Human Rights Magazine

The children born of war are mainly considered to be those children born to local women and fathers who have been members of an enemy, allied or peacekeeping force.  Through no fault of their own, these children often carry a sense of disgrace and shame as they grow, regardless of whether the relationship between their mother and the father was abusive, manipulative or loving.  In this episode of...

Each year, an estimated 12 million girls aged under the age of 18 marry against their will. These girls are usually from a poor family, and they are deprived of an education, have little in terms of opportunities, and they remain in poverty themselves. For them, childbirth is the leading cause of death. In this episode of Human Rights Magazine, Dasheeni Joud Selvaratnam explores the situation of c...

En un esfuerzo desesperado por escapar de la pobreza y la violencia, miles de personas han sido encontradas muertas, o han desaparecido, en México, especialmente en los desiertos a lo largo de la frontera con Estados Unidos.  Para las familias y amigos de los desaparecidos, el sentimiento de impotencia y pérdida es especialmente duro al no poder recuperar ni identificar sus cuerpos. Frente al aban...

Domestic violence and an unequal distribution of labor in South Korea were motivating factors behind the rise of what is known as the 4B feminist movement.  In this episode of Human Rights Magazine, Lily Wang explores the expansion of 4B beyond Korea, and the extent to which it may or may not have an impact on the protection of women’s rights. Human Rights Magazine is produced by The Upstream Jour...

Canadian seniors grapple with financial Insecurity, social Isolation, and inadequate healthcare. About eight million Canadians are aged 65 and older, almost 20% of the total population. Single seniors, particularly women, are highly likely to be in poverty.  One-third of the senior population, mostly the women, have a mobility disability. And loneliness is a significant issue for many seniors, and...

The Yazidis are Kurdish-speaking people, most of whom live in the Kurdistan region of Iraq. Because they are not Muslim, they were a target of Islamic State terrorists who killed and imprisoned them by the thousands in a genocidal campaign. In this episode of Human Rights magazine, Maiya Karsan explores the ongoing tragic story of the Yazidis since the brutality they suffered in 2014, and the gene...

Kurdistan is a region in western Asia where political, cultural and environmental concerns overlap to a significant degree. Control of water is of particular importance. In this episode of Human Rights Magazine, Selin Abali explores some aspects of the tensions that continue to arise as Kurdish people face challenges to how rivers are managed and to their overall relationship with the water that i...

More than four million people have fled the conflict in Sudan since it erupted in 2023, mostly to neighbouring countries where they endure severe hunger.  Many wish to leave the region. How is the outside world dealing with this refugee crisis?  What are the deciding factors in who may leave and who must stay? In this episode of Human Rights Magazine, Charlotte Jean-Gilles talks with experts about...

International students in Canada can face considerable obstacles and sources of stress. There can be financial strain, including finding affordable accommodation. Finding meaningful part-time work can be difficult. There is also concern about exploitation by employers, landlords and criminals posing as  immigration consultants. Human Rights Magazine looks into the issue in this episode hosted by N...

Host Derek MacCuish:  My guest today in the Pathways to Peace series of interviews is Stephen Rapp, who is widely respected for his decades of work for justice and accountability in areas of conflict and war crimes. In 2001, he joined the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda as part of the effort to prosecute those responsible for the genocide of 1994, and he headed the trial team that achie...

There are an estimated 130,000 Tibetan people living in exile in India, Nepal and Bhutan. Most are in Dharamsala, India, where they continue their traditional customs and language with support from outside.  But decades have passed since China occupied their homeland, and the communities have a new challenge. In this episode of Human Rights Magazine, Dina Lowe explores their changing situation.  H...

Across the world, corruption costs trillions of dollars that should have gone into social and environmental progress. Corruption steals from efforts to reduce poverty, to improve social services and to build schools, hospitals and roads. It leaves little room for democracy and systems of justice. In this episode of Human Rights Magazine, Sofia Gobin explores the concern with corruption in Brazil....

