Conflict

The Russian aggression in Ukraine prompted the discussion on the scope of human rights obligations of business actors in times of armed conflict. Are they obliged to continue the provision of services in Ukraine? Can they suspend their activities, even if they provide essential services such as medicines?

Energy justice is a relatively new concept aimed at fair distribution of energy costs and benefits. Between oil-rich gulf and energy-poor MENA countries, energy justice, or lack thereof, overlaps with human rights, politics and international relations within and outside the region.

Victims of human rights violations are often reduced to numbers while their pain and suffering remain unreflected. Novels such as The Kite Runner resist against this treason to truth. Through a generalisable example, real or fictious storytelling brings to the reader the mostly unrecognised identity of victims as well as the experience of their challenges.

As the world focuses on the latest crises like Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, other much older emergencies such as Tibet are ongoing. Dialogue should remain at the heart of conflict resolution while the international community must duly recognise every country.

The future of human rights in Afghanistan is dark. Since the Taliban regime needs recognition by the international community, they do not fully execute their ideals in society. Nonetheless, the chief justice’s recently published book on the Islamic Emirate system has been endorsed by their leader and reveals statements having serious implications for the promotion and protection of human rights.

Human rights defenders and activists report that Russian soldiers are raping large numbers of Ukrainian women and children. Russia’s long history of toxic masculinity and culture of violence, championed by current president Vladimir Putin, may help explain these horrific crimes.

Under the Taliban’s rule the people of Afghanistan are struggling with an unprecedented humanitarian crisis, complaining about ethnic discrimination in the allocation and distribution of aid by local officials of donor institutions. Integrating human rights at the core of humanitarian actions can ensure a holistic and inclusive response for the most vulnerable groups.

The International Law Commission’s project on the Protection of Persons in the Event of Disasters explicitly adopts a human rights-based approach to its core subject. Whether this will lead to harder forms of justiciability will largely depend on the capacity to frame disasters not as natural events but as both drivers and consequences of economic inequality.

Russia has a long history of media censorship but since invading Ukraine, state propaganda has reached enormous levels. Most independent journalists have fled the country so they can report factually on current events. Others are protesting from within.

The extraordinary growth of cyberspace has created new possibilities and threats in warfare. It has become crucial to identify a common understanding of cyber warfare if we are to effectively protect civilians from the direct and intentional effects of cyber operations.