. The laws are strong, but the courts rarely convict slaveholders, and the activists who fight slavery are jailed more often than the people who keep them. This article asks why abolition has become impunity, and what must change.
This press release highlights GHRD’s New York event on the conflict in Sudan, focusing on sexual violence, civilian targeting, displacement, and evidence collection. Speakers stressed that the international community has both the evidence and legal tools needed to pursue accountability, support survivors, and address the external actors enabling the conflict.
Kenya’s Court of Appeal recently delivered judgement denying the constitutional right to abortion. Despite its international obligations and domestic framework guaranteeing the right to health and equality for women, reproductive rights remain a highly controversial topic within the state. The importance of free and legal reproductive healthcare must be ensured to achieve women’s right to freedom, education, and dignity are protected.
This article examines the systemic discrimination faced by Iran’s Ahwazi Arab minority, focusing on the criminalisation of cultural identity, restrictions on language and expression, violent repression of protests, and the misuse of national security laws. It argues that these practices violate Iran’s obligations under international human rights law, including protections for minority rights, freedom of expression, fair trial guarantees, and the right to life.
This article summarises a European Parliament DROI exchange of views on the escalating criminalisation, violence, and discrimination faced by LGBTIQ+ persons, particularly across Africa and among displaced queer communities. Speakers highlighted how anti-rights legislation increasingly targets identity, advocacy, healthcare, and public expression, while displaced LGBTIQ+ refugees face severe violence, exclusion, and humanitarian neglect. The discussion stressed the importance of sustained EU engagement, protection for human rights defenders, stronger asylum safeguards, and support for locally led initiatives grounded in universal human rights principles.
This article examines the central role of Sahrawi women in resisting Moroccan occupation and documenting human rights abuses in Western Sahara. It highlights how women activists face gendered violence, surveillance, and institutional harassment because of their leadership in the struggle for self-determination. The piece underscores that protecting Sahrawi women is essential to any meaningful path toward justice and decolonisation.
This article examines Western Sahara’s unresolved status as a non-self-governing territory and the Sahrawi people’s long-denied right to self-determination. It traces the historical background of Spanish withdrawal, Moroccan occupation, the failed UN referendum process, and the legal foundations supporting Sahrawi political choice. The piece argues that recent UN approaches risk weakening the right to self-determination by prioritising political feasibility over a genuine democratic outcome.
This article explores the escalating violence and institutional persecution faced by Amhara Orthodox Christians in Ethiopia within the broader context of ethnic federalism and political conflict. It examines how the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church’s cultural and historical influence has increasingly been perceived as a political threat, contributing to targeted violence, displacement, arbitrary arrests, and attacks on religious institutions. The article further analyses whether these patterns of abuse may amount to crimes against humanity or genocide under international law.
This article examines the phenomenon of Kindoki in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and its devastating impact on children accused of witchcraft. It explores how poverty, conflict, social instability, and unregulated religious practices contribute to violence, abuse, abandonment, and severe human rights violations against vulnerable children. The article also analyses the gaps between existing legal protections and weak enforcement mechanisms that allow these harmful practices to persist.
