Women athletes, largely from the Global South, are targeted and harmed by “sex testing” regulations. Women being observed under the regulations, and in some cases being compelled to undergo a medical examination, amounts to policing women’s bodies based on arbitrary definitions of femininity and racial stereotypes. Sport governing bodies – including World Athletics and the […]
Click to expand Image Caster Semnya wins the women’s 800m during the IAAF Doha Diamond League 2019 at Khalifa International Stadium in Doha, Qatar, May 3, 2019. © 2019 Jiro Mochizuki/Image of Sport via AP Madeleine Pape, an Australian Olympic runner, competed against South Africa’s Caster Semenya in the 2009 Berlin World Championships and lost. Those […]
Click to expand Image The mother and son of Baha Mousa hold pictures of him at their house in Basra on September 7, 2011. © 2011 Reuters (London) – The International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor’s decision to close a preliminary examination of alleged war crimes by British forces in Iraq is likely to fuel the […]
For more than two years, Saudi Arabia has locked up women’s rights activists who fought for – and won – women’s right to drive. But as the country is gearing up to virtually host the G20 World Leaders’ Summit November 21-22, it looks like the Saudi authorities are trying to change the narrative. Today, the […]
Click to expand Image Chinese Vice-Foreign Affairs Minister Le Yucheng speaks during the Human Rights Council’s Universal Periodic Review of China, at the European headquarters of the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, November 6, 2018. © 2018 Salvatore Di Nolfi/Keystone via AP Today, the Chinese government, which is responsible for industrial-scale human rights violations, including the arbitrary […]
Click to expand Image The Lahore High Court, in Lahore, Pakistan. © WikiMedia Last week, Pakistan’s Ministry of Law and Justice recommended that the so-called “two-finger test” – invasive and medically meaningless vaginal exams imposed upon women and girls to determine whether they are virgins – should not be part of any criminal investigation. Putting an […]
Click to expand Image Sri Lanka’s former President Mahinda Rajapaksa, waits to be sworn in as prime minister at Kelaniya Royal Buddhist temple in Colombo, Sri Lanka, August 9, 2020. © 2020 AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena The United Nations Country Team in Sri Lanka recently held a special virtual event to commemorate the world body’s 75th birthday. Sadly, […]
Click to expand Image Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva participates in a panel discussion on post Covid-19 recovery and resilience during the 2020 Annual Meetings at the International Monetary Fund in Washington, DC, October 13, 2020. © 2020 IMF Photo/ Cory Hancock This was a year like no other for the International Monetary Fund (IMF)-World Bank […]
Click to expand Image The Greek Coast Guard has been accused of using rescue equipment – namely inflatable, motorless life rafts – to leave asylum seekers and migrants adrift in open water close to the Turkish sea border. May 25, 2020 © 2020 Turkish Coast Guard (Athens) – Members of Greece’s parliament should urgently establish an […]
Click to expand Image A beach where a heavy winds and strong waves washed ashore piles of garbage in Keserwan, north of Beirut, Lebanon, on 23 January 2018. © 2018 Marwan Naamani/picture-alliance/dpa/AP Images Beirut’s port explosion, which killed 212 people and obliterated large parts of the city on August 4, has put additional strains on […]