By Human Rights Watch

The 98-page report, “‘They’re Ruining People’s Lives’: Bans on Gender-Affirming Care for Transgender Youth in the US,” documents the devastating consequences of these bans for transgender youth, including increased anxiety, depression, and, in seven reported instances, suicide attempts. Human Rights Watch found that these laws contribute to an increasingly hostile, anti-trans climate, compelling youth to hide their identities and socially withdraw. The bans also destabilize health care systems and undermine civil society and create geographic and financial challenges in accessing care. The impact has intensified since early 2025, when the administration of President Donald Trump took a series of executive actions escalating federal attacks on transgender rights.

Human Rights Watch, June 3, 2025, p. 98

By Human Rights Watch

The 39-page report, “Injustice By Design: Need for Comprehensive Justice Reform in Libya,” documents how outdated and repressive legislation, lack of fair trial rights, and rampant due process violations urgently need reform. Unsafe conditions for judicial staff, abusive military trials of civilians, and inhumane conditions in prisons compound abuses and entrench impunity.

Human Rights Watch, June 2, 2025, p. 39

By Human Rights Watch

The 93-page report, “Hunted From Above: Russia’s Use of Drones to Attack Civilians in Kherson, Ukraine” and an accompanying web feature, document how Russian forces appear to be deliberately or recklessly carrying out drone strikes against civilians and civilian objects with these mostly inexpensive commercially available drones. The attacks spread terror among the civilian population and cause them to fear leaving their homes, and have caused the depopulation of the two areas being targeted in Kherson.

Human Rights Watch, June 3, 2025, p. 93

By Hamutal Bernstein  , Dulce Gonzalez, and Diana Guelespe

To understand the experiences of immigrant families in the wake of the 2024 election, we report December 2024 results from the Urban Institute’s Well-Being and Basic Needs Survey, a nationally representative survey of adults ages 18 to 64. Data were collected prior to the 2025 administration taking office and its initial immigration policy changes and expanded enforcement efforts, which have likely heightened concerns.

Why this matters

The new federal administration has aggressively prioritized immigration enforcement, including recission of guidance limiting enforcement in “sensitive locations” (also known as “protected areas,”), such as schools, places of worship, and health care settings.

Targeting immigrant communities with threats of widespread enforcement will have a variety of impacts for the well-being and safety of immigrant families and the broader communities where they live. Fear of or exposure to immigration enforcement harms adults and children with detrimental psychological impacts, reductions in access to needed health and nutrition services, and adverse health and educational outcomes. Immigration enforcement is likely to have spillover effects on the broader community and contribute to “chilling effects” on participation in public life, whereby immigrant families avoid interactions with health care or social services, police, schools, or other community spaces where they perceive risk of detection and potential exposure to immigration enforcement. Children stand to be particularly affected. As immigration policies continue to shift, it will be crucial to track reactions and impacts on immigrant families’ health and well-being, as well as the spillover effects on their communities, to inform efforts to minimize short- and long-term harms.

What we found

Essential activities. Twenty-nine percent of adults in all immigrant families and 60 percent in mixed-status families worried “a lot” or “some” about participating in essential activities in their communities because they did not want to draw attention to their or a family member’s immigration status.

• Seventeen percent of adults in all immigrant families with children and 32 percent in mixed-status families with children worried “a lot” or “some” about sending their kids to school or daycare.

• Thirteen percent of adults in all immigrant families and roughly 30 percent in mixed-status families worried “a lot” or “some” about visiting a doctor’s office or health clinic, or hospital.

• Eleven percent of adults in all immigrant families and over 22 percent in mixed-status families worried “a lot” or “some” about attending religious services or community events.

• Nineteen percent of adults in all immigrant families and 44 percent in mixed-status families, worried “a lot” or “some” about driving a car.

• Sixteen percent of adults in all immigrant families and 38 percent in mixed-status families, worried “a lot” or “some” about going to work.

• Twenty percent of adults in all immigrant families and 44 percent in mixed-status families worried “a lot” or “some” about talking to the police.