Every year, about 11,000 people who work in farming in India are listed as having killed themselves. The actual number is probably much higher, and in recent years the number of suicides is increasing. High levels of debt, the impacts of climate change and  government policy are all factors in the despair of small-scale farmers. In this episode of Human Rights Magazine, Aditya Sathe explores the r...

Indigenous communities throughout the world usually take water directly from rivers, ponds, streams, wells or springs. This  often requires people – mainly the women of the community  - to carry the water from sources distant from their homes. A recent report to the UN Human Rights Council stated that one of the biggest barriers to indigenous peoples’ access to water and sanitation is that many co...

Mira Cohen explores the situation for Wayuu people who live in an arid peninsula in northern Colombia. La Guajira region, a rapidly desertifying region shared by northern Colombia and northwestern Venezuela, has been home to the Wayuu indigenous people for centuries. With the presence of one of the largest open-pit coal mines in the world contaminating their land and regional government corruption...

Greece is a destination country for many refugees, asylum seekers, and migrants from the Middle East and North Africa. The majority of these refugees come from Syria, Afghanistan, Egypt, and Eritrea Greece currently hosts about 50,000 refugees. They may have expected that Greece would be a gateway to the rest of Europe, but most of them can expect to remain in the country, since they can no longer...

As this podcast episode, and its companion article on Upstream Journal were being prepared, the Peace Research Institute in Oslo announced the nomination of Sudan's Emergency Response Rooms for the 2024 Nobel Peace Prize. In this episode of Human Rights Magazine, Sarah Elobaid takes a close look into the work of the Emergency Response Rooms and their impacts, with guests who have direct exper...

In this episode, we take a somewhat different approach to our focus on human rights, and look not at a social situation but rather look at technological possibilities. Artificial intelligence is rapidly emerging as a new tool, as computer technology accelerates in the ability of machines to learn and emulate human thinking. Listen as Charlotte Power explores the impact that AI may have on human ri...

In 2023, more than 650,000 people in America were identified as being without permanent shelters, and that’s a record number, the most since counts were started in 2007, and a 12 percent increase over 2022.  Oregon has double what would be the national average of people without a permanent place to call home.  In this episode, Tawnya Layne explores why so many are homeless, and possible short-term...

The use of children in combat roles is not new in Myanmar. Both the government and some resistance groups have child soldiers, with tragic results. Hundreds of children have been killed and tortured by the Myanmar army in recent years. In this episode of Human Rights Magazine, Yiwen Li speaks with several experts about the issue. Human Rights Magazine is produced by The Upstream Journal magazine....

President Museveni of Uganda has retained power since 1986, using violence, arrests and media suppression to maintain the military dictatorship. In this episode of Human Rights Magazine, Nkwesi Banage talks with experts about the dynamics of politics and elections in Uganda, and how Museveni has successfully kept power for decades. (Photo: A Ugandan military police officer chases a journalist who...

The Fulani people are part of an ethnic group across the Sahara, Sahel and West Africa, comprising between 25 and 40 million people. About 10 million of them are pastoralists, and so they are part of the largest nomadic pastoral community in the world. Almost all are Muslims. In this episode of Human Rights Magazine, Pauline Goemans explores the discrimination that Fulani people face in Ghana, and...

Ce podcast cherche à capturer la complexité du combat féministe au Maroc dans une ère de réforme politique et juridique. Human Rights Magazine is produced by The Upstream Journal magazine. The host, Derek MacCuish, is editor of both. If you agree that informed reporting on human rights and social justice issues is important, your support would be welcome. Please rate the podcast wherever you liste...

The garment industry is Cambodia’s largest employer, with more than 850,000 workers. The three largest markets are the European Union, the destination of 40% of the production, followed by the United States at 30% and Canada at 9%. So, if we purchase clothing made in Cambodia, how concerned should we be about whether there were inadequate wages and rights abuse where the clothing is made? In this...

Many refugees are fleeing conflict or poverty, but many are also seeking to escape from a society in which, because of their sexual identity and/or preference, they face violence and possibly death every day. In this podcast episode and the related article (at upstreamjournal.org), Julia Israel speaks with several guests about what it means for these people as they seek refuge in Canada. Human Rig...