By Cath Collins

This article considers historic and recent approaches to disappearance in transitional justice settings, identifying search, identification and restitution as a uniquely persistent cluster of needs and rights adhering after periods of past political violence. It examines how international and regional norm development, transitional justice dynamics, and needs on the ground have combined to elicit reinvigorated state action over unresolved disappearances in post-authoritarian and post-internal armed conflict Latin America. Dedicated state search offices are considered among various possible responses, but the continued importance of judicial and ‘resistant’ (victim-driven) search is underlined. The ‘forensic turn’ in human rights practice is examined, and aspects of its subsequent evolution – including the proliferation of non-state forensic teams – identified as a potential source of decoupling between the truth and reparations promise of search and identification, and justice imperatives.

The article examines upload and download between present-day search configurations, originating contexts and overarching norms, focusing on search principles adopted by the United Nations in 2019. It suggests that a transitional justice perspective can help assess whether and when apparently divergent or noncompliant approaches should be deemed acceptable – for example, where the fate of the disappeared may be knowable, but they may not be recoverable, or where the passage of time has rendered perpetrator prosecutions a virtual chimera. Finally, the case of Chile’s recent (2023) search office design is used to consider the interplay between norms and country-level diagnostics in creating workable search plans that complement (but without displacing) other important aspects of the struggle against disappearance.

Journal of Disappearance Studies, 1(1), 115-138. Retrieved Oct 6, 2025,

By Nikolas Kyriacou

Enforced disappearance is a severe human rights violation with historical roots and global prevalence, perpetrated by state and non-state actors, leaving victims and families in a state of uncertainty. This article explores its legal dimensions in international human rights law. While definitions vary slightly across instruments, a core definition has emerged from the UN Declaration on the Protection of all Persons from Enforced Disappearance, the Inter-American Convention, the Rome Statute and the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance. Key elements include deprivation of liberty, state involvement or acquiescence, and state refusal to acknowledge the person’s fate, placing them outside of any legal protection.

Enforced disappearance is characterized as a multiple human rights violation. It inherently violates the right to liberty and security, and can involve the right not to be subjected to torture. It also frequently serves as a precursor to violations of the right to life. International human rights mechanisms have addressed these violations through various remedies. While the monetary compensation offered by the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) is noted as inconsistent and opaque, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACtHR) has developed a broader system including monetary and diverse non-monetary measures, emphasizing the duty to investigate and the right to truth. The 2007 International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance (CPED) offers the most comprehensive framework, explicitly recognizing the rights to justice and reparation, which includes compensation, restitution, rehabilitation, satisfaction and guarantees of non-repetition. Despite these advancements, challenges in implementation and enforcement persist, highlighting the ongoing need for global commitment to end impunity and ensure justice.

Journal of Disappearance Studies, v. 1, 2025.

By Physicians for Human Rights

The United States maintains the world’s largest immigration detention system, detaining an average daily population of nearly 60,000 people in immigration detention.¹ U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detains people in a network of facilities across the country where they often endure inhuman conditions, including solitary confinement.² Solitary confinement is the practice of isolating people in small cells without meaningful human contact for 22 hours or more per day.³

Over the past decade, the use of solitary confinement in immigration detention has risen at an alarming rate, with unprecedented numbers of immigrants held in isolation.⁴ Congress recently authorized a significant increase in funding to expand immigration detention, which will likely exacerbate this widespread, prolonged use of solitary confinement as detention capacity increases.⁵

The effects of prolonged solitary confinement can be lethal, as in the case of Charles Leo Daniel, who died after spending more than 13 years of his life in solitary confinement in various detention settings, including almost four years in solitary confinement in ICE detention.⁶ The adverse health effects of solitary confinement are well-established, extensively researched, and thoroughly documented across decades of literature,⁷ including post-traumatic stress disorder, self-harm, elevated suicide risks, lasting brain damage, and hallucinations.⁸ These effects often persist beyond the confinement period, resulting in enduring physical and psychological disabilities, especially among people with preexisting medical and mental health conditions.⁹ Vulnerable populations, including those with medical and mental health conditions, are often subjected to solitary confinement at high rates despite ICE’s own directives mandating its use as a last resort.

New York: Physicians for Human Rights, 2025. 21p.

By The Anti-Defamation League

The attacks on October 7, 2023, and their aftermath have profoundly reshaped Jewish American life. This joint report by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) and Jewish Federations of North America draws on two large, nationally representative surveys of Jewish Americans conducted earlier this year to illustrate the complex dynamics affecting them. The findings highlight both the widespread effects of antisemitism and the remarkable resilience of Jewish communities. 