Deportation concerns. Thirty-two percent of adults in all immigrant families worried “a lot” or “some” that they, a family member, or a close friend could be deported. In mixed-status families, this was 58 percent.

Protective actions. Nineteen percent of adults in all immigrant families and 38 percent in mixed-status families reported taking protective steps to prepare for a potential change in their or a family member’s immigration status.

• Among adults who reported worry about deportation, nearly half (48 percent) had taken one or more protective steps.

• Ten percent of adults in all immigrant families and 22 percent in mixed-status families reported setting up a plan in case a family member gets detained or deported.

• Eleven percent of adults in all immigrant families and 27 percent in mixed-status families reported seeking legal advice to prepare for a potential change in immigration status.

• Twelve percent of adults in all immigrant families and 18 percent in mixed-status families reported renewing their or a family member’s immigration status or applying for another status or citizenship.

How we did it

We used the Urban Institute’s 2024 Well-Being and Basic Needs Survey, a nationally representative survey of adults ages 18 to 64 designed to monitor changes in individual and family well-being as policymakers consider changes to federal safety net programs. We focus on adults in immigrant families in the sample and report on their concern about drawing attention to immigration status when doing essential activities, worry about deportation, and preparation for potential changes to immigration status

Washington, DC: The Urban Institute, 2025. 

Washington, DC: The Urban Institute, 2025. 20p.

By  Ivy Hammond, , Wendy Wiegmann, Joseph Magruder, Daniel Webster, Bridgette Lery, Sarah Benatar, Jaclyn Chambers, Laura Packard Tucker, Katrina Brewsaugh, Annelise Loveless,  and Jonah Norwitt  

In 2014, California’s Senate Bill (S. B.) 855 created the state’s Opt-In Commercially Sexually Exploited Child (CSEC) Program, which gives participating county child welfare agencies guidance and funding to prevent and intervene on behalf of children who are or at risk of experiencing CSE. Nearly a decade later, with most counties having opted into the program, California is well positioned to evaluate this policy’s implementation and the extent to which the legislation may be influencing desired outcomes for young people. This report contains key findings, promising practices, and recommendations from our evaluation of the state’s CSEC program.

Why This Matters

The commercial sexual exploitation (CSE) of children and young people is a human rights concern and a public health challenge. CSE refers broadly to any activity or crime that involves the sexual abuse and exploitation of a child for monetary or nonmonetary benefit. Over a six-year period, California’s child protection system received roughly 70,000 maltreatment reports alleging CSEC. About a quarter of these reports were substantiated, meaning there was enough evidence to conclude that CSE of a child likely occurred. Research suggests that CSE during childhood can have serious consequences for its survivors, including exposure to violence and other traumatic events, mental health disorders, reproductive health complications, and internalized coping behaviors.

Key Takeaways

• Implementing S. B. 855 has fostered strong interagency collaboration and communication. Interagency collaboration has improved following S. B. 855, and those we spoke with reported positive relationships among agencies engaged in the county’s CSEC response. However, counties would benefit from greater intercounty service coordination.

• Staff and placement shortages exacerbate CSE service challenges. Staff turnover reduces trust between children, families, and county agencies; fragments ongoing training efforts; and chips away at institutional knowledge about CSE. The shortage of placements appropriate for young people experiencing or at risk of CSE came up repeatedly in interviews.

• B. 855 gave child welfare agencies responsibility for caring for this population, but many feel they have inadequate tools to be successful and sometimes feel undermined by other agency priorities. Child welfare staff bear the primary responsibility for the safety and care of these children but expressed concern that their mandates sometimes conflict with other stakeholders. The lack of a shared agenda can undermine interagency collaboration.

• It is challenging to serve young people experiencing CSE who are not formally involved with the child welfare system. Many counties did not have a clear process for serving young people who do not have an open child welfare case, nor a clear understanding of roles and responsibilities for which agency has oversight for these young people.

