By Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe

In the digital age, technology serves as both a powerful tool for empowerment and a potential instrument for criminal activities, particularly in human trafficking. Traffickers exploit technological advancements for purposes such as online recruitment, victim control, and transferring illicit proceeds. However, these same technologies present opportunities for law enforcement and civil society to combat trafficking and protect victims. This report summarizes a set of policy recommendations discussed and made by anti-trafficking stakeholders from OSCE participating States during a series of sub-regional workshops organized in 2023 by the Office of the OSCE Special Representative and Co-ordinator for Combating Trafficking in Human Beings.These policy recommendations aim at leveraging technology effectively to counter trafficking.

Vienna: OSCE, 2024. 22p.

By Alexandra Flynn, Estair van Wagner, Heidi Kiiwetinepinesiik Stark

Encampments are a vivid illustration of the failure of governments in Canada to meet their human rights obligations to ensure everyone has access to adequate housing. The 2020-2022 point-in-time count showed a 20% increase in homelessness overall and an 88% increase in unsheltered homelessness from 2018. The right to housing is inherently linked with the fulfillment of other human rights and with basic human dignity. Thus, where the right to housing is violated, other human rights are often violated. Advocacy for the human rights of encampment residents then necessarily implicates a wider set of human rights. Legal advocacy is therefore a necessary part of a broader movement to realize human rights for all people. Canadian jurisprudence has centered on the right to life, liberty and security of the person protected by section 7 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, interpreted as freedom from government actions such as encampment removals. However, the rights involved draw from other sources of laws, including Indigenous and international legal frameworks. In this report we focus on the existing case law and legal strategies. Our objective is to identify arguments used to date, as well as opportunities for future legal advocacy on the issue of encampments.

Given the context of colonial dispossession and the vast overrepresentation of Indigenous Peoples in the unhoused population we highlight the relationship between the right to housing and Indigenous rights, both from a colonial Canadian legal perspective and from an Indigenous legal perspective. While we point to opportunities to engage with legal tools within the Canadian colonial legal system where they may be strategic and useful, we acknowledge the limitations of these tools. Therefore, we also highlight opportunities to connect advocacy about encampments with Indigenous legal orders and jurisdiction, including work being done by groups engaged in or considering litigation or advocacy on encampments. While there is limited research on the role of Indigenous law in encampments at present, in our view, this is an urgent area of advocacy to find long-term, sustainable, and human rights-compliant solutions to homelessness.

This report starts from the recognition that encampment residents are rights-bearers and must be centered in discussions on how to move forward. While it does not include testimony from those with lived experience it is informed by the long history of advocacy inside and outside of courtrooms by people unhoused people themselves and in partnership. This is critical in the context of encampments: when unhoused people claim public or private space to meet their basic needs it is essential that we acknowledge and respect their dignity and agency. Encampment residents are experts in their own lives. As we explain, meaningful engagement is the foundation of any human rights-based response. This includes respecting the structures of decision making that emerge in encampments, the trusted advocacy relationships developed with those around them, and principles of fairness that guarantee particular rights.

This report has been drafted to help inform legal practitioners and advocates about the state of jurisprudence in Canada relevant to homeless encampments. It highlights some of the limitations of jurisprudence to date and points to opportunities for future legal advocacy, highlighting the need to integrate Indigenous legal traditions.

Part One provides a background on the meaning of a human rights approach and the regulation of encampments in Canada.

First, we detail the connections between the right to housing and encampments in the Canadian context. We define what we mean by adequate housing, where the progressive realization of the right to housing comes from under Canadian and Indigenous legal frameworks, and provide a three-part framework for considering the right to adequate housing.

Second, we outline the current system of regulation of encampments in Canada. We explore the regulation of encampments based on international and domestic laws, highlighting that jurisdictionally fractured set of rules each seek to govern encampment residents, exacerbating their vulnerability. In this section, we distinguish between constitutional protections, legislation and bylaws that protect encampment residents, and those that seek to displace them.

Part Two sets out advocacy and litigation strategies in relation to encampments.

Third, we outline advocacy efforts in relation to encampments. In this section we explain the many ways in which advocates are seeking change in local policy-making, law reform, and enforcement. These efforts may - but do not always - rely on court decisions, and legal challenges are but one tactic used to advance the interests of encampment residents.

Next, we set out the case law concerning encampments, explaining the different approaches that have been taken since the seminal case, Adams v Victoria, was decided in 2009 setting out the current framework used by the courts. We explain court decisions in relation to injunction applications mainly brought by municipalities, Charter arguments, judicial review applications, shelter standards, public private property distinctions, and challenging enforcement. These cases were all decided between Adams and 2022.

