Our Voices

This Week’s Spotlight on Human Rights

Michael Brown’s mom pushes for justice for her son in public hearing

The mother of Michael Brown — who was shot and killed by a Ferguson police officer in 2014 sparking protests around the county — gave testimony to the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights (IACHR) to review the case of her son’s killing in a public hearing on Wednesday.


Srebrenica massacre: ‘What happened should be known’

Every July, Sabrija Hajdarevic returns to Srebrenica to visit the graves of her husband and father. They were among around 8,000 Bosniak Muslim men and boys killed in 1995 by the Serb forces. The 67-year-old now lives thousands of miles away in Australia, but the annual trip means a lot to her. This year is even more poignant, as for the first time 11 July will be marked as the International Day of Reflection and Commemoration, following a UN General Assembly ruling in May.


Uganda Rights Activists File Appeal Against Ruling on Anti-LGBTQ Law

Ugandan human rights advocates on Thursday filed an appeal in the Supreme Court against a ruling by a lower court that upheld a draconian anti-homosexuality law which includes the death penalty for certain same-sex acts. An April ruling by the country’s constitutional court declined to void Uganda’s Anti-Homosexuality Act (AHA), a move requested by the activists who argued the law violated fundamental rights and was unconstitutional.


Watch dog organizations expose state censorship strategies in Latin America before IACHR

With strategies that range from the use of openly hostile speeches that describe it as an “enemy” or “opposition,” to the abusive use of criminal law to censor, through the use of technological developments to monitor and control, some governments in Latin America seek to dismantle the rule of law to persecute criticism and public denunciation.