Human Rights

Human Rights

The freedom for individuals to live, work, and improve their lives without fear of violence, oppression, or discrimination is a right that applies to all human beings, regardless of their race, sex, gender, nationality, ethnicity, language, religion, sexual orientation, or other characteristic. These rights have been enshrined in treaties and constitutions around the world that bind governments to respect and protect these liberties.

Calls mount to strip Belarus dictator of right to host 2021 hockey world championship

MENASource Mar 19, 2025

Inside Hayat Tahrir al-Sham’s diplomatic offensive with Syria’s Christians and Ismailis

By Gregory Waters

HTS’s diplomatic offensive demonstrates the leadership’s political approach, which evolved over years of engaging with the Christian and Druze communities in Idlib.
Democratic Transitions Freedom and Prosperity
Calls mount to strip Belarus dictator of right to host 2021 hockey world championship

UkraineAlert Mar 6, 2025

US peace initiative can help bring Ukraine’s abducted children home

By Kristina Hook, Iuliia Hoban

Securing the return of the thousands of Ukrainian children abducted by Russia since 2022 must play a part in the peace efforts recently initiated by US President Donald Trump, write Kristina Hook and Iuliia Hoban.
Civil Society Conflict
Calls mount to strip Belarus dictator of right to host 2021 hockey world championship

New Atlanticist Feb 28, 2025

Egyptian senator: The mass displacement of Gazans will only fuel Hamas’s extremist ideology

By Mohamed Farid

Displacing Palestinians from Gaza would perpetuate cycles of violence, deepen regional instability, and undermine Israel’s security.
Conflict Human Rights

Content

BelarusAlert

Jan 13, 2021

Calls mount to strip Belarus dictator of right to host 2021 hockey world championship

By Doug Klain

Calls are mounting for Belarus dictator Alyaksandr Lukashenka to be stripped of the right to co-host the 2021 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship over the brutal suppression of pro-democracy protests.

Belarus Elections

In the News

Jan 11, 2021

Riaz in East Asia Forum: COVID-19 ails Bangladesh’s health, politics and economy

By Atlantic Council

Bangladesh Coronavirus

Event Recap

Jan 9, 2021

Event recap: “Women’s gains in Afghanistan: Supporting economic opportunities for Afghan women as a driver of peace and security”

By Atlantic Council

On Thursday January 7, 2021, the Atlantic Council’s South Asia Center partnered with the U.S.-Afghan Women’s Council (USAWC) and the American Council on Women, Peace and Security (WPS) to host an event on women’s gains in Afghanistan, the critical role of Afghan women in Afghanistan’s peace and security, and the role of US actors in partnering with and empowering Afghan women.

Afghanistan Economy & Business

Feature

Jan 7, 2021

South Asia: The road ahead in 2021

By South Asia Center

The shadow of 2020 is likely to loom large over the coming year for South Asia, which faces unprecedented economic challenges, deterioration of democratic norms and institutions, and the existential threat of climate change.

Afghanistan Bangladesh

SouthAsiaSource

Jan 5, 2021

Taliban 2.0. – Have the Taliban really changed and learnt their lesson?

By Tamim Asey

With negotiations between the Afghan government and the Taliban under way, many in the West and Afghanistan are banking on the fact that the Taliban movement has changed and that, having failed to defeat them militarily, it is time to embrace them. Although the latter is indeed true - that we have failed to defeat the Taliban militarily - the former deserves more scrutiny.

Afghanistan Human Rights

Issue Brief

Dec 23, 2020

Countering China’s challenge to the free world: A report for the Free World Commission

By Jeffrey Cimmino, Ash Jain, and Matthew Kroenig

The increasing assertiveness of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) poses a significant challenge to the interests and values of likeminded allies and partners and a rules-based internationa system.

China Human Rights

GeoTech Cues

Dec 22, 2020

The future of food: Imagining our food system in the decades to come

By Marcus Ranney, Sahil Shah

Our global food system is complex, with trade-offs existing between efficiency, equity, and human and environmental health. Managing a transition, even without cultural factors and vested interests is highly challenging.

Climate Change & Climate Action Energy & Environment

MENASource

Dec 21, 2020

Global litigation strategies to close the accountability gap on human rights violators in Iran

By Lucy Grathwohl

Gissou Nia and a panel of litigators—Haydee Dijkstal, Amanda Ghahremani, Scott Gilmore—discussed the tools through which the perpetrators of gross human rights violations in the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) can be held accountable in the United States, Europe, and Canada.

Human Rights Middle East

BelarusAlert

Dec 21, 2020

Terror tactics fail to stop the rise of a democratic Belarus

By Hanna Liubakova

By seeking to subjugate his own population, dictator Alyaksandr Lukashenka is unwittingly pushing the Belarusian people away from the Soviet past and towards a democratic European future.

Belarus Democratic Transitions

GeoTech Cues

Dec 17, 2020

Property rights, data, and prosperity in Africa

By Thomas Koch

One of the biggest obstacles to wealth creation and greater economic prosperity in Africa has to do with land ownership. Overcoming this obstacle will require better data collection, aggregation, and transparency.

Digital Policy Economy & Business
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Experts

Fellow

Nasredeen Abdulbari

Nonresident Senior Fellow, N7 Initiative

Rafik Hariri Center & Middle East programs

Africa Arabic

Staff

Aalaa Abuzaakouk

Deputy Director, Millennium Leadership Program

Millennium Leadership Program

Arabic Civil Society

Fellow

Akeel Abbas

Nonresident Senior Fellow

Iraq Initiative Rafik Hariri Center & Middle East programs

Arabic Human Rights

Fellow

Ibrahim Al-Assil

Nonresident Senior Fellow, Syria Project

Rafik Hariri Center & Middle East programs

Arabic Conflict

Fellow

Rend Al-Rahim

Nonresident Senior Fellow

Iraq Initiative Rafik Hariri Center & Middle East programs

Arabic Democratic Transitions

Fellow

Wa’el Alzayat

Nonresident Senior Fellow

Rafik Hariri Center & Middle East programs

Arabic Economy & Business
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