To fight modern slavery, human rights come first
In the next month the State Department will issue the 2017 Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report. This report, which ranks virtually every country in the world on their efforts to combat… Read more »
Category: Labor and labor unions
Democratic backsliding: the perils of polarization
If democratic backsliding were to occur in the United States, it would not take the form of a coup d’état; there would be no declaration of martial law or imposition of single-party rule,… Read more »
Egypt’s social activism – ‘resilient and evolving’
Democracy and human rights advocates expressed disappointment by the warm embrace offered to Egypt’s President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi in Washington this week, despite his crackdown on civil society, but many were… Read more »
Populist infection need not mean democratic deconsolidation
Whether recent signs of democratic de-consolidation are a predictor of a possible non-democratic backlash, is far from being ascertained, according to Daniele Archibugi, professor of innovation, governance and public… Read more »
Cambodia’s Communist comrades now capitalist cadres
For years, Tep Khunnal was the devoted personal secretary of Pol Pot, staying loyal to the charismatic ultracommunist leader even as Cambodia’s Khmer Rouge movement collapsed around them in the… Read more »
Colombia peace deal gives way to rights activists’ killings, UN says
A new U.N. report found that dozens of civil society and human rights activists were killed in Colombia, the BBC reports. The report coincides with growing concerns that a historic… Read more »
China cracks down on labor as workers lose leading advocate
China’s crackdown on labor activists is well depicted in a new film, an exposé that coincides with the passing of one of Chinese workers’ most impressive international advocates. The conviction last… Read more »
Cyber spies target Egyptian rights activists
American-Egyptian author Mona Eltahawy is one of many activists and human rights advocates targeted in a sweeping cyber-espionage campaign blamed on Egypt’s government, The Associated Press has found: A booby-trapped… Read more »
A testing time for the China model
Perhaps because they are often poorly run, hotlines do not seem to be making local governments any more popular. These form the most despised tier of authority in China: many… Read more »
Russia ‘weaponizing misinformation’ to ‘disable’ western democracy
Russia is using cyber-hacks and “weaponizing misinformation” to undermine the West, the U.K. warned today. “Today we see a country that, in weaponizing misinformation, has created what we might now… Read more »