By The Organization for Justice and Accountability in the Horn of Africa (OJAH) and Physicians for Human Rights (PHR)

The conflict in Tigray, Ethiopia started in November 2020 between the government of Ethiopia and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), with involvement from Eritrean military forces who were called into to support Ethiopian armed forces, and numerous ethno-regional militia groups notably from the Amhara and Afar regions of Ethiopia. The conflict was marked by widespread and severe forms of conflict-related sexual and reproductive violence as well as other human rights violations by all parties, some of which amount to crimes under international law.1

Following the signature of the Cessation of Hostilities Agreement (CoHA) in November 2022 by the government of Ethiopia and the TPLF, violence continued, including widespread and severe sexual and reproductive violence along ethnic-political lines across regions by military actors.2 As the conflict unfolded, both the United Nations (U.N.) and the African Union (AU) established independent investigative mechanisms to document atrocities and preserve evidence for future justice and accountability processes.3 However, both mechanisms were prematurely shuttered, without investigators even being allowed into the country, after successful lobbying by the Ethiopian government to defer to national mechanisms, including the transitional justice process outlined in the CoHA.4 The decision to shut down these investigative bodies, and with their termination, the end of any impartial investigation into violation of international law, occurred despite the assessment by the U.N. and other actors. These assessments found that the consultative process undertaken in developing the transitional justice process, as well as the implementation, does not align with AU or international transitional justice standards.5 Notably, the process also lacks a survivor-centered approach, meaningful engagement with affected communities, or mechanisms to hold all perpetrator groups accountable, in violation of key international and regional standards on credible transitional justice processes.6 More recently the lack of openness of the transitional justice process to those seeking genuine accountability has been demonstrated by the Ethiopian government’s suspension of five human rights groups.7The lack of timely and meaningful justice for crimes committed in Tigray raised the alarm that instability and further atrocities would be perpetrated in other regions of Ethiopia.

Washington, DC:  The Organization for Justice and Accountability in the Horn of Africa (OJAH) and Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) 2025. 88p,

By Han‐Wei Ho, et al.

Utilizing a comprehensive panel dataset spanning from 1900 to 2020, this study introduces an innovative methodology for the analysis and categorization of legal documents, specifically national constitutions. Contrary to the predominant reliance on unsupervised methods within the field, this research incorporates a supervised machine-learning approach, notably the SEMMS method, alongside traditional unsupervised algorithms. This dual approach facilitates a nuanced analysis of the human rights provisions contained within national constitutions, resulting in the identification of both traditional and novel constitutional groupings. Broadly speaking, the more traditional common law-civil law divide does not seem particularly relevant in this context. Furthermore, our methodology enables the examination of “switchers”—nations transitioning between groupings— thereby shedding light on critical moments of constitutional reclassification. By pinpointing the key variables that delineate these groupings and transitions, our findings not only complement previous scholarly insights but also unveil unique patterns of constitutional evolution. The implications of our research extend beyond constitutional studies, offering valuable insights and methodological advancements for the analysis of extensive legal corpora across various domains. 

Journal of Law and Empirical Analysis 2024, Vol. 1(2) 255–273 

By Human Rights Watch

In recent years, criminal groups have expanded their influence across Peru. Homicides have more than doubled since 2018, with contract killings and extortion reaching record highs. Illegal mining has increased, leading to pollution of rivers in the Amazon and driving violence against human rights defenders and Indigenous leaders. Congress in Cahoots details how Peru’s Congress has undermined judicial independence and weakened prosecutors’ ability to investigate and dismantle organized crime groups—including those responsible for environmental destruction. It also documents failures by the administration of President Dina Boluarte to respond effectively to Congress’ attacks on the rule of law and to the expanding influence of organized crime. The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) should urge Peru, currently trying to become a member of the organization, to implement meaningful reforms as a condition of membership. Peruvian authorities should uphold the rule of law, restore judicial independence, and protect civil society groups. Peruvians deserve a Congress and executive branch that work to ensure their rights, including to be safe from violence by organized crime groups.  

New York: Human Rights Watch, 2025.. 48p.