Key Findings

Over half of Jewish Americans (55%) report experiencing some form of antisemitism in the past year.79% of all respondents are concerned about antisemitism.

Nearly one in five (18%) were either the victim of an assault, experienced threat of physical attack, or experienced verbal harassment due to their Jewish identity in the past year, while over one-third (36%) witnessed actual or threatened antisemitic violence.

Jewish Americans experienced antisemitism in many contexts, with the most common ones including online, public spaces, the workplace, and educational institutions.

Safety concerns are widespread among American Jews; over 50% are somewhat, very or always worried about personal safety, one-third have discussed with others what they would do in a “worst case” scenario, and 14% have developed a plan should they need to flee the country due to rising antisemitism. These rates are significantly higher for those that experienced direct antisemitic harm.

Jewish-Americans who experienced direct antisemitic harm or witnessed antisemitic acts within the past 12 months exhibited higher rates of symptoms used to screen for anxiety and depression.

One in five Jews who wore something distinctively Jewish before October 7 have since taken it off.

American Jews showed great resilience, with 84% of those who were directly harmed in the past year making some positive change because of the antisemitism they experienced.

What Jewish Federations terms “the Surge” - a marked increase in Jewish engagement - continues, though at slightly lower levels than in 2024, with nearly one-third of Jews reporting increased participation in Jewish life.

New York: ADL, 2025

Against Excessive Use of Force and Other Human Rights Violations by Law Enforcement Officers Through Transformative Change for Racial Justice and Equality

Report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights

Pursuant to Human Rights Council resolution 47/21, in the present report, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights examines calls for reparatory justice presented in his agenda towards transformative change for racial justice and equality, building on recommendations by the Secretary-General and United Nations human rights mechanisms. The High Commissioner highlights the role of States and others in confronting legacies of enslavement, the trade in enslaved Africans and colonialism, including dismantling structures and systems that perpetuate systemic racism at all levels. The High Commissioner reaffirms that reparatory justice requires a multi-pronged approach that is context-specific, intersectional, grounded in international human rights law and designed through meaningful consultation with and the participation of people of African descent. Building a reparatory justice momentum requires mobilizing all of society, the creation and reinforcement of existing networks and solidarity across equality movements. The High Commissioner calls for renewed leadership and vision, through creative, effective and comprehensive reparatory justice responses, as a critical component of dismantling systemic racism. 

United Nations, 2025. 18p

By Macnab, A. J., Besigye, I., & Tusubira, B

High rates of sexual and gender-related violence (SGRV) against girls occur in sub-Saharan Africa. SGRV generates fear, anxiety, and depression and leads to multiple adverse outcomes; its pervasive nature constitutes a significant public health crisis; the need for effective interventions is evident as currently applied programs have known limitations, and 1 in 3 women still suffer gender-based violence in their lifetime. This report reviews the challenge and mental health impact of SGRV in sub-Saharan Africa, summarizes the strengths and weaknesses of currently applied interventions, and describes a novel social empowerment intervention piloted in Uganda which achieved nationwide reach. Girls were engaged in high schools to identify the SGRV issues they saw as priorities. A music video was recorded by celebrity artists with scenarios to illustrate these issues and promote positive interventions; this used the framework for Education-Entertainment media, a validated form of health promotion. Over 12 months, the video was viewed 36,651 times on YouTube and generated >200,000 social media posts; streaming platforms saw 113,757 individuals downloaded the song; >310,000 people at public concerts heard the song performed; and eight national broadcasters played the video or song at least 30 times reaching a combined audience of >9,500,000. We suggest these data and the inherent merit of a preventive SGRV intervention warrant further consideration of this music video model; other countries can produce region-specific, population-focused versions to meet the urgent need for targeted interventions to raise societal awareness and enhance mental health support for those living in fear of sexual violence.

Academia Mental Health and Well-Being 2024;1.

