A blog about human rights in their many forms.

Aaron Schrank, Omar Shamout, and Tricia TongcoMarch 18, 2013 11:57

Older Irish Catholics hope a new pope means a new direction for the church

The faithful say they hope that Pope Francis will bring change to a church suffering from scandal, despite the new pope's staunchly conservative views on social issues.

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A man sits inside St. Mary's Pro-Cathedral in Dublin, Ireland. (Omar Shamout/GlobalPost)

DUBLIN — Newly elected Pope Francis may be staunchly conservative on many social issues, but the same can’t be said for some older, devout Catholics in Dublin.

Margaret Devlin, 62, celebrates Mass at her local church daily. She’s excited about a change in Vatican leadership, but disagrees with the new pope’s stance against gay marriage.

“If you’re gay, you’re gay,” Devlin said. “I think they have a right to be happy with a partner."

Cora EngelbrechtMarch 15, 2013 16:42

Dispatches from CSW: Will there be an agreement today?

According to UN sources, the 'unholy alliance' of Iran, Egypt, Russia and the Vatican could hold up a meaningful agreement on ending violence against women and girls.

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Protesters march against female genital mutilation outside the United Nations in New York City during the 57th annual Commission on the Status of Women. Observers fear an international agreement to end violence against women and girls could be held up by more conservative countries with bad records on women's rights. (Jamie McCarthy/AFP/Getty Images)

NEW YORK – In the final hours of the annual Commission on the Status of Women, tensions ride high around a series of unresolved and conflicting conversations concerning women’s rights to reproductive health, peace, and security.

Last week, the session kicked off with an unprecedented number of commitments to end violence against women and girls (VAWG) from participating governments, offering hopeful promise that a resolution could be reached by the end of the week, a UN official who preferred to remain anonymous told GlobalPost.

Alexandra RaphelMarch 15, 2013 13:09

Water sanitation crusader killed in Karachi attack

NGO director Parveen Rehman was shot and killed this week, a huge loss to those fighting for clean water in Pakistan.

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A Pakistani boy plays in the waters of a polluted canal in Lahore, Pakistan. Water sanitation is a major concern for the country, and the murder of a prominent NGO director is a tragic loss for Karachi. (Arif Ali/AFP/Getty Images)

Prominent aid worker and social activist Parveen Rehman was shot and killed by four gunmen on Wednesday while driving through Karachi, Pakistan’s largest urban area and financial capital. Her death marks another tragic loss for the city, where sectarian violence has been making unfortunate headlines this month.

Alex PearlmanMarch 14, 2013 12:08

Monks and villagers protest against Aung San Suu Kyi

Burmese activists say the opposition leader is selling them out to a Chinese mining company with a history of pollution and land grabs.

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Villagers shout slogans as they protest against Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi's stand on a Chinese-backed copper mine project. Suu Kyi urged protesters to accept a controversial Chinese-backed mine that was the scene of a violent crackdown last year, or risk hurting the economy. (Soe Than WIN/AFP/Getty Images)

Protests against democracy icon and opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi have erupted outside a controversial Chinese-backed copper mine in Myanmar, where monks and villagers are accusing the government of selling them out for foreign money.

Emily JudemMarch 13, 2013 17:52

Pope Francis I on human rights

The new pope may represent a change for the church as the first from Latin America, but his views on some social issues aren't much of a departure.

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VATICAN CITY, VATICAN - MARCH 13: Newly elected Pope Francis I appears on the central balcony of St Peter's Basilica on March 13, 2013 in Vatican City, Vatican. Argentinian Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio was elected as the 266th Pontiff and will lead the world's 1.2 billion Catholics. (Peter Macdiarmid/AFP/Getty Images)

Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Argentina was named the new leader of the Catholic Church today.

The election of Pope Francis I, as he has chosen to be named, symbolizes several firsts for the church as he is the first pope from Latin America, and the first Jesuit to be elected pope. But will he also represent a new approach when it comes to the church’s stance on social issues? Here's what we know:

Cora EngelbrechtMarch 12, 2013 18:00

Dispatches from CSW: Protecting the rights of Egypt's women

Tahrir Square has become notorious for violence against women. Egyptian activists spoke out at the UN's Commission on the Status of Women.

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Faced with a spike in sexual violence against female protesters, Egyptian women like Yasmin Baramawi (pictured) are overcoming stigma and recounting painful testimonies to force silent authorities and a reticent society to confront 'sexual terrorism.' Activists have taken to patrolling the streets to protect women. The UN hosted a panel on protecting women in Tahrir Square during the annual Commission on the Status of Women. (GIANLUIGI GUERCIA/AFP/Getty Images)

NEW YORK – During a panel discussion at last week's Commission on the Status of Women, Dalia Abdel-Hamid, co-founder of Operation-Anti-Sexual Harassment, an activist rescue team for assault victims, denounced Egypt's failure to safeguard women’s rights from recurring instances of sexual violence in Cairo’s Tahrir Square.

