By American Bar Association
The news is bleak on the global human rights front, but the fight continues, according to panelists who spoke at a webinar in observance of the 76th anniversary of Human Rights Day on Dec. 10.
“Human Rights Day: Our Rights, Our Future, Right Now” was presented by the American Bar Association International Law Section to commemorate the day in 1948 that the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Panelists highlighted the plight of Rohingya refugees fleeing conflict between the Myanmar military and rebel arms groups, crimes against humanity in Sudan, abuses against women worldwide, attacks on human rights defenders and the work to advance the Equal Rights Amendment in the U.S.
“The ERA is more important and more urgent than ever before,” said Delissa Ridgway, a senior judge on the U.S. Court of International Trade, adding that the United States is a global outlier because it fails to provide constitutional protection of the equality of the sexes. A huge grassroots campaign is under way to call on President Joe Biden to instruct the U.S. archivist to publish the ratified ERA as the 28th Amendment to the Constitution before he leaves office in January 2025. Ridgway urged people to flood the White House with calls, texts and cards to press the issue because there are “170 million U.S. women and girls who are counting on us.”
In terms of women’s human rights, worldwide shifts toward authoritarian regimes have institutionalized gender oppression and various religions and leaders are following suit, said international law attorney Elizabeth Zechenter. She called out a number of countries that are oppressing women, including Russia, Afghanistan, Iran, Saudi Arabia, El Salvador and Poland as well as the U.S.
“It’s not just authoritarian regimes who are doing horrible things to women,” she said.
Nikolas De Bremaeker, supervising attorney at Centro Legal de la Raza, said the outlook is grim for immigrants and refugees. Rising trends include border externalization, detention of immigrants in the U.S. and UK, displacement of refugees and mass deportations. “We’re expecting to see policies protecting schools, hospitals and churches (that protect immigrants) to be rescinded on Day 1” of the new Trump administration, he said.
De Bremaeker called for lawyers and others to prepare for the worst and stand by international organizations to support them in their human rights work. But he is hopeful: “If we stick together, we can stop this.”
(https://www.americanbar.org/news/abanews/aba-news-archives/2024/12/human-rights-struggles-worldwide/)
The news is bleak on the global human rights front, but the fight continues, according to panelists who spoke at a webinar in observance of the 76th anniversary of Human Rights Day on Dec. 10.
“Human Rights Day: Our Rights, Our Future, Right Now” was presented by the American Bar Association International Law Section to commemorate the day in 1948 that the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Panelists highlighted the plight of Rohingya refugees fleeing conflict between the Myanmar military and rebel arms groups, crimes against humanity in Sudan, abuses against women worldwide, attacks on human rights defenders and the work to advance the Equal Rights Amendment in the U.S.
“The ERA is more important and more urgent than ever before,” said Delissa Ridgway, a senior judge on the U.S. Court of International Trade, adding that the United States is a global outlier because it fails to provide constitutional protection of the equality of the sexes. A huge grassroots campaign is under way to call on President Joe Biden to instruct the U.S. archivist to publish the ratified ERA as the 28th Amendment to the Constitution before he leaves office in January 2025. Ridgway urged people to flood the White House with calls, texts and cards to press the issue because there are “170 million U.S. women and girls who are counting on us.”
In terms of women’s human rights, worldwide shifts toward authoritarian regimes have institutionalized gender oppression and various religions and leaders are following suit, said international law attorney Elizabeth Zechenter. She called out a number of countries that are oppressing women, including Russia, Afghanistan, Iran, Saudi Arabia, El Salvador and Poland as well as the U.S.
“It’s not just authoritarian regimes who are doing horrible things to women,” she said.
Nikolas De Bremaeker, supervising attorney at Centro Legal de la Raza, said the outlook is grim for immigrants and refugees. Rising trends include border externalization, detention of immigrants in the U.S. and UK, displacement of refugees and mass deportations. “We’re expecting to see policies protecting schools, hospitals and churches (that protect immigrants) to be rescinded on Day 1” of the new Trump administration, he said.
De Bremaeker called for lawyers and others to prepare for the worst and stand by international organizations to support them in their human rights work. But he is hopeful: “If we stick together, we can stop this.”
(https://www.americanbar.org/news/abanews/aba-news-archives/2024/12/human-rights-struggles-worldwide/)
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