By The American Immigration Council

The first six months of the second Donald J. Trump administration have arguably seen the most significant changes to U.S. immigration policy in the nation’s history. Taken one by one, as they have been announced or revealed, the effect can be overwhelming: it seems impossible to even comprehend everything that has happened, much less to understand it in a systematic way or to anticipate what might come next. The purpose of this report is not to recapitulate the last six months of chronology. Nor is it to contextualize the last six months within the history of immigration policy. The administration is simultaneously continuing some policy trends in place under the previous administration; taking latent powers within immigration law and using them as a matter of course; reanimating laws whose enactment predates the modern immigration system; and asserting wholly new powers that have never existed in law before. Lists like these can make anyone feel as though they have no idea what is actually going on. We aim to do the opposite of that: to provide a framework for the American people to understand what has been done to noncitizens, the communities in which they live, and the entire U.S. immigration system since January 20, 2025. We hope this framework will remain useful as the Trump administration continues its effort to fundamentally transform the American government, character, and role in the world. Our report is organized as a survey of the immigration policy landscape as of mid-2025, seeking to answer three key questions: The first six months of the second Donald J. Trump administration have arguably seen the most significant changes to U.S. immigration policy in the nation’s history. Taken one by one, as they have been announced or revealed, the effect can be overwhelming: it seems impossible to even comprehend everything that has happened, much less to understand it in a systematic way or to anticipate what might come next. The purpose of this report is not to recapitulate the last six months of chronology. Nor is it to contextualize the last six months within the history of immigration policy. The administration is simultaneously continuing some policy trends in place under the previous administration; taking latent powers within immigration law and using them as a matter of course; reanimating laws whose enactment predates the modern immigration system; and asserting wholly new powers that have never existed in law before. Lists like these can make anyone feel as though they have no idea what is actually going on. We aim to do the opposite of that: to provide a framework for the American people to understand what has been done to noncitizens, the communities in which they live, and the entire U.S. immigration system since January 20, 2025. We hope this framework will remain useful as the Trump administration continues its effort to fundamentally transform the American government, character, and role in the world. Our report is organized as a survey of the immigration policy landscape as of mid-2025, seeking to answer three key questions.

Washington, DC: American Immigration Council, 2025. 74p.

By Justyna Sempruch

In Fantasies of Gender and the Witch in Feminist Theory and Literature, Justyna Sempruch analyzes contemporary representations of the “witch” as a locus for the cultural negotiation of genders. Sempruch revisits some of the most prominent traits in past and current perceptions in feminist scholarship of exclusion and difference. She examines a selection of twentieth-century US American, Canadian, and European narratives to reveal the continued political relevance of metaphors sustained in the archetype of the “witch” widely thought to belong to pop-cultural or folkloristic formulations of the past. Through a critical rereading of the feminist texts engaging with these metaphors, Sempruch develops a new concept of the witch, one that challenges traditional gender-biased theories linking it either to a malevolent “hag” on the margins of culture or to unrestrained “feminine” sexual desire. Sempruch turns, instead, to the causes for radical feminist critique of “feminine” sexuality as a fabrication of logocentric thinking and shows that the problematic conversion of the “hag” into a “superwoman” can be interpreted today as a therapeutic performance translating fixed identity into a site of continuous negotiation of the subject in process. Tracing the development of feminist constructs of the witch from 1970s radical texts to the present, Sempruch explores the early psychoanalytical writings of Cixous, Kristeva, and Irigaray, and feminist reformulations of identity by Butler and Braidotti, with fictional texts from different political and cultural contexts.

West Lafayette, IN: Purdue University Press, 2008.

By Andrew Woolford

This Benevolent Experiment is a nuanced comparative history of Indigenous boarding schools in the United States and Canada. Because of differing historical, political, and structural influences, the two countries have arrived at two very different responses to the harm caused by assimilative education.

Lincoln: Nebraska University Press, 2015. 

By Peter Hopkins

Available open access digitally under CC BY NC ND licence. Everyday experiences of anti-Muslim racism include accounts of Islamophobia in public spaces, in the school playground, on social media and on public transport. This book explores how Islamophobia pervades the daily lives of Muslims and those perceived to be Muslim, drawing upon work by the author and leading researchers. Everyday Islamophobia tends to be regarded as low level or trivial. This book considers the influence of organisations, agencies, and individuals on those who find themselves negotiating its significant harms in education, the community and online. It concludes by exploring strategies to challenge and resist Islamophobia.

Bristol UK: Bristol University Press, 2025. 

By The Right Hon. Viscount Bryce

When Essays and Addresses in War Time appeared in December 1918, the Great War had not yet fully settled into memory. The armistice was scarcely a month old; the dead lay uncounted; the maps of Europe were still provisional, and new nations were appearing almost daily. It was into this unsettled moral and political landscape that Viscount James Bryce (1838–1922) published this set of reflections — part justification, part analysis, and part moral plea — for what he regarded as one of civilization’s defining struggles.

Bryce was no ordinary commentator. Historian, jurist, diplomat, and moral philosopher, he had served as British ambassador to the United States (1907–1913) and was known across Europe and America as one of the most lucid defenders of democratic government. His monumental works — The Holy Roman Empire (1864) and The American Commonwealth (1888) — had already secured his international reputation. Yet Essays and Addresses in War Time reveals another dimension: a statesman confronting the collapse of Enlightenment ideals under the strain of modern total war, and seeking to explain to neutral nations why the conflict could not be reduced to a mere clash of power or empire, but must be seen as a moral contest over the principles of civilization itself.