• The majority of CSE reports are screened in for investigation, but a minority of those investigated are substantiated. Nearly two-thirds of the 70,334 CSE reports made between July 1, 2015, and June 30, 2022, in opted-in counties were screened in for investigation. Among those, one in five were deemed inconclusive and nearly one in four reports were substantiated.

• A minority of young people were in child welfare cases or placements at the time CSE concerns were identified. Among young people with confirmed CSE, 4 percent had some placement history but were not in care when CSE concerns were documented, more than one in nine were in a placement, and nearly 3 percent were absent from placement.

Promising practices

• Assign and consolidate CSE cases to specific frontline workers rather than distributing them throughout the workforce.

• Implement 24/7 dual responses from child welfare and CSE advocates (voluntary nonprofit) when going out for CSE investigations.

• On-staff clinicians and staff dedicated to recovering missing young people may improve county efforts.

• Partnering with outside organizations can be effective in connecting at-risk young people who are not child welfare involved.

• Weighting CSE cases more heavily when calculating caseloads acknowledges that they are more intensive and may protect against burnout.

• Use a trauma-informed court specifically designated to hear CSE cases.

How We Did It

Our evaluation approach for California’s CSEC program consists of two main components: an implementation study and an outcome study.

The implementation study focused on opportunities for continuous quality improvement and cross-system collaboration. We gathered data from annual county program plans and a CSEC program administrator survey. We also conducted key informant interviews with agency and provider staff and focus groups with adults who experienced CSE as minors in a subset of 12 counties.

In the outcome study, we examined child welfare system involvement for young people after S. B. 855’s implementation. We analyzed information recorded in the statewide administrative database to describe the child welfare system experiences of 38,168 young people who met California’s definition of CSEC or were identified as being at heightened risk of experiencing CSE. We studied the identification of CSE, documentation practices, revictimiz

Washington DC: The Urban Institute, 2023. 97p.

By Blandine Mollard, Julia Ochmann, Davide Barbieri andJolanta Reingardė

This report developed by the research and statistics team of EIGE presents evidence on coercive control and psychological violence against women in EU Member States.

The study analyses the causes and consequences of coercive control and psychological violence against women, assesses the criminalisation of psychological violence and coercive control in EU Member States and identifies and analyses promising practices and the main hurdles in preventing coercive control and psychological violence against women in EU Member States.

Coercive control and psychological violence against women instil fear and insecurity in women's lives and undermine their well-being and dignity. In many cases, violence against women and girls occurs in the family, where violence is often tolerated, goes unreported and is difficult to detect. Even when such violence is reported, there is often a failure to protect victims or punish perpetrators.

The overall objective of this study is to strengthen the institutional capacity to combat coercive control and psychological violence against women in EU Member States.

The specific objectives of the study are to:

analyse the causes and consequences of coercive control and psychological violence against women;

assess the criminalisation of psychological violence and coercive control in EU Member States;

identify and analyse promising practices and the main hurdles in preventing coercive control and psychological violence against women in EU Member States.

This work will serve as a key addition to the European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE)'s evidence base for a better understanding of gender-based violence, and will directly inform EIGE's support for the French Presidency of the Council of the European Union to ensure ongoing implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (BPfA; UN Women, 1995). More broadly, this research will contribute to the EU's strategic priority to end gender-based violence in all its forms, as enshrined in the EU gender equality strategy.

Vilnius LITHUANIA : European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE), 2022. 170p.

By Elisabeth Duban,

The OSCE participating States have agreed to several commitments that specifically mandate the Organization’s structures to assist participating States with developing programmes aimed at preventing all forms of gender-based violence, as outlined in the 2004 Action Plan for the Promotion of Gender Equality, and OSCE Ministerial Council decisions from 2005, 2014 and 2018 which emphasize the importance of collecting and disseminating reliable, disaggregated data on violence against women, alongside efforts to criminalize gender-based violence. Femicide, the gender-related killing of women and girls, is a global phenomenon and represents the most extreme manifestation of violence against women. This report aims to assess the response to femicide across the 57 OSCE participating States, focusing on three key areas: the criminal justice response, the collection of comparable data, and the reporting and analysis of femicide.