We conclude by summarizing the legal framework related to encampments, with the gaps and opportunities for realizing a right to housing for those experiencing the most profound violation of that right, homelessness.

Ottawa: Office of the Federal Housing Advocate, Canadian Human Rights Commission, 2024. 56p.

By Tina Magazzini, Marina Eleftheriadou, Anna Triandafyllidou

This open access book explains why southern European countries with significant Muslim communities have experienced few religiously inspired violent attacks – or have avoided the kind of securitised response to such attacks seen in many other Western states. The authors provide a unique contribution to the literature on violent extremism – which has traditionally focused on countries such as France, the US and the UK – by studying the causes of relatively low rates of radicalisation in Greece, Italy and Spain. The book explores many of the dynamics between (non) radicalisation and issues such as socioeconomic inequality, experiences of conflict, and systemic racism and other forms of discrimination. It establishes a new analytical framework for the development of, and resilience against, violent radicalisation in the region and beyond.

Cham: Springer Nature, 2024. 133p.

May Contain Markup

By Sir Reginald Coupland

"The British Anti-Slavery Movement" by Sir Reginald Coupland is a comprehensive historical account detailing the efforts to abolish slavery and the slave trade in the British Empire. The book is structured into several chapters, each focusing on different aspects of the movement, from the African slave system to the abolition of slavery in the British Isles and colonies.It highlights the significant contributions of key figures such as William Wilber force, Granville Sharp, and Thomas Clarkson, who played pivotal roles in advocating for the end of slavery. Coupland also discusses the broader implications of the abolitionist movement, including its impact on British Imperial policy and its moral and humanitarian motivations.

The book delves into the various phases of the anti-slavery movement, including the fight against the foreign slave trade and the suppression of theEast African slave trade. Coupland provides a detailed narrative of the challenges and successes faced by the abolitionists, emphasizing the interplay between economic, political, and moral factors. The introduction to the second edition by J.D. Fage offers additional context, reflecting on Coupland's contributions to the field of imperial history and the ongoing relevance of his work. Overall, the book serves as a crucial resource for understanding the complexities and legacy of the British anti-slavery movement.

Frank Cass & Co LTD London, 1933, 255 pages

By Anouar Boukhars

Terrorism, weapons smuggling, drug and human trafficking, and migration flows are driving many North African countries to bolster their border defenses. Current tactics include building miles of trenches, barriers, and fences, as well as employing sophisticated drones and surveillance technology. But will they be effective and at what cost? A close study to answer this question is worthwhile, given the number of countries worldwide either contemplating or adopting such measures.

In the Maghreb region, the efforts of Algeria and Morocco—two antagonistic countries that have gone the furthest to seal themselves off from each other—are falling short. They have had some success in stemming illicit cross-border trade, but smugglers have merely learned to adapt, changing what and how they smuggle and exploiting persistent corruption. Moreover, the security fortifications have worsened the economies of already struggling border regions, fueling protests and leading young smugglers to dabble in drug trafficking. Unless both governments take a more coordinated socioeconomic approach to border security, the isolated communities that populate these neglected peripheries will remain a potential incubator for instability.

Washington, DC: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, 2019. 13p.

By Jeremy Slack and Daniel E. Martınez

What happens after deportation? What contexts must Mexican deportees navigate and contend with after removal from the United States? This article explores the challenges for people post-removal in Mexico, particularly by drawing on fieldwork conducted in Tamaulipas, which is home to the Zetas drug trafficking organization and the infamous massacre of seventy-two migrants. We argue that incidental exposure to violence and crime began as an implicit aspect of immigration enforcement and has grown into one of the central tenets of current policy. We take a feminist geopolitical approach to connect the post-deportation experiences of migrants to the policies of deportation, incarceration, and punishment levied against them by the U.S. government. Migrants, particularly those apprehended through the Criminal Alien Program, have been returned to Tamaulipas in concentrated numbers despite its violent reputation. The processes of criminalization have led to a system that prioritizes punishment for migrants, meaning that we cannot extricate experiences that occur after removal from enforcement measures that create those situations. These practices are directly connected to the current wave of policies aimed at stopping asylum seekers, including “metering,” where people are made to wait at the border to apply for asylum at the port of entry, and the Remain in Mexico program (otherwise known as the Migrant Protection Protocols). We argue that enforcement is more complex than “prevention through deterrence” narratives and exposure to nonstate violence in Mexico has slowly become a more integral part of enforcement plans.

