Civil and Political Rights

For years, transgender people have battled traditional norms in order to gain social acceptance. Now, North Macedonia is faced with an international obligation which will hopefully provide the push to take much-needed steps to enable legal gender recognition.

A series of attempts to ban LGBTIQ+ events and content in Serbia and Bosnia-Herzegovina hinder freedoms of assembly and expression. Upholding democratic values of tolerance and inclusivity is vital to combat exclusionary politics and ensure equality for all.

The context and dynamics of suffrage and the overall ability of citizens to claim their rights have changed. Inequality, which the COVID-19 pandemic magnified, and extreme polarisation deter citizens from meaningful participation. A rights-based approach to address these problems is imperative.

The rise of Islamophobia in Europe specifically affects covered Muslim women. Legal restrictions and social hostility towards headscarves impede their right to express their faith, identity, and access to other human rights. These prohibitions must be approached as oppressive policies that limit the freedom of women to make their own decisions.

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, religious minorities suffered limitations on their religious rights. Due to such limitations, religious minorities lost what is called the ‘collective effervescence’ of their rituals and started transitioning to a new religious digitalization.

Last elections in Italy marked the victory of the far right, confirming a European tendency of recent years. This shift poses some basic questions for the country and the European Union in relation to an effective promotion and protection of human rights.

Professional assassins are murdering more and more Latin American investigative reporters with impunity. Who are the perpetrators? What can be done to safeguard the media in the firing line?

On February 24, 2022, I woke up in a new reality. My morning began before dawn with phone calls, messages and emails from family, colleagues and friends telling me that Russia had attacked Ukraine, with tanks entering from the territory of Belarus.

Much has changed since Uganda gained independence in 1962. Yet the country retains colonial laws that impede proper functioning of the media and freedom of expression. State intimidation of journalists also breaches international human rights standards.

Two well-known human rights NGOs from the Russian Federation were banned by the decisions of its judiciary in December 2021. It is a case study that reveals the link between a corrupt judiciary and an authoritarian state for which human rights are the greatest threat.