By Human Rights Watch

Over 4 million Myanmar nationals are currently in Thailand, nearly half of whom are undocumented, facing the constant threat of harassment, arrest, and deportation. Many have entered Thailand since the February 2021 military coup in Myanmar, amid surging abuses, including war crimes and crimes against humanity, by the military junta. “I’ll Never Feel Secure” examines the situation for Myanmar nationals in Thailand since the coup. While many are refugees under international law, Thailand has not recognized them as such, leaving limited ways in which they can regularize their status. Undocumented Myanmar nationals struggle to cope without legal security or permission to work and live in fear of being returned to repression, conflict, and a humanitarian crisis in Myanmar. Thailand not only does not recognize refugees as such, but the limited measures it has in place for “protected persons” are effectively closed to most Myanmar nationals. As a result, many Myanmar nationals in Thailand, including children, have no legal access to basic health care, education, or work. The reality for many is self-imposed house arrest to avoid the constant risk of extortion, not only from random encounters with Thai police, but also from the semi-formal systems Thai security personnel use to extract money from undocumented migrants. The report calls on the Thai government to introduce accessible legal residency and work authorization for Myanmar nationals, including refugee status for those who qualify. At a minimum, the government should adopt a “temporary protection framework” for Myanmar nationals that will stop the endemic exploitation and extortion made possible because of their lack of immigration status.   

New York: Human Rights Watch, 2025. 54p.

By Human Rights Watch

Since January 2025, the United States government has dramatically expanded immigration detention in Florida, detaining thousands of immigrants—many without criminal convictions—in overcrowded, unsanitary, and abusive conditions. This report documents serious human rights violations at three detention centers in South Florida as detention numbers have increased: the Krome North Service Processing Center, the Broward Transitional Center (BTC), and the Federal Detention Center (FDC) in Miami. Detainees described being shackled for hours on buses, confined in freezing, overcrowded cells without bedding or access to hygiene, denied essential medical and mental health care, and subjected to degrading treatment by guards. Women were held in male-only facilities without access to gender-appropriate care or privacy. The subpar medical care may have been linked to two deaths, one at Krome and one at BTC. The report is based on interviews with eleven currently and recently detained individuals, some of which took place at Krome and BTC; family members of seven detainees; and immigration lawyers, as well as data analysis. It finds that the conditions in these facilities flagrantly violated international human rights standards and the United States government’s own immigration detention regulations. The abuses documented—ranging from denial of medical care to punitive isolation and excessive use of force—amount to cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment. Human Rights Watch calls on the US government to end the use of immigration detention as a default response, terminate harmful state-federal enforcement agreements, ensure international and national detention standards are upheld, and guarantee rigorous oversight and accountability.  

New York: Human Rights Watch, 2025. 98p.

By Ruiz-Ramírez, Carlos, Castillo-Rojas-Marcos, Juan, Molinero-Gerbeau, Yoan

The EU’s agricultural sector depends on migrant labour from more recently acceded member states, non-EU European countries, and non-European countries. A study of literature covering Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Spain and Sweden shows the broad range of problems faced by millions of migrant workers who keep Europe fed. The work is hard, days often long – and employers and intermediaries can be exploitative. Migrants can either be hired after they arrive or in their country of origin. For the latter, in order to pay lower wages and/or maintain deliberate demographic selection criteria (based on gender, origin, migration status, etc.), some employers work through intermediaries to hire ‘posted workers’. Not only do these migrants often pay to be hired, but they may also find their pay reduced further to cover private health insurance when they begin working, because they are not covered by social insurance in the country they work in. In terms of spontaneous arrivals of migrants, although a large proportion of labour is from the newest EU members, such as Romania and Bulgaria, there is a large range of nationalities represented, among which there is also a significant part of irregular migrants who do not come from the EU, i.e., those without valid paperwork to be in the country. For the latter, a work contract, even with unfair/unethical/exploitative conditions, is one of the only ways to regularize their status in Europe and obtain authorized residence in most European countries. This gives some employers greater leverage over them, and thus more opportunity to exploit them. Additionally, those holding short-term seasonal work permits face substantial challenges due to the conditions and terms of their permits and recruitment processes. Similarly, undocumented migrants find themselves in an even more precarious position, heavily dependent on their employers due to limited opportunities to regularize their status and access decent work. Wages for staff are low, in some cases below the local minimum wage. A common tactic for underpaying migrants is to deduct the cost of basic needs such as accommodation, food and mandatory protective equipment from wages, often at inflated prices. Migrants also face delayed payments, the denial of payment, or unpaid overtime. However, workers are unlikely to complain due to fear of reprisals, ranging from being further denied work or pay, to dismissal. For those undertaking piecework, the incentive to self-exploit has serious health consequences. Housing arrangements vary. For those living on-site, provisions tend to be very basic: migrants often lodge inside cramped containers. Those who do not live on site often live in makeshift shantytowns nearby, without access to electricity, running water or other basic infrastructure. Those without an official address, cannot register with a clinic, and thus cannot access healthcare services. The remoteness of farms can make access to shops and other services difficult, and transport can be prohibitively expensive. Without appropriate translation of safety instructions and, in many cases, the provision of legally required safety equipment, migrants are put at risk. For example, 20 workers were poisoned by phytosanitary products in Italy; and a Nicaraguan worker in Murcia, Spain, died after working 11 hours in 44ºC heat without being provided water. In some cases, employers use violence against their staff, including forcing them to remain silent about workplace abuses, confiscation of personal documents and sexual assault. In some cases, migrants’ frustrations with their exploitation have led to acts of resistance. However, in most cases, employers have tended to simply replace their workforces for subsequent seasons, as a form of ‘union busting’ in the face of such resistance. Although the COVID-19 pandemic caused the plight of migrant agricultural workers to enter the news in some countries, their ‘essential worker’ status did not result in any actual improvement in their treatment.  