Annals of the American Association of Geographers, 2020

By Jose Miguel Pinto dos Santos

Homicide : forced and violent opening of a vacancy that cannot be filled—we are all irreplaceable, even Mr. Costa; the act of a man killing another man; includes suicide, regicide, presidentialicide, politicide, parricide, ministicide, matricide, infanticide (which includes feticide or induced abortion), fratricide and euthanasia; in the past, in white heteropatriarchal societies where gender discrimination was practiced, the act of a man killing another woman was distinguished from feminicide; although fratricide is generally considered a category within homicide, there are those who defend the opposite opinion, such as Father Mário Centavo, in his Opera Omnia , vol. 49, p. 444, “all homicide is fratricide”; Like everything that is irreversible, homicide is a sunk cost and all the bureaucracy that follows it, established in the Penal and Criminal Procedure Codes, is for the exclusive benefit, income and employment of the legal professions; homicide was formerly considered a crime and severely punished in white heteropatriarchal societies, but it has gradually, and in phases (the famous ramp ), been liberalized and deregulated in our country within the scope of the profound structural reforms underway carried out by the government party in an effort to make our society more just, advanced, compassionate and humane under the progressive & galvanizing motto “liberalize crime, criminalize weapons”; a recent leak of information, which went unnoticed in the national press, revealed that a reform of the Penal Code is being planned in which, within the scope of the ongoing deregulation, a new classification of homicide into three categories is proposed: criminal, justifiable and commendable; Generally well-informed sources added that it is expected that, in the near future, homicide will only be punishable when committed against members of the PSD, and that anything committed by them will always be commendable. A proposal to transfer homicide from the scope of criminal law to civil law has been shelved for now.

Observador - Jun 10, 2022

By Ralph Rashleigh

The memoir has been edited from its original Victorian novel style to a more direct and vivid narrative. Ralph Rashleigh, a pseudonym, was a London apprentice who turned to crime, leading to his transportation to Australia. Rashleigh endured brutal treatment in the Australian penal system, reflecting the harsh and often sadistic practices of the time. The memoir provides a vivid account of the penal system and criminal law in the early 19th century, highlighting its brutality and inefficacy.

I929 BY JONATHAN CAPE AND HARRISON SMITH INCORPORATED

By C.M. Macinnes

The document provides a detailed history of England’s involvement in the slave trade, focusing on the pre-Emancipation period. It covers various aspects such as the rise of the slave trade, the organization and purchase of slaves, the Middle Passage, and the abolition movement. The book is based on unpublished materials and rare books from the 18th and early 19th centuries. The author expresses gratitude to several individuals and institutions for their assistance in the research and publication of the book.

J. W. ARROWSMITH LTD, 1934

By: Sarah J. Eckman and Karen L. Shanton

Federal law prohibits certain types of intimidation of or interference with election workers, including intimidation to discourage serving as a poll watcher or election official or in response to such service; interference by members of the Armed Forces with election officials' exercise of their duties; and intimidation for helping voters register or cast a vote. Many states have laws that address other threats to election workers, such as through privacy protections for election commissioners. More general laws, such as prohibitions against voter intimidation or harassing or threatening interstate communications, might also apply to some conduct. Some state and local officials have responded to recent reports of threats to election workers with administrative action or legislative proposals. Election officials have included local law enforcement in poll worker trainings, for example, and implemented new security measures in their offices. State legislators have established new prohibitions or protections, such as a New Hampshire law that prohibits intimidating election officials to interfere with their work and an Oregon law that extends existing privacy protections to election workers.

Library of Congress, Sep 9, 2024

The Australian Human Rights Commission

The treatment of children in the criminal justice system, some as young as 10 years old, is one of the most urgent human rights issues facing Australia today. Numerous inquiries and reviews, including Royal Commissions, as well as UN Committees, have highlighted serious breaches of rights and systemic problems with our child justice and related systems over many years. However, Australia continually fails to implement evidence-based reforms to our child justice systems which would reduce offending behaviour and make our communities safer. This report investigates opportunities for reform of child justice and related systems across Australia, based on evidence and the protection of human rights. It is the result of a project undertaken by the National Children’s Commissioner (NCC) in 2023–24. The project included a submissions process, consultations with children and young people, families, community members, and interviews and roundtables with government and non government stakeholders across Australia.

Canberra: The Australian Human Rights Commission, 2024. 195p.

