Human Rights in the News: January 2024
/Welcome to the January 2024 edition of Human Rights in the News, Woven Teaching’s monthly collection of important human rights stories from around the world.
Eastman Chemical Company in Louisiana (Credit: Chris Granger/The Times-Picayune and The Advocate)
“We’re Dying Here”: Human Rights Watch on the Fight for Life in Louisiana’s Fossil Fuel Cancer Alley
Democracy Now | 30 January 2024
A recent report by Human Rights Watch documents the “devastating human toll of fossil fuel projects in Louisiana’s Cancer Alley, an 85-mile corridor stretching from Baton Rouge to New Orleans that is filled with fossil fuel and petrochemical plants.”
A truck carrying humanitarian aid from UNRWA arrives at the border of the Gaza Strip (Credit: Khaled Desouki/AFP)
Palestinians condemn suspension of UNRWA funding by Western nations
Al Jazeera | 27 January 2024
Many western countries, including the United States and the United Kingdom, have halted funding to the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) after Israel alleged that some of its employees were involved in the October 7 attacks.
Photograph taken by a witness after the attack on a market
Burkina Faso: Drone Strikes on Civilians Apparent War Crimes
Human Rights Watch | 25 January 2024
Human Rights Watch has called for the government of Burkina Faso to investigate three recent military drone strikes which killed civilians. According to the human rights agency, “the drone strikes violated laws-of-war prohibitions against attacks that do not discriminate between civilians and military targets and were apparent war crimes.”
Texas capitol building
Texas civil rights groups petition the U.N. over LGBTQ+ ‘human rights crisis'
Sara Sanchez | NBC DFW | 25 January 2024
Four civil rights organizations in Texas have filed a formal letter with the United Nations, pointing out a “deteriorating human rights sitation” for LGBTQIA+ people in the state. 141 anti-LGBTQIA+ bills were filed in Texas in 2023; seven became law.
Anti-coup protestors set up a barricade with women’s clothing hanging above (Credit: AP Photo)
Three Years After the Myanmar Coup, Women Human Rights Defenders Remain at the Forefront
Naw Hser Hser and Maggi Quadrini | The Diplomat | 31 January 2024
“Rather than submit to the military junta and its patriarchal dictates, women have increased their participation in various facets of the pro-democracy movement. The women’s rights movement has also become more intersectional than ever. Women from urban and rural backgrounds, different ages, ethnic groups, and religions have united in their shared goal of defeating the Myanmar armed forces, quashing the patriarchy, and ensuring gender equality.”
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