Jean LepchaMarch 12, 2013 16:31

Tibetan National Uprising Day takes hold in India (VIDEO)

Where the Dalai Lama lives in exile, thousands of Tibetan activists commemorated the anniversary of resistance against the Chinese invasion of Tibet.

DHARAMSALA, India — On Sunday, March 10, thousands of Tibetan activists marched in protest to commemorate the 54th Tibetan National Uprising Day in the northern Indian hill town of Dharamsala. Dharamsala is home to Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, who has been living in exile here for over 50 years.

Tibetan protesters marched with banners and posters, shouting anti-China and pro-Tibet slogans. They voiced their grievances against the Chinese government for promoting human rights abuses of Tibetans.

Cora EngelbrechtMarch 11, 2013 16:42

Dispatches from CSW: 'It's time to move forward' says UN

The RIGHTS blog's coverage of the 57th annual Commission on the Status of Women continues.

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(L-R)Lakshmi Puri, Deputy Ex. Director, UN Women,Ban Soon-Taek,Susan Sarandon, Alexandra Richards, Kelly Rutherford and Monique Coleman attend the March On March 8 at United Nations on March 8, 2013 in New York City, part of the Commission on the Status of Women to end violence against women and girls. (Jamie McCarthy/AFP/Getty Images)

NEW YORK – Heads of state and ministers from 50 governments made commitments to enact laws and policies that protect and promote the rights of women and girls last week at the 57th annual United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (CSW).

Alexandra RaphelMarch 9, 2013 11:25

Afghanistan celebrates International Women’s Day with first women's film festival

As the country faces the challenges of troop withdrawal and a legacy of decades of war, the Afghan cinema is coming back to life.

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Afghan women attend the first-ever International Women's Film Festival in Afghanistan, in the city of Herat on March 7, 2013. The film festival, a novelty for Afghanistan, opened on the eve of International Women's Day, and presented thirty films from twenty countries, including Afghanistan, Iran, India, Canada, South Korea, China and Bangladesh. (Aref Karimi/AFP/Getty Images)

The city of Herat in western Afghanistan marked International Women’s Day by launching the first Herat International Women’s Film Festival on March 7 through 9, a remarkable step forward for both women and cinema in Afghanistan.

Emily JudemMarch 8, 2013 15:27

On International Women's Day, marking the progress we have made — and haven't

Organizations around the world have planned events to discuss and highlight women's rights this week.

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Harbrinder Kaur (C), 22, who was allegedly beaten by police along with members of National Commission for schedule castes, hold candles with others during a vigil on International Women's Day in Amritsar on March 8, 2013. (Narinder Nanu/AFP/Getty Images)

International Women’s Day began in 1909, when the Socialist Party of America set a day to honor a garment workers’ strike in protest of unfair working conditions the year before.

On March 19, 1911, International Women’s Day was celebrated for the first time in Austria, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland, where citizens held rallies, demanding women’s right to vote, work and hold public office.

Today, 55 women have served as heads of state, and nearly all countries that hold elections give women the right to vote.

But there is a long, long way to go before gender equality is achieved. This year’s theme of International Women’s Day is ending violence against women, which is fitting because nearly 7 in 10 women around the world will experience violence in their lifetime, according to UN Women.

ABOUT THIS BLOG

Today, there are ongoing struggles for human rights in Africa, Asia, the Middle East, Europe, the Americas and every corner of the world. When we talk about rights today, we rarely think of just how many there are, and how often they’re infringed upon or taken away. It’s easy to forget that the rights many take for granted are the very same others die fighting for.

The arc of the modern human rights movement is born of the aftermath of World War II with the formation of the United Nations General Assembly and its adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

This is a reported blog dedicated to highlighting these basic human rights, how they are defined, why they are needed and who are the people struggling to uphold them. The blog is also a way for us to provide GlobalPost’s in-depth reporting and foundation-supported Special Reports — on rights relating to labor, gender, sexuality, the environment, the Internet, children, speech and assembly, and more — with steady updates, insights and analysis worth sharing. This is a blog called RIGHTS, but the story telling here about those rights are not intended as advocacy and will always stay true to GlobalPost’s reporting standards of fairness, accuracy and independence.

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Kevin Douglas Grant

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