By Jesuit Refugee Service Europe

By definition, things that occur in detention occur behind walls, and in a context where those detained have been disempowered. Scrutiny and transparency are therefore often elusive, and access to justice to which people are legally entitled may be denied altogether or made more difficult. This situation is compounded because people are often detained under immigration powers at borders, or when facing removal—in contexts of limbo, where normal justice procedures are easier to circumvent.

Against this background, this report looks into if and how detained migrants can effectively access justice in Europe today. This is a particularly relevant topic, as this work comes at a moment in which the use of detention upon arrival at external borders is likely to increase, as a result of the adoption of the EU Pact on Asylum and Migration. Because of the complexity of immigration procedures in Europe, effective access to justice cannot be properly assessed without considering if migrants—in this case detainees—have effective access to legal assistance. For this reason, a chapter of this report is dedicated to access to legal aid. We further looked into how effectively detainees can access remedies against their detention and return orders. Another chapter explores the existence and effectiveness of complaint mechanisms for detainees to address violations of rights that happen in detention. Finally, we looked into the possibility for migrants to apply for international protection while in detention.

This work is based on the experience of JRS visiting people in detention centres across Europe. JRS opposes the use of administrative detention as a practice that is inherently harmful to human dignity and has a negative impact on both physical and mental health. As long as detention is a reality, however, JRS staff and volunteers work to accompany detained migrants and advocate for the respect of their rights and for humane detention conditions.

Brussels, Belfium, JRSEurope, 2024. 69p.

By The International Organization for Migration (IOM)

This toolkit builds on the outcomes of two international exchanges on access to justice for migrant workers and victims of trafficking for labour exploitation and on an additional round of internal consultations, consolidated with IOM best practices and additional research inputs. Various relevant stakeholders from different European countries participated in the workshop, including law enforcement authorities, prosecutors, labour inspectors, trade union representatives, international organizations and civil society organizations, among others.

Produced under the framework of the MiRAC-funded project Enhancing IOM’s Protection Capacity in the EEA+ Region to Protect the Rights of Migrants Subject to Labour Exploitation, this document serves as a practical guidance tool for addressing the needs of migrant workers and victims of trafficking for labour exploitation in the European Union, as well as in Iceland, Norway, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. It was specifically developed to support national authorities, in particular, relevant labour, immigration, prosecution and counter-trafficking agencies, as well as other relevant stakeholders, such as civil society organizations and trade unions, to provide the tools needed to effectively support and empower migrant workers and victims of trafficking for labour exploitation.

Brussels: International Organization for Migration, 2023. 124p.

By Paul Butcher, Alberto-Horst Neidhardt

Migration remains a salient political issue and a major topic of disinformation. Lies and half-truths about migrants spread freely across the EU. But the narratives and themes used by disinformation actors are not static. As events develop and public concerns shift, so do the types of stories pushed by those seeking to mislead. For example, the COVID-19 pandemic has led to a growing stream of articles linking migrants to infection risks and accusing them of receiving preferential treatment. Disinformation actors have certain advantages over other communicators, as they can promote simplistic or one-sided depictions of migration without regard for truth or accuracy. Rather than seeking to counteract specific claims, such as through fact-checking or counternarratives, communicators and policymakers should instead promote alternative narratives that can undermine the appeal of hostile frames and create ‘herd immunity’ against disinformation. Alternative narratives should especially target those in the ‘movable middle’ who are most open to changing their views, especially as these groups may also be more liable to being influenced by disinformation. This Issue Paper examines nearly 1,500 news articles from four EU member states (Germany, Italy, Spain and the Czech Republic) published between May 2019 and July 2020. It shows that disinformation narratives about migration seek to exploit readers’ fears to polarise public opinion, manufacture discontent, sow divisions and set the political agenda. Disinformation actors link migration to existing insecurities, depicting it as a threat to three partly-overlapping areas: Health (migrants as violent criminals, potential terrorists, or a COVID-19 infection risk); Wealth (migrants as social benefits cheats, unfair competition for jobs, or a drain on community resources); Identity (migrants as a hostile invasion force, a threat to European or Christian traditions, or the subject of a conspiracy to replace white Europeans). An effective communication strategy based on alternative narratives should take account of the following recommendations: The message should aim to reframe the debate. It should resonate with the target audience’s lived experience, acknowledging their values and concerns, but avoid amplifying anxieties. Messages promoting alternative narratives must be timely and reflect the news cycle. Like a vaccine administered at regular intervals, communicators should repeat simple, specific messages that can prompt the best immune response against hostile frames spread by disinformation. The medium should aim to restore trust among groups. Institutions, which are often subject to discrediting campaigns, should prioritise communication through trusted intermediaries who can get messages to the hard-to-reach. They should work in partnership with civil society and local actors to deliver coordinated messages in the right environments. They should seek to reach people ‘where they are’ using the most appropriate communication channel, taking into consideration where their audience consumes information. The selection of the audience should aim to reclaim readers from the fringes. Audiences should be targeted based on their values and what they feel is important. To gain a first hearing, communicators should find an ‘entry point’ where the messenger and audience share common ground. All communicators seeking to promote a more balanced debate should aim to develop messages that can support a single overarching meta-narrative: for example, that migration is a normal phenomenon that can bring benefits to European societies if managed effectively and in full respect of fundamental human rights. More effective communication strategies can help to undermine threat-based discourses about migration. But such narrative strategies must also be backed up by policy changes. Effective policies combined with alternative narratives will go a long way towards resolving the concerns that drive disinformation on migration. A more balanced debate will, in turn, facilitate the adoption of meaningful reforms in line with EU fundamental values and human rights, thus creating a mutually reinforcing cycle of alternative narratives and policymaking