Read-Me.Org Inc. New York-Philadelphia-Australia. 2025. 156p.

By Mohamed Nassir

In a report published in September 2025, Australia’s Special Envoy to Combat Islamophobia, Aftab Malik, reveals that anti-Muslim prejudices have been increasingly prevalent in Australia in recent years. He finds that these issues have been exacerbated by geopolitical events such as 9/11 and the ongoing Israel-Gaza conflict. Malik’s Report attributes this to factors such as negative media coverage and “divisive comments by politicians”. It concludes with 54 recommendations for the Australian government to consider in combating Islamophobia.

In his report published on 12 September 2025, Australia’s Special Envoy to Combat Islamophobia, Aftab Malik, describes the rise of anti-Muslim sentiment in Australia as “pervasive and, at times, terrifying”. The report entitled, A National Response to Islamophobia: A Strategic Framework for Inclusion, Safety and Prosperity, argues that, despite there being no universally accepted definition of Islamophobia, it should be acknowledged that incidents of privilege and discrimination against Australian Muslims are increasing.

 The report begins by examining the rise of anti-Muslim sentiments in Australia in recent years and identifies some of the key factors that explain the phenomenon. It concludes with 54 recommendations aimed at addressing the problem. These recommendations are a valuable resource for countries like Singapore, which value social harmony and strive to protect vulnerable groups and foster inclusivity.

S. Rajarat nam School of International Studies, NTU Singapore, 2025. 6p.

By Edward Carpenter

“Civilisation” is a word that evokes triumph — of human ingenuity, collective organisation, rising standards of living, the unfolding of arts and sciences, the building of cities, bridges, empires. And yet, as Edward Carpenter’s 1889 work Civilisation: Its Cause and Cure; and Other Essays demonstrates, civilisation can also be approached as a problem: as a state of society marked by dis-ease, alienation, and unsustainability. Carpenter, a socialist, poet, philosopher and social reformer, treats civilisation not simply as the progress of humankind but as a complex and ambivalent phenomenon — one that may require “cure” as much as celebration.

In this volume Carpenter brings together his earlier lectures and essays — including the eponymous essay “Civilisation: Its Cause and Cure,” along with essays on science, morality, custom, and society.The book thus serves as both a diagnosis of modern Western society and an expression of an alternative vision for humanity’s social and moral development.

In the following pages we will consider: first, the intellectual and historical context of the work; second, the major themes and arguments set out by Carpenter; third, the structure of the essays and the particular significance of the titular essay; fourth, an evaluation of the work’s place in the history of social thought; and fifth, pointers for contemporary reading, criticism and further research.

Read-Me.Org Inc. New York-Philadelphia-Australia. 2025. 164p.

Edited by Shira M. Goldenberg , Ruth Morgan Thomas , Anna Forbes, Stefan Baral

This open access book provides a comprehensive overview of the health inequities and human rights issues faced by sex workers globally across diverse contexts, and outlines evidence-based strategies and best practices. Sex workers face severe health and social inequities, largely as the result of structural factors including punitive and criminalized legal environments, stigma, and social and economic exclusion and marginalization. Although previous work has largely emphasized an elevated burden and gaps in HIV and sexually transmitted infection (STI) services in sex work, less attention has been paid to the broader health and human rights concerns faced by sex workers. This contributed volume addresses this gap. The chapters feature a variety of perspectives including academic, community, implementing partners, and government to synthesize research evidence as well as lessons learned from local-level experiences across different regions, and are organized under three parts: Burden of health and human rights inequities faced by sex workers globally, including infectious diseases (e.g., HIV, STIs), violence, sexual and reproductive health, and drug use Structural determinants of health and human rights, including legislation, law enforcement, community engagement, intersectoral collaboration, stigma, barriers to health access, im/migration issues, and occupational safety and health Evidence-based services and best practices at various levels ranging from individual and community to policy-level interventions to identify best practices and avenues for future research and interventions Sex Work, Health, and Human Rights is an essential resource for researchers, policy-makers, governments, implementing partners, international organizations and community-based organizations involved in research, policies, or programs related to sex work, public health, social justice, gender-based violence, women's health and harm reduction.

