30 Years After Tiananmen: Democracy More Urgent than Ever
- Analysis
- May 30, 2019
In early May, US State Department Director of Policy Planning Kiron Skinner was rebuked in China’s English-language media for characterizing US–China relations as a “clash of civilizations.” Skinner’s rhetoric reflects a Cold War mentality that overlooks centuries of mutual contact …
READ MOREAfter new legislation permitting same-sex marriage came into effect in Taiwan on 24 May 2019, LGBT couples and their families began celebrating their new freedom. Journalists and foreign diplomats (including Canadian representative Jordan Reeves) crowded into Taipei City Hall to …
READ MOREBy Payam Akhavan and John Packer
Twenty-five years ago, as young UN human rights officers working together in Geneva, we witnessed how the world watched and did nothing as close to a million Rwandan Tutsis were exterminated. Brimming with idealism …
READ MOREThe images, and voices, from Libya’s migrant detention centres are sickening. An online blog posted a letter written by an anonymous refugee from Darfur, detained in Libya. “RS” writes of having left his village, destroyed by the Janjaweed, to find …
READ MORESo-called jihadi brides are in the news, accused of supporting terrorism by having travelled to ISIS territory to marry ISIS fighters in support of the caliphate. Three Western states are implicated: the UK, the US, and Canada.
UK citizen Shemima …
READ MOREBy Rosana Lezama Sanchez
Venezuelan emigrants always talk about how much they miss the country they left behind. I returned to Caracas in August of 2018, but I too miss Venezuela. The Venezuela that I grew up in was certainly …
READ MOREBy Stéphanie Bacher
Over the past year, Canada has taken some important steps to promote and protect human rights abroad. However, the picture is not as rosy as often presented by the government, and Canada still has a long way …
READ MOREBy Gabriel Bichet, Eve Cassavoy, Maddie Hunt, Jasmine Sebastian, and Emma Turner (ENG1100Q), edited by Ruth Bradley-St-Cyr
In September, I took on teaching three sections of ENG1100: Workshop in Essay Writing, a required course for first-year students at the University …
READ MOREThe aftermath of 9/11 produced many problems in many countries. Canadian police and security agencies made numerous mistakes as followers and participants in an ill-considered American-led War on Terror declared shortly after that tragedy. The evidence in two public inquiries …
READ MOREToday is the 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). Most reflections on this milestone are likely to sound a sombre note, dwelling on the many challenges faced by those championing human rights in an increasingly …
READ MOREIn October 2018, the Office for the High Commissioner on Human Rights’ Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women and Girls presented a report to the UN General Assembly recognizing violence against women in politics (VAWP) as a human rights violation …
READ MORETaiwan’s mid-term elections on 24 November brought a renewed “blue wave” to the island democracy. In this case, the blues are the Chinese Nationalist Party (Kuomintang, KMT) and allies who favour rapprochement with China. The greens are the …
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