Prague: The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), 2025. 50p.

By Kate van Doore

This publication seeks to shed light on the role of OSCE participating States in combating orphanage trafficking—a pressing yet overlooked form of child trafficking. It highlights the pathways through which children are trafficked into institutions, analyses both the demand and supply side that fuels orphanage trafficking, examines the policies that perpetuate the institutionalization of children, and showcases best practices for reducing the exploitation and abuse fuelled by the orphanage industry.

Prague: The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), 2025. 61p.

By Marija Risteska and. Ljupka Trajanovska

This analytical report presents findings from the conducted comparative analysis of the existing national legislation, international legal framework and semi-structured interviews and focus groups. Recommendations contained in this report pertain to regulation of sexual extortion as a form of corruption in the Criminal Code, Law on Prevention of Corruption and Conflict of Interests and in the Law on Prevention and Protection of Women from Violence and Domestic Violence. Incrimination of sexual extortion in the national legislation would make North Macedonia among the few countries in the OSCE region to have legislatively recognized and institutionalized gendered forms of corruption, leading to reducing its impact on women.

Prague: Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, 2021. 60p.

By Hazel Feigenblatt

Sexual extortion or “sextortion” occurs when those entrusted with power use it to sexually exploit those dependent on that power. It is a gendered form of corruption that occurs in both developed and developing countries, affecting children and adults, vulnerable individuals (such as undocumented migrants crossing borders) and established professionals. While evidence shows that women are disproportionally targeted, men, transgender and gender non-conforming people are also affected.

Sextortion has long been a silent form of corruption, hiding in plain view. Until recently, it was never discussed or recognised as a distinct phenomenon within either the corruption framework or the framework of gender-based violence. Lacking a name, sextortion remained largely invisible, and few research projects, laws or strategies were developed to address it. Barriers to reporting sextortion and obtaining effective redress further contributed to its low profile. As a result, researchers have failed to ask survivors/victims the right questions to properly understand sextortion; statistical systems lack the appropriate categories to register the few cases that go to court, and complaints have been poorly handled. The result has been that survivors/victims have largely been denied justice.

This report assesses the state of knowledge about the links between corruption and sextortion. It presents evidence on the prevalence of sextortion and the existing legal frameworks to address it, and it proposes recommendations for how to tackle it. The findings paint a disturbing picture.

Berlin: Transparency International, 2020. 48p.

By Sridhar, S., Digidiki, V., Kunichoff D., Bhabha, J., Sullivan, M., Gartland, MG.,