Cham: Springer, 2021. 272p.

dited byAmy Reed-SandovalLuis Rubén Díaz Cepeda

Following an extended period of near silence on the subject, many social and political philosophers are now treating immigration as a central theme of their discipline. In fact, there is now sufficient philosophical literature on immigration to enable us to detect clear trajectories in terms of its broad theorization. What began as a highly abstract debate over whether states do, in fact, have a prima facie right to exclude prospective migrants under at least some conditions evolved into scholarship on increasingly “applied” and “practical” questions such as refugee rights and justifications for family reunification schemes in immigrant admissions programs.1 Presently, and as part of this notable progression, immigration philosophy is in the midst of an identity “turn” in which philosophers—particularly those working within the traditions of feminist philosophy, Latinx philosophy, and the critical philosophy of race—theorize particular borders and barriers and particular migrant bodies that are visibly sexed/gendered and racialized.2 This stands in contrast to the more abstract borders and migrants featured in the original open borders debate. Such identity-based approaches tend to operate in the realm of “nonideal theory,” considering states as they are—namely, as entities that are often noncompliant with the requirements of justice—and providing conceptual analysis and solutions on that basis.

Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 2021. 313p.

EDITED BY Thomas E. Sheridan and Randall H. McGuire

The Border and Its Bodies examines the impact of migration from Central America and México to the United States on the most basic social unit possible: the human body. It explores the terrible toll migration takes on the bodies of migrants—those who cross the border and those who die along the way—and discusses the treatment of those bodies after their remains are discovered in the desert. The increasingly militarized U.S.-México border is an intensely physical place, affecting the bodies of all who encounter it. The essays in this volume explore how crossing becomes embodied in individuals, how that embodiment transcends the crossing of the line, and how it varies depending on subject positions and identity categories, especially race, class, and citizenship. Timely and wide-ranging, this book brings into focus the traumatic and real impact the border can have on those who attempt to cross it, and it offers new perspectives on the effects for rural communities and ranchers. An intimate and profoundly human look at migration, The Border and Its Bodies reminds us of the elemental fact that the border touches us all.

Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 2019.

By PATRICIA HYNES, ANNA SKEELS AND LAURA DURÁN

Human trafficking of children and young people is a major concern yet there is limited research on the lived experiences of those affected and even less on their post-trafficking aspirations, strengths and capabilities. This book argues that human trafficking and/or exploitation should be seen as child abuse rather than viewed through immigration or criminal justice lenses. It draws on new research from outcomes of two participatory studies with young people affected by human trafficking. The first study focuses on the development of a Creating Stable Futures Positive Outcomes Framework (CSF-POF), centred around children’s rights and based on the views of young people themselves. The second details how this framework was implemented for the first time with young people through an outcomes evaluation of the Independent Child Trafficking Guardianship (ICTG) service in England and Wales. An invaluable text, this book guides policy makers, practitioners, local authority professionals and voluntary sector organisations working to protect children and young people from human trafficking and helping them to move forwards positively following abuse.

Bristol, UK: Policy Press, 2025. 187p.

By Sarah Roth, Evan Enzer, Olaa Mohamed, Kevin Ye, and Eleni Manis

Schools increasingly turn to spyware, noise detectors, and other invasive mental health prediction tools, with predictably poor results. These error-prone systems flag non-existent crises and miss real dangers.

Mental health surveillance alienates students, making it more likely that they will self-censor and isolating them from teachers and online mental health resources.

Student spyware routinely outs LGBTQ+ students and puts BIPOC youth at risk of police encounters.

New tech appears to be displacing evidence-based mental health screening.

By Corinne Worthington, Erin McFadden, Aaron Greenberg, and Eleni Manis

A year and half post-Roe, ad tech companies continue to surveil abortion seekers on abortion scheduling and abortion advocacy websites.

While ad tech companies make it incredibly difficult to avoid tracking, medical providers and advocacy organizations should take steps to minimize tracking on abortion scheduling and patient-facing informational pages.

Abortion seekers should not let these concerns stop them from seeking care, and the risk to any one individual is likely low at this stage, but the long-term implications are dire.

By Eleni Manis, Nina Loshkajian, Leah Haynes, Shivam Saran, Andrew West, and Corinne Worthington

Department of Homeland Security (“DHS”) fusion centers spend over $400 million each year to expand federal, state, and local intelligence sharing, including Immigration and Customs Enforcement (“ICE”).

Fusion centers enable ICE to coopt local police databases and surveillance tools (like facial recognition) that otherwise couldn’t be used for deportation purposes.

Fusion center participants routinely give ICE sensitive data, violating state and local protections for undocumented immigrants.

Local police officers use fusion centers to encourage ICE to target suspects when officers can’t find enough evidence to bring charges, effectively deporting their cold cases.

Fusion centers’ opacity allows them to routinely violate state and local civil rights laws without consequence.