Human Rights

There are an estimated 45,000,000 people held in slavery today, more than at any other point in human history. At the same time, an incredible awakening is happening within the church, in which the people of God are reclaiming the prophetic calling to seek justice and rescue the oppressed.

Buzz has begun about a possible U.S. withdrawal from the United Nations Human Rights Council. It is no wonder; the Human Rights Council is largely a sham.

At Davos on January 17, President Xi Jinping spoke of China’s determination to play a responsible role to “secure peace and reduce poverty.” Xi was applauded. Yet China abuses the fundamental human rights of its people, undermines international human rights institutions, and indeed subverts the very concept of individual human rights.

Had Castro been executed while in prison, history may indeed have absolved him for his role in attempting to overthrow the Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista. Instead, Castro would live to become an even more brutal and ruthless despot than the one he replaced.

Vietnam experts at Hudson Institute event argue that the U.S. should hold Vietnam accountable for religious freedom violations.

The over-emphasis on human rights multilateralism, despite its paltry results (not to mention the expanding range of human rights claims), has undermined faith in those standards and, indeed, faith in the idea of human rights itself.

Barack Obama makes the final appearance of his presidency today before the UN General Assembly. As we evaluate this address, consider this assessment of his September 2009 UN speech.

Twenty-three years ago today, Israeli Prime Minister Rabin and PLO negotiator Abbas agreed to the Oslo Accords.

Samuel Moyn’s Christian Human Rights argues that human rights should not be associated exclusively with the secular liberal left and liberal politics when the Christian right was historically involved with this project.