Between 2017 and 2021, more than 650,000 children were taken into custody at the border, with more than 220,000 of these children being detained for more than 72 hours (Flagg & Preston, 2022). International norms clearly assert that detention is never in the best interest of the child and should be used only as a measure of last resort and for the shortest possible period of time (UN General Assembly, CRC, Article 6, 2005). The rights of children in US immigration enforcement have been affirmed in a series of landmark cases resulting in the Flores Settlement Agreement, which acknowledges the unsuitability of child detention as immigration policy, and states that children should not be detained for more than 20 days (Schrag, 2020). Despite this guidance, the US continued to detain children for lengthy and arbitrary periods of time, placing them in detention facilities unsuitable for child health and safety. Furthermore, reporting and oversight from governmental and nongovernmental agencies have documented devastatingly harmful conditions for children in family immigration detention including separation from parents, the use of prison facilities inappropriate for housing children, and limited access to qualified medical professionals leading to grave physical and mental health consequences (U.S. ICE Advisory Committee, 2016; Allen & McPherson, 2023; Women’s Refugee Commission 2014; Human Rights First, 2022). Medical studies have documented long-term consequences of detention on children in the US and around the world (MacLean, et al, 2019; Zwi, et al 2018; Tosif, et al, 2023; Kronick, Rousseau, Cleveland, 2015); however, to our knowledge there are no systematic studies describing the quality of pediatric health care based on primary medical documentation within the US family immigration detention system. In collaboration with the Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services (RAICES), the Child Health Immigration Research Team based out of the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) Asylum Clinic at the MGH Center for Global Health and the FXB Center for Health and Human Rights at Harvard University, analyzed the medical records of 165 children, between 6 months and 18 years old, detained at Karnes County Family Residential Center (KCFRC) between June 2018 and October 2020. Medical records were collected with the permission of parents by the Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services (RAICES) Family Detention Team to investigate the provision of medical care for detained children, and analyzed in a de-identified form by the Child Health Immigration Research Team. Broadly, we found that existing health issues and care needs relating to physical and mental health were under-identified due to poor screening and minimal documentation of medical care, resulting in fragmentated and inadequate medical care. During prolonged detention the children in the study had limited access to basic healthcare, including key screenings and management of acute medical and mental health issues. KEY FINDINGS 1. The median length of detention was 43 days and 88 percent of children remained in detention for longer than 20 days, in violation of the terms of the Flores Settlement Agreement. 2. A total of 12 languages were documented, among them Haitian Creole, K’iche and Romanian. There was minimal documentation of interpreter use. 3. 4.3 percent of children exhibited moderate or severe wasting, 11.7 percent of children were “at risk of malnutrition,” 22.6 percent exhibited stunting, and 5.5 percent severe stunting. Despite this evidence, none of the children’s medical records documented the risk of malnutrition, nor was there any indication that measures were taken to enhance the children’s diet. 4. Although heights and weights of all children were obtained, there was no analysis or identification of nutritional status by the medical providers in the detention center based on the collected data. 5. The screening tool used to identify mental health needs did not follow a validated tool and did not consider the age of the child. Only 1% of the cohort was identified as at risk for a mental health disorder; a gross underestimation based on existing data. 6. There appeared to be a preponderance of providers practicing outside of their scope. There was a lack of pediatric-specific medical knowledge, evident in many medical records and inadequate documentation of medical reasoning. 7. There was inadequate follow up identified in the documentation of children with chronic illness and a poorly outlined referral process for children after leaving detention. 8. Though 100 percent of the children were screened for tuberculosis upon arrival, they were all screened with the use of chest x-ray, contrary to the 2020 ICE’s Family Residential Standards (FRS) and Center for Disease Control (CDC) guidance. Children with chest x-ray findings suggesting latent tuberculosis were not referred for further testing. 9. Vaccination data was often not recorded or was illegible if recorded, making it difficult to assess influenza vaccination. Furthermore, there was little influenza testing identified in children with fevers, which is concerning for underidentification of a highly contagious condition. 10. There was an overall inadequacy of the documentation of clinical reasoning which can lead to inadequate care in a fragmented health system, such as that in a detention facility. Conclusions Our study documents the mental and physical harm experienced by children in immigration detention at Karnes County Family Residential Center during prolonged detention relating to inadequate and inappropriate medical care. Our findings spanned a broad range of areas including the documentation of interpreter use, supervision, documentation, and delivery of acute medical care, assessment of nutritional and vaccination status, screening protocols for mental distress, and the identification of chronic medical conditions. The evidence of this study supports a conclusion that has been asserted by numerous civil society and medical organizations including the American Academy of Pediatrics (Linton, Griffin and Shapiro, 2017): there is no humane way to detain children and no version of family detention that is acceptable. While data in this study are drawn from only one US family immigration detention center and the sample size is limited, this report presents compelling evidence to support calls to end the practice of detaining children and families. Recognizing the decades long history of family detention in the US and the likelihood based on current policy discussion that the detention of children will occur into the foreseeable future, the report includes policy recommendations on the standard of medical care needed to meet the basic human rights of children in detention. These recommendations are anchored in ICE guidelines for medical treatment, the Family Residential Standards, as well as national and global medical organizations, such as the American Academy of Pediatrics, Centers for Disease Control and the World Health Organization. They are also supported by the clinical experience of those caring for child migrants, which are rooted in existing international law and practice. The key actions set out in this report are applicable to all venues for detention or custody of children within the immigration system. It should be noted that these recommendations do not negate the only reasonable conclusion based on our findings, that the detention of migrant children is harmful in any form and must be abolished.