Brussels, Belgium: Foundation for European Progressive Studies (FEPS). 2020. 52p.

By Nina Siulc and Noelle Smart

The use of civil immigration detention has expanded exponentially over the past few decades, with a record high of more than half a million people detained in fiscal year 2019. The widespread use of civil detention—at a cost to taxpayers of billions of dollars annually—is often justified by the government as being necessary to ensure that immigrants continue to appear for their court hearings. Yet there is irrefutable evidence that over the past two decades the majority of immigrants—including adults, families, and children—have shown up for immigration court hearings. In fact, those who attend court outside detention on what are known as “non-detained” dockets almost always continue to appear for their hearings when they are able to secure legal representation, calling into question the logic of confining people in costly and inhumane prison-like conditions when representation is clearly a viable alternative to ensure continued court appearances. This fact sheet reviews evidence from the Vera Institute of Justice’s (Vera’s) programs and related studies as well as government data analyzed by independent researchers to help unpack what is known about appearances in immigration court and, alternately, orders of removal in absentia, which are issued when a person does not appear in court.

Non-detained immigrants with representation almost always continue to appear in court

Data from Vera’s programs and other studies shows that most immigrants released from custody continue to appear in court when represented by counsel.

• During the first three years of Vera’s Safety and Fairness for Everyone (SAFE) Initiative, which provides free representation through a universal access model in 21 jurisdictions across the country, 98 percent of clients released from custody have continued to appear for their scheduled court hearings.

• Similarly, Vera’s evaluation of the New York Immigrant Family Unity Project (NYIFUP) found that at the time of the study fewer than 2 percent of clients released on bond had received orders of removal in absentia for failing to appear in court.

• These high appearance rates are supported by findings in an in-depth study of orders of removal in absentia published in March 2020 by Eagly and Shafer, who observed that, “those who obtained lawyers also almost always came to court: 96 percent attended all court hearings in pending and completed non-detained cases since 2008.”

• An earlier study by Eagly and Shafer also found high appearance rates among immigrants released on bond nationwide from 2007 to 2012: among immigrants with completed cases, only 7 percent of those with representation received orders of removal in absentia.

• The Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP) or “remain in Mexico” program has made it nearly impossible for many asylum seekers to attend court. Yet even among this program rife with due process challenges, 95 percent of immigrants with representation have continued to appear for all their hearings. In short, representation continues to be associated with high rates of appearance in immigration court.

New York: Vera Institute of Justice, 2020. 5p.

By The Vera Institute of Justice

We need a federally funded universal legal defense service for immigrants — one that is deliberately modeled on the criminal federal defender system, which, while not perfect, is generally regarded as more successfully realizing the values of high-quality, appropriately funded representation than its state counterparts. This service should provide universal, zealous, and person-centered legal defense to all immigrants in any immigration proceedings. The Vera Institute of Justice (Vera) makes this recommendation based on years of experience building and managing national immigrant legal defense programs. A federal defender service built on these core values is effective and achievable, and it would help ensure that the lives, liberty, and community health of immigrants are given full and equal protection under the law, regardless of status. There is an urgent need for a federal defender service for immigrants because most immigrants are unrepresented, and the stakes in immigration proceedings are so high. Deportation can result in physical exile from home, separation from family, loss of income, and even forcible return to conditions of persecution, violence, torture, or death in a person’s country of origin. But immigrants are not entitled to publicly funded counsel in these proceedings. Currently, there are 1.25 million pending cases in the immigration court system, and people in more than 500,000 of those lack legal representation. The lack of representation is particularly staggering for people subjected to immigration detention, where over the past five years, 70 percent have had no counsel. The stakes in immigration proceedings are extraordinary: the U.S. Supreme Court has described them as no less than “both property and life, or of all that makes life worth living.”