Nairobi: Oxfam International, 2024. 73p.

By The Organization of Justice and Accountability in the Horn of Africa (OJAH),

This report documents widespread atrocities and international human rights violations during the conflict in northern Ethiopia. It presents evidence of mass killings, sexual violence, forced displacement, and attacks on civilians by Ethiopian and Eritrean forces. The report calls for independent investigations and international accountability to address impunity and ensure justice for victims.

Washington, DC:  Organization of Justice and Accountability in the Horn of Africa (OJAH), 2025. 13p.

By Ashley N. Muchow

Toward the end of the 20th century, the U.S. witnessed a wave of immigration made up of both legal residents and a large undocumented population that have since settled, started families, and developed strong community ties. Modern immigration policy has concentrated heavily on enforcement in the absence of comprehensive immigration reform, and a growing body of research suggests these escalations may carry unintended social consequences.

This dissertation consists of three interrelated studies that seek to disentangle the structural factors that affect levels of economic and social integration of minority and immigrant populations. Using data from Los Angeles, this dissertation focuses on two aspects of public life critical to productive and healthy living: the labor market and public safety. The first chapter considers how undocumented immigrants fare in the labor market. The second examines whether recent escalations in immigration enforcement influenced the willingness of Latino immigrants to engage with the police. Finally, the third chapter evaluates the effectiveness of community policing in reducing crime and increasing police engagement in predominately-Latino neighborhoods.

Overall, this dissertation suggests that enforcement-focused immigration policy intensifies barriers to integration and may jeopardize public safety, but there are tools localities can use to improve conditions in affected communities. I find both real and perceived exclusions limit immigrants' access to the formal labor market and law enforcement, and conclude with evidence of a promising approach to improve public safety in minority communities. These findings stress the need for federal immigration policies that balance enforcement with maintaining resident confidence in public institutions and encouraging the well-being and advancement of vulnerable populations.

Santa Monica, CA: RAND, 2019. 122p.

By Sylvia Walby, Philippa Olive, Jude Towers, Brian Francis, Sofia Strid, Andrea Krizsán, Emanuela Lombardo, Corinne May-Chahal, Suzanne Franzway, David Sugarman, Bina Agarwal and Jo Armstrong

Rape shatters lives. Its traumatising effects can linger for many years after the immediate pain and suffering. Rape is a consequence and a cause of gender inequality. It is an injury to health; a crime; a violation of women’s human rights; and costly to both the economy and society. Stopping rape requires changes to many policies and practices. There is no simple solution; rather, a myriad of reforms are needed to prevent rape. New policies are being innovated around the world, north and south, which are often intended to prevent rape and to support victims/survivors simultaneously. This book provides an overview of the current best practice from around the world for ending rape.

Policy Press 2015, British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data, 307?

By Ashley Currier and Rashida A. Manuel

Marshalling research about male rape and unwanted sex in contemporary African contexts, this article explores how cultural definitions of sex and sexuality affect African sexual minority men’s perceptions of rape, non-consensual sex and unwanted sex in Malawi, a country in which same-sex sexual practices are stigmatised and punished. We analyze two divergent accounts of unwanted sex offered by two gay Malawian men the first author 10 interviewed in 2012. Feminist and queer theoretical insights about representing the agency of African gender and sexual minorities guide our inquiry. Our analysis shows how activist socialisation can intervene in and reshape how African sexual minority men perceive and name unwanted and/or coercive sex.

Routledge 10th September 2014, 17p.