Cambridge, MA: Harvard Global Health Institute, 2024. 64p.

By Sandra V Rozo, Guy Grossman

Forced displacement has reached unprecedented levels, with over 120 million individuals displaced globally as of 2024 due to conflict, violence, climate change, and human rights violations. These crises are increasingly protracted, characterised by low return rates, and increasingly demand a shift from hosting models solely funded through humanitarian aid to financially sustainable, medium- to long-term strategies. This VoxDevLit synthesises quantitative research conducted between 2010 and 2024, focusing on studies that use experimental or quasi-experimental methods to examine (1) the impacts of forced displacement on host communities and (2) the effectiveness of policies designed to support both forcibly displaced populations and their hosts. Key insights from this body of work indicate that forced displacement inflows generally exert neutral effects on native employment and wages, although vulnerable native workers—particularly those in the informal sector—may initially face challenges. Investments in inclusive social protection services that benefit both displaced populations and host communities can alleviate pressures and foster social cohesion. Additionally, cash transfers enhance immediate wellbeing and are most effective in the medium run when paired with initiatives that promote the economic self-reliance of forcibly displaced populations. Granting refugees the right to work has demonstrated transformative impacts on economic and well-being outcomes, while also providing a financially sustainable solution for hosting refugees over the medium to long term. Finally, addressing the mental health challenges faced by forcibly displaced populations is critical to enable them to recover their lives. This review underscores the importance of transitioning from humanitarian aid to self-reliance models, closing policy implementation gaps, and tailoring interventions to local contexts.

VoxDevLit, 14(1), March 2025. 38p.

By Ana Arjona

Violence has profound effects on individuals, communities, and countries. It affects mental health, child development, education outcomes, political participation, and social relations. It transforms formal and informal institutions, the quality of governance, public goods provision, and democracy. Yet, these effects do not impact all people equally: gender, race, ethnicity, class, age, and geographic location can determine people’s risk of being a victim as well as how severe the consequences are that they will endure. When violence systematically affects the most disadvantaged and vulnerable populations, it can reinforce and amplify inequality. Surprisingly, the causal effect of violence on inequality has received scant attention. This background paper hopes to lay the foundations for a research agenda on the effects of violence on inequality in human development in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC)—the most violent and most unequal region in the world. By connecting various literatures on the dynamics of violence in LAC with different bodies of work on the effects of violence on individual and collective outcomes, the paper discusses several channels by which violence can perpetuate and amplify various types of inequalities.

Background Paper for the United Nations Development Programme 2021

UNDP LAC Working Paper No. 12

United Nations Development Program, 2021. 58p.

By Sara Lowes and Eduardo Montero

All colonial powers granted concessions to private companies to extract natural resources during the colonial era. Within Africa, these concessions were characterized by indirect rule and violence. We use the arbitrarily defined borders of rubber concessions granted in the north of the Congo Free State to examine the causal effects of this form of economic organization on development. We find that historical exposure to the concessions causes significantly worse education, wealth, and health outcomes. To examine mechanisms, we collect survey and experimental data from individuals near a former concession boundary. We find that village chiefs inside the former concessions provide fewer public goods, are less likely to be elected, and are more likely to be hereditary. However, individuals within the concessions are more trusting, more cohesive, and more supportive of sharing income. The results are relevant for the many places that were designated as concessions to private companies during the colonial era.

NBER Working Paper No. 27893

Cambridge, MA: National Bureau of Economic Research, 2020. 152p.