New York: Vera Institute of Justice, 2021. 4p.

Edited by Anson Shupe, William A. Stacey, and Susan E. Darnell

Child-molesting priests, embezzled church treasures, philandering ministers and rabbis, even church-endorsed pyramid schemes that defraud gullible parishioners of millions of dollars: for the past decade, clergy misconduct has seemed continually to be in the news. Is there something about religious organizations that fosters such misbehavior? Bad Pastors presents a range of new perspectives and solidly grounded data on pastoral abuse, investigating sexual misconduct, financial improprieties, and political and personal abuse of authority. Rather than focusing on individuals who misbehave, the volume investigates whether the foundation for clergy malfeasance is inherent in religious organizations themselves, stemming from hierarchies of power in which trusted leaders have the ability to define reality, control behavior, and even offer or withhold the promise of immortality. Arguing that such phenomena arise out of organizational structures, the contributors do not focus on one particular religion, but rather treat these incidents from an interfaith perspective. Bad Pastors moves beyond individual case studies to consider a broad range of issues surrounding clergy misconduct, from violence against women to the role of charisma and abuse of power in new religious movements. Highlighting similarities between other forms of abuse, such as domestic violence, the volume helps us to conceptualize and understand clergy misconduct in new ways.

New York; London: NYU Press, 2000. 269p.

By Sylvia Walby and Karen A. Shire

The book offers a theory of trafficking and modern slavery with implications for policy through an analysis of evidence, data, and law. Despite economic development, modern slavery persists all around the world. The book challenges the current fragmentation of theory and develops a synthesis of the root causes of trafficking chains. Trafficking concerns not only situations of vulnerability but their exploitation is driven by profit-taking. The policy solution is not merely to treat the issue as one of crime but also concerns the regulation of the economy, better welfare, and social protection. Although data is incomplete, methods are improving to indicate its scale and distribution. Traditional assumptions of nation-state sovereignty are challenged by the significance of international law historically. Going beyond the polarization of the debates on sexual exploitation in the sex trade, the book offers an original empirical analysis that shows the importance of a focus on profit-taking. Although individual experience matters, the root causes of trafficking/modern slavery lie in intersecting regimes of inequality of gender regimes, capitalism, and the legacies of colonialism. The book shows the importance of coercion and theorizing society as a complex system.

Bristol, UK: Bristol University Press, 2024. 

By Physicians for Human Rights

Survivor-centered, trauma-informed, and rigorous medico-legal documentation is essential to offer survivors a pathway to justice, with standardized forensic medical evaluations playing a key role in documenting and corroborating accounts of sexual violence and torture. To support Ukrainian government officials, civil society, and international partners in building systems to support survivors, Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) assessed the medico-legal documentation pathway in Ukraine to identify opportunities to strengthen systems to center survivors’ well-being, autonomy, and access to remedies.

Physicians for Human Rights assessed the medico-legal documentation pathway in Ukraine to identify opportunities to strengthen systems to center survivors’ well-being, autonomy, and access to remedies.

Building on the numerous efforts by Ukrainian authorities and their partners to address challenges to medico-legal documentation, this policy brief outlines current obstacles that impede justice and healing for survivors and sets forth actionable opportunities for the Ukrainian government and other stakeholders for reform. The recommendations put forward in the brief emphasize the need to expand the pool of qualified professionals authorized to conduct forensic medical evaluations in cases of conflict-related sexual violence and torture. They also call for legislative reforms to empower survivors in the justice process, the development of standardized medico-legal documentation tools, and the implementation of capacity-building initiatives to ensure trauma-informed, survivor-centered approaches. Together, these efforts can transform the experience of survivors as they seek remedy and reparation and ultimately facilitate greater accountability and healing.

New York: Physicians for Human Rights, 2024. 10p.

By Magdalena Moorthy Kloss

This first detailed study of slavery in medieval Yemen examines the lives of women and men who were enslaved as children and then placed in various subaltern positions - from domestic servant to royal concubine, from quarryman to army commander.

Leiden; Boston: Brill, 2024.