Edited by Bonnie S. Fisher

Since the 1970s, researchers and practitioners from a wide spectrum of disciplines have documented that violence against women and family violence are substantial problems in the United States (see Crowell and Burgess, 1996). Because of their persistent efforts, Congress passed the Violence Against Women Act of 1994 (Title IV of Public Law 103–322, the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994), and the Violence Against Women Office, now called the Office on Violence Against Women (OVW), was established in the U.S. Department of Justice. These Federal acts marked violence against women and family violence as national problems in need of both interdisciplinary scientific inquiry and development of community-based prevention and intervention policies and practices.

2004, 356p.

By Jennifer Rose Wies

This research explores the themes of participation and professionalization as they intersect with power in domestic violence advocacy by using a case study from one region in Kentucky. Throughout this dissertation, I investigate the ways political and economic pressures influence local domestic violence advocates and the ways these macro-level pressures influence 1) an advocate’s level of participation in the organization and 2) a transition in social service provision to a professional model of advocacy. The research illustrates that the nature of domestic violence service provision is changing in the United States as a result of the increasingly privatized nature of social service provision and subsequent shifts in domestic violence advocacy participation practices and professionalization trends.

University of Kentucky, 2006, 252p.

Edited by Christof Heyns

As in recent issues of our Journal, in this tenth edition we highlight one theme, to which we dedicate five of nine total articles. This theme refers to the plight of the millions of migrants and refugees who find themselves in dire situations in many countries around the world. The article by Katharine Derderian and Liesbeth Schockaert of Médecins sans Frontières realistically portrays the terrible human tragedy of refugees and, from the point of view of human rights, discusses the concept of refugee, according to the criteria of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), under who- se guidance and with whose generous support we were able to organize this edition. The UNHCR criteria and the foundations of the protection system for refugees are explained in the article by Juan Carlos Murillo.

Human Rights Univeristy Network, Year 6 • Number 10 June 2009, 204p.

By DIANE BELL

Synopsis-Here I revisit three contentious issues: intraracial rape, feminist theorising around race and gender, and the problematics of cross-cultural collaboration (see Bell & Nelson, 1989). I begin by examining the modes of analysis of abuse of Aboriginal women as revealed in recent reports, and offer comparative case material from North America. With particular reference to the shifting bases of my relationship to Topsy Napurrula Nelson, I trace a personal, partial, and hidden history of an idea, that is, a more empowering feminist future may be envisaged by grounding our theorising on questions of gender, race and violence in the possibility of relationality. I suggest that the propensity to engage in social construct boundary maintenance is obscuring the fact that it is women who are being brutalised. With reference to the handling of violence against women by the courts and by “communities,” I argue cross-cultural collaborations and enunciation of women’s law can empower women. Forging a sustainable vision of a meaningful future in the current crisis requires that the needs of woman be addressed; that in pursuit of the politics of difference we not lose sight of questions of power; that the politics of law, the nation state, the academy, and Aboriginal liberation struggles that shape the “master narratives,” are interrogated from within and from “elsewhere.”

Pergamon Press, 1999, 28p.

Edited by Laura Hilly & Richard Martin

Access to justice is the cornerstone of any fair and equitable legal system. As Sir Bob Hepple in his post ‘The Equality Agenda in 2015’ contained in Chapter 11 of this anthology (p 210) emphasises: “This year marks the 800th anniversary of Magna Carta, so it is not inappropriate to recall clause 40 (still on the statute book), which states: “To no one will we sell, to no one will we refuse or delay, right or justice.”” But writing on the second anniversary of the introduction of sweeping cuts to civil legal aid by the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 (‘LAPOS’), in the wake of debilitating fee hikes in UK employment tribunals and an ongoing diminution of criminal legal aid, it is reasonable to ask what price are we all now paying for these ‘reforms’ of access to justice in England and Wales? While some of the proposed reforms highlighted in this chapter ultimately failed to make it onto the statute books (for example, the proposed presumptive cost orders to burden amicus interveners: see Daniel McCredden ‘Presumptive Cost Orders: A Threat to Public Interest Interventions’ p 17) most of them succeeded in being enacted. And with the re-election of the Conservative Party to Government in May 2015, many of these cuts are here to stay.

Oxford Human RIghts Hub, 2015,384

By RAYMOND G. GETTELL (Author), Colin Heston (Introduction)

First published in 1924, this book emerged at a time when the study of politics was being transformed from a largely historical and moralistic pursuit into a more rigorous, analytical discipline within American universities. Gettell’s work bridged the gap between the classical humanistic tradition of political reflection and the emerging political science of the early twentieth century, providing a lucid narrative of the major thinkers, schools, and debates that shaped Western political ideology.
The early decades of the twentieth century saw increasing professionