United States
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This Week’s Spotlight on Human Rights
Tags Share Nigerian Protests Fizzle Out Amid Deadly Police Crackdown Protests against a soaring cost of living in Nigeria ebbed on Monday as few people turned out in major cities after security forces used lethal force to quell demonstrations. Hundreds of thousands had taken to the streets in cities including the capital Abuja and the commercial hub…
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10 years after Michael Brown’s death, his mother is still fighting for justice
Tags Share Michael Brown’s mother is still seeking justice 10 years after her son’s death. The August 8 issue of NPR’s Morning Edition featured testimony that Brown’s mother, Lezley McSpadden, provided in an appeal to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.
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Why We Must End Solitary Confinement
Tags Share The below letter from staff attorney Delia Addo-Yobo appeared in the New York Times on August 4, in response to the July 29 article “Adams Blocks Law Banning Solitary Confinement in Jails.” Prolonged solitary confinement is a recognized form of torture under international human rights law, yet it is used freely in the U.S.…
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This Week’s Spotlight on Human Rights
Tags Share Venezuela is wracked with protests and election uncertainty. Here’s what to know Criticism is mounting against Venezuela’s authoritarian leader Nicolás Maduro after deadly protests erupted across the country following its disputed presidential election. Venezuela’s opposition and multiple Latin American leaders have refused to recognize Maduro’s victory in the July 28 vote, which was announced…
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DEI Upholds a Core American Value
Tags Share As a result of the ongoing US presidential election, the news media has been filled with stories about the concept of a “DEI hire”. From legal action against funding for Black women-owned businesses to the rise of a new acronym—MEI (merit, excellence, and intelligence)—aimed at undermining decades of progress, efforts, and data-backed results,…
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A more inclusive economy is a healthy economy
Tags Share New York City Comptroller Brad Lander shared that there is a “real opportunity to build a more inclusive economy, but we are going to have to be more courageous and more disciplined about it,” while speaking at the opening panel of the second day of the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Compass Summer…
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RFK Compass Investors Panel calls for urgency to address climate change
Tags Share Investors remain firmly committed to supporting the energy transition that favors renewables and supporting the businesses that do right by doing good for the environment, panel experts agreed while speaking at the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Compass Summer Investors Conference. AP6 CEO Katarina Staaf, who joined three others on the panel, cited…
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Investors should ask hard questions amid AI hype cycle
Tags Share An estimated 3,200 private venture-backed companies went out of business in 2023 across the globe, The New York Times reported late last year, stung by rising interest rates and investor demands for a more clear path to growth. However, just seven months later, the same outlet reported that investors injected $27.1 billion into…
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Young people under arrest need legal protection
Tags Share The original op-ed was published in the New York Daily News on July 24, 2024. Read the original article here. The interrogation room is cramped and windowless. The police officer sitting across from the teenager and his mother begins to read the teen his Miranda rights. The words flow easily, familiar to anyone…
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Blair LM Kelley traces the history of the Black working class
Tags Share On Tuesday, July 23rd, RFK Human Rights hosted its July Book Club featuring the recipient of the 2024 Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Book Award, Black Folk: The Roots of the Black Working Class by Blair LM Kelley and moderated by historian and author Ted Widmer. This work spans two hundred years―from one…
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Behind the Headlines: Reparative Justice for Sonya Massey
Tags Share This week, Illinois state police released body camera footage of a sheriff’s deputy murdering Sonya Massey, a 36-year-old Black woman and mother of two, in the kitchen of her home. On July 6, 2024, Sonya called police to report a suspected break-in of her house. Officers from the Sangamon County Sheriff’s Office arrived and,…
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Kerry Kennedy on the death of Sonya Massey
Tags Share Like so many other across our nation, I am appalled at the senseless killing of Sonya Massey by police and heartbroken for the family she leaves behind. The Department of Justice has rightly commenced an investigation into the circumstances of Sonya’s death. It is clearly not an isolated incident. In 2023, police killings…
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