Should the world give recognition to China to host the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing while the Chinese Communist Party clamps down on the human rights of so many of the Chinese people? What are the options to keep the Olympic flame alight against the backdrop of growing condemnation?

In the midst of a crisis, for 20 years, the small British charity Kids for Kids, led by the indomitable Patricia Parker OBE, has helped rural villages in North Darfur improve the basic living standards for ordinary people. With a sustainable development model, they are helping some of the poorest families in the world help themselves.

Eight months of brutal civil war in Tigray have left millions of vulnerable people starving. Nearly a third of the population of Ethiopia’s northernmost state is displaced, and the death toll is estimated to be in the thousands. Despite a ceasefire declaration, humanitarian access remains heavily restricted and aid agencies have not been able to…

Zoe Gardner, policy advisor for the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants, describes a “crisis” environment that has lead to over 1.2 million people living in the UK with no legal status. Victim to an inflexible and unforgiving immigration system, how did these people go from holding legal status to living in fear of deportation? 

The UK government is planning to cut humanitarian aid in Yemen by more than half. Yemen is currently the world’s worst humanitarian crisis, with more than two-thirds of the population – or over 24 million people, depending on humanitarian assistance to survive.

As The Guardian reports, more than 6,500 migrants have lost their lives in Qatar while working behind the scenes of the 2022 FIFA World Cup. Nepal-based journalist Pete Pattisson has been investigating migrant workers’ conditions for many years. IOHR interviewed him at the Oslo Freedom Forum in 2019. 

The Brexit transition period ends on the 31st of December 2020, but many questions remain unanswered for the EU citizens living in the UK. Alexandra Bulat, Young Europeans Network manager of the 3 Million Movement, shines a light on the main issues regarding their rights.

The Black Lives Matter campaign has had support from many sports men and women around the world. Former International English cricketer Monty Panesar describes his vision for diversity in sports and challenges the UK Government to tackle racism and discrimination in sport.

Sonia ‘Sunny’ Jacobs was sentenced to death for a crime she did not commit. She spent 17 years in prison and was exonerated in 1992 but this reprieve came too late for her husband who was executed in 1990 by a faulty electric chair. He took 13 minutes to die.

IOHR investigates the crisis in Lesbos, Greece, after a fire broke out in the refugee camp of Moria leaving at least 13,000 refugees stranded.

Poland has been named the ‘most homophobic country’ in the European Union, after decades of oppression against the LGBT+ minority. Bartosz Staszewski, a renowned Polish LGBT+ activist and film director, describes the discrimination against the LGBT+ community in Poland.

Mass protests have sprung up again in Iran, over unpaid wages and poor working conditions. Mehdi Kouhestani, a Canada-based Iranian labour activist, explains the social and historical context of these demonstrations and describes how the security apparatus in Iran represses any attempt of protecting labour rights in the country.

Rollie Lal, Associate Professor of the Elliott School of International Affairs, describes the human rights implications of the brutal crackdown on the Black Lives Matter protests by the Trump administration.

With climate change forcing hundreds of thousands of people to flee their homes in search of viable environments, the definition of ‘refugee’ might need to be implemented.

Yemeni journalist Ahmad Algohbary explains the implications of the latest locust outbreak on a worn-torn country like Yemen, where 10 million people are one step away from famine.

Millions of refugees around the world are forced to live in overcrowded camps with little access to food, sanitation and health services. But now, displaced children and their families are facing a new threat to their fragile existence with the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Not all European Union, European Economic Area and Swiss citizens will have applied to the EU Settlement Scheme by June 2021. Elders, students, children in care, UK residence permit holders and many others, will be deemed unlawful residents if they fail to apply.

China’s National People’s Congress approved the national security law which makes it illegal to undermine Chinese authority on the territory of Hong Kong. The law, which international critics have deemed ‘the end of Hong Kong’, extends Beijing’s control in the region and threatens its autonomy.

The new wave of locusts in East Africa presents an alarming threat to food security and livelihoods, putting 20 million people just below the famine line. Travelling in dense swarms, desert locusts can eat as much food in a single day, as Kenya’s whole population of 53 million people.

Dr. Julian Sheather, special adviser in ethics and human rights to the British Medical Association and ethics adviser to Médecins Sans Frontières, highlights the ethical implications arising from the outbreak of coronavirus. According to the adviser, this virus is not just a biomedical event.

To support the World Day Against Cyber-Censorship, Journalist and cyber author Ian Williams describes the use of cyber to surveil, censor and suppress the Chinese population, the deployment of it by Russia to interfere in American elections and the wave of new applications being used to …

Former US Ambassador-at-large Stephen Rapp shares his experience as an international prosecutor for war crimes. From the Rwanda genocide to the issue of child soldiers in Sierra Leone, he has worked on landmark convictions which have marked history.

Liberal Democrat MEP Irina Von Wiese discusses the impact of Brexit on Britain’s ability to defend human rights.

Sonia ‘Sunny’ Jacobs persevered on death row for 28 years for a crime she did not commit. She was exonerated in 1992 but this reprieve came too late for her husband who was executed in 1990 by a faulty electric chair. He took 13 minutes to die. Sunny explains that her experience is that …

A child eligible for British citizenship is charged £1,012 to apply, even though it only costs the UK government £372 to process. These charges are forcing parents into debt because without citizenship, their children’s access to education, travel and work is greatly restricted …

As the new 2022 FIFA World Cup emblem was projected onto iconic buildings in Qatar, Pete Pattisson, Guardian journalist and filmmaker, describes the abuse and exploitation of the migrant workers who constructed them and the current state of labour practices in the Gulf

Pride 2019 was celebrated by over 250,000 people in Brighton but the LGBTQ+ community also focused on the human rights violations and discrimination they face around the world with the launch of the #WeStandTogether campaign against discrimination. In the UK 1 in 5 LGBT …

Ananas Girmai, founder and director of PROCS (Protection, Respect and Opportunity for Children on the Street) talks about the importance of taking working children off the streets of Addis and providing them with full- time education. Formed in 2001, PROCS teaches children how to play …

Every morning, millions of people queue up under the scorching sun in India’s sixth largest city of Chennai to fill up their cans and pots with water from trucks dispatched by the state. It is the first major city in India to be left without water in the worst heat wave in the country’s history that …

Shaparak Shajarizadeh is an avid supporter of the #WhiteWednesdays movement, which encourages Iranian women to remove their headscarves on Wednesdays or wear a white shawl as a way to oppose compulsory hijab laws in Iran. She was jailed, tortured and …