By Bruce Meyer, Angela Wyse, and Douglas Williams

Data from the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) indicate an unprecedented 43 percent increase in the number of people residing in homeless shelters in the United States between 2022 and 2024, reversing the gradual decline over the preceding sixteen years. Threequarters of this rise was concentrated in four localities – New York City, Chicago, Massachusetts, and Denver – where large inflows of new immigrants seeking asylum were housed in emergency shelters. Using direct estimates from local government sources and indirect methods based on demographic changes, we estimate that asylum seekers accounted for about 60 percent of the twoyear rise in sheltered homelessness during this period, challenging media and policy narratives that primarily attribute this rise to local economic conditions and housing affordability

WORKING PAPER · NO. 2025-49

Chicago: University of Chicago, The Becker Friedman Institute for Economics 2025. 21p.

By Margaret Love and David Schlussel

This report examines the extent to which state reenfranchisement laws consider payment of legal financial obligations (LFOs), including fines, fees, and restitution, in determining whether and when to restore voting rights to people disenfranchised due to a felony conviction. (Our national survey discusses and ranks each state’s general approach to loss and restoration of voting rights based on conviction.) We first published this research in July 2020 during litigation over Florida’s 2018 voting rights ballot initiative, which many expected would restore voting rights to more than a million people disenfranchised because of a felony conviction. However, the initiative was interpreted by Florida’s legislature and supreme court to condition reenfranchisement on payment of all outstanding fines, fees, costs, and restitution, which drastically limited its anticipated reach. A federal district court found this system unconstitutional, but the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit reversed that conclusion in a 6-4 decision. During the appeal, an amicus brief by the State of Texas, joined by seven other states, asserted that “States across the country have similar rules [to Florida] for felon voting” and that the district court’s holding “called into question the widespread practice” of permanently disenfranchising people who are not able to “pay their debts to society.” As we demonstrated in our original report and amicus brief, few states have laws like Florida’s that indefinitely deny re-enfranchisement based on any unpaid debt related to a disqualifying conviction. This updated report documents each state’s current treatment of unpaid LFOs in regards to voting rights, including developments in California, where voters early this month passed a constitutional amendment to restore voting rights to those on parole; and Iowa, where the governor in August issued an executive order to restore voting rights after completion of incarceration and supervision, regardless of payment of LFOs. As of this writing, in nearly half the states (21 states), LFOs have no bearing on re-enfranchisement. In most of the others (15 states), regaining the vote is tied to completion of supervision, which may give courts and supervision officials some discretion to delay re-enfranchisement if LFOs have not been paid, but not to deny it permanently. Moreover, officials in many of these “delay” states already must consider ability to pay in determining whether to extend supervision, and officials may consider it in others. In total, 10 states deny the vote to at least some people who have otherwise completed all aspects of their sentence, but still owe LFOs. Of these, only 3 states including Florida have laws mandating indefinite denial of the vote to any person with any unpaid LFOs from a disqualifying conviction, even if the person has completed all non-financial requirements of the sentence, and regardless of ability to pay. An additional 7 states indefinitely deny re-enfranchisement because of LFOs, but only in certain cases. A new Sentencing Project report estimates that 5.2 million Americans remain disenfranchised due to a felony conviction, including an estimated 900,000 Floridians who have otherwise completed their felony sentences, but still owe LFOs; the authors were not able to provide firm estimates on the number of voters disenfranchised on this basis in the other 9 states that do so. * Four states handle reenfranchisement exclusively through a discretionary exercise of constitutional clemency. The governors of 3 of these states currently exercise their clemency power on a broad basis to reenfranchise most individuals who have completed incarceration and supervision time, without regard to payment of LFOs

Washington, DC: Collateral Consequences Resource Center (CCRC)2020. 17p.

