Human Rights in the News: November 2020
/Curated by Nikki Bambauer
Welcome to the November 2020 edition of Human Rights in the News, Woven Teaching’s monthly collection of important human rights stories from around the world.
A protester in Turkey, wearing a white shirt and a mask, holds a red sign with an illustration of a hand. Text on the sign reads: “Stop China” (Ozan Köse/AFP/Getty)
ICC Uighur genocide complaint backed by parliamentarians around world
Patrick Wintour | The Guardian | November 9, 2020
An international alliance of more than 60 parliamentarians has urged the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) to take action against China. The Chinese government, the alliance claims, may be committing crimes against humanity and genocide against the Uighur community and other Turkic peoples. The ICC was established in 2002 to prosecute crimes against humanity, genocide, and war crimes. Learn more >
Aerial shot of Cairo with buildings and a freeway (Credit: Dominic Chavez/World Bank)
UN rights experts condemn retaliatory arrests of activists in Egypt
UN News | November 27, 2020
Four human rights activists from the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR) were arrested soon after meeting with foreign diplomats in Cairo, Egypt. According to UN News, EIPR is one of Egypt’s “last functioning human rights NGOs.” All four activists remain in custody on charges of terrorism, with one reported to be held in solitary confinement. Learn more >
A person wearing a black hood and tan jacket takes a photo of police in riot gear on Saturday, Nov. 21. (Credit: AP Photo/Christophe Ena)
Uproar in France over proposed limits on filming police
Sylvie Corbet | Associated Press | November 30, 2020
Tens of thousands of people marched in Paris on Saturday. The demonstrators were protesting against a proposed law that would make it illegal to film police with intent to cause them harm. Activists and others assert that ‘intent to harm’ is hard to define and the law would lead to limits on press freedom and further impunity for police who act violently. Learn more >
Two Black people with shaved heads sit with their legs spread, sorting a large pile cocoa beans in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire (Credit: Getty Images)
Nestlé & Cargill v. Doe Series: Corporate Liability, Child Slavery, and the Chocolate Industry – A Preview of the Case
Chris Moxley | Just Security | November 16, 2020
On December 1, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments in Nestlé USA, Inc. v. Doe I and Cargill Inc. v. Doe I (which have been consolidated into one case). The plaintiffs are formerly enslaved children who were taken from their home country of Mali to work on cocoa plantations in Côte d’Ivoire. Their argument hinges on the idea that U.S. corporations can be tried in U.S. courts for human rights abuses elsewhere around the globe. Learn more >
A Baka village in the forest of Central African Republic (Credit: Susan Schulman)
‘Large-scale human rights violations’ taint Congo national park project
John Vidal | The Guardian | November 26, 2020
The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and other conservation groups are accused of abusing the human rights of Congo’s indigenous Baka people. Guards, employed by the Congolese government and supported by WWF, have allegedly engaged in violence and threats against the region’s indigenous peoples, accusing them of engaging in poaching. According to Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, UN special rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples, protected areas for wildlife continue to cause large-scale human rights abuses. Learn more >
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