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Human & Civil Rights

Before politics, beyond partisanship: Any story worth covering is ultimately human-rights story.

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For the poor, COVID-19 also means debt and slavery

April 15, 2020

The world’s impoverished people already shoulder heavy burdens of personal debt. Then came the COVID-19 pandemic, and jobs everywhere evaporated. Although this pandemic-driven wave of unemployment is temporary, the financial position of poor people has become even more precarious, making them prey for debt collectors, loan sharks — and slavery. The scourge of debt collection […]

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What does the pandemic mean for human rights?

April 3, 2020

Across the world, governments are responding to the coronavirus pandemic with widespread lockdowns to prevent the spread of the disease. While these restrictions have clear public-health benefits, human rights advocates fear the pandemic may erode privacy protections, and enable repressive regimes to consolidate power. Sweden: Plenty of freedom, but what’s the risk? Sweden, one of […]

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The pandemic vs. freedom of the press

April 2, 2020

The free flow of information, and the responsible practice of journalism, are critical for the preservation of democratic society at a time of global pandemic. Both public health and public accountability are at stake. The Daylighter’s latest coronavirus brief takes a look at how press freedoms, and the public interest, are under pressure the world […]

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For decades, San Francisco has failed to house the homeless. Will the pandemic change all that?

March 23, 2020

Additional writing by Josh Wilson Although San Francisco prides itself as “the City that Knows How,” it has also largely failed to provide housing for thousands of people and families living on its streets. But the coronavirus pandemic may be changing all that. Search for safe space San Francisco is an enormously wealthy town, and […]

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Psychiatric patients are still getting shock treatments against their will

March 3, 2020

In Connecticut, psychiatric patients can still be given shock treatments against their will.  In fact, electroconvulsive therapy is a standard medical practice in the United States and around the world — despite the risks of permanent brain damage or worse.  Positives … and negatives The use of electric shocks to the brain to temporarily arrest […]

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Does China’s new Tibet policy amount to ethnic cleansing?

January 30, 2020

A new Chinese “ethnic unity” policy is coming to Tibet this May.   Critics, including the Tibetan government-in-exile, say the real agenda is cultural suppression and worse. They fear a new a repeat in Tibet of the widely condemned internment camps and re-education programs China has enforced in the ethnic Uigher region of Xinjiang.  “Comprehensive stability” […]

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