By Human Rights Watch

Following the July 2024 presidential elections, electoral authorities in Venezuela announced that Nicolas Maduro had been re-elected president, despite substantial evidence to the contrary. When people took to the streets to demand a fair counting of votes, Venezuelan authorities responded with brutal repression. At least 24 protesters and bystanders were killed and over 2,000 people were detained in connection with post-electoral protests. Punished for Seeking Change documents human rights violations committed against protesters, bystanders, opposition leaders, and critics in the post-electoral protests and the months that followed. It implicates Venezuelan authorities and pro-government armed groups, known as “colectivos,” in widespread abuses, including the killing of protesters and bystanders, enforced disappearances of opposition party members and foreign nationals, arbitrary detention and prosecution of children and others, and torture and ill-treatment of detainees. With 8 million Venezuelans abroad, the rights crisis in Venezuela remains arguably the most consequential in the Western Hemisphere. Governments should support accountability efforts for these grave human rights violations, call for the release of people arbitrarily detained, and expand access to asylum and other forms of international protection for Venezuelans fleeing repression.

New York: HRW, 2025. 109p.

By Josh Fording

This summary provides four key considerations for labor trafficking prevention programs, based on findings from previous evaluations of interventions aimed at preventing labor trafficking and other forms of exploitation in low- and middle-income countries. The four considerations are the generally limited impact of awareness-raising interventions, the importance of local context, the time frames during which interventions have an impact, and the possibility that interventions may improve social and economic well-being without measurably reducing labor trafficking.

WHY THIS MATTERS

Tens of millions of people worldwide are victims of labor trafficking, and international organizations and governments around the world invest millions of dollars in labor trafficking interventions. Yet little is known about what works to prevent this form of modern-day slavery. Our findings can aid researchers, policymakers, and service providers in designing more effective labor trafficking prevention programs.

WHAT WE FOUND

Across the evaluations we reviewed, the following four key takeaways emerged:

Interventions that impart knowledge about labor trafficking and its risk factors can be beneficial, but they often are not enough on their own to prevent trafficking.

Contextual factors are key in labor trafficking prevention and should inform program design and implementation.

Some interventions have the strongest impact in the long term, while others have short-term effects that diminish over time.

Interventions may improve important elements of social and economic well-being without leading to measurable reductions in labor trafficking during study periods.

These lessons should inform the design and implementation of future labor trafficking prevention programs.

HOW WE DID IT

We reviewed 18 outcome and impact evaluations of labor trafficking prevention programs and similar programs in low- and middle-income countries. We searched Google Scholar for evaluations of interventions aimed at preventing labor trafficking and other forms of exploitation, like child labor, as well as the most serious risk factors for labor trafficking, particularly unsafe migration. We also consulted previously published reviews of such evaluations.

Washington, DC: Urban Institute, 2025. 4p.

By Amnesty International

In this report, Amnesty International analyzes the migratory regularization measures and procedures for the recognition of refugee status implemented by Colombia, Peru, Ecuador and Chile, states that host nearly 70% of the 7.32 million Venezuelan people who have fled a complex humanitarian emergency and widespread and systematic violations of their civil and political rights in Venezuela. Based on the findings and conclusions of this investigation, Amnesty International makes a number of recommendations to the relevant authorities.

London: Amnesty International 2023. 42p.

By Tony Payan, José Iván Rodríguez-Sánchez

Irregular migration at the U.S.-Mexico border has emerged as a defining political issue in the 21st century. One challenge has been the U.S. government’s ongoing struggle to manage surges in border arrivals. Streamlining asylum processing — deporting those who do not qualify and resettling those who do — could help reduce political tensions. Migration patterns also fluctuate for reasons beyond U.S. control. Encounters at the U.S.-Mexico border reached record highs in 2023 before dropping sharply in 2024, a trend seen repeatedly over the past 15 years.

An increasing number of Americans view immigration as a long-term issue that requires stronger measures. Diverging views on immigration have contributed to deep divisions within the American electorate, with candidates advocating for stricter policies gaining support. President Donald Trump, for example, has linked irregular migration with risks to national security, public safety, and the economy. In both of his presidential campaigns, he pledged swift action on immigration, with mass deportation of undocumented migrants being a cornerstone of his second term program.

This brief explores the impacts of Trump’s immigration policy, with particular attention to the economic and social costs of large-scale deportations.

Houston, TX: Baker Institute for Public Policy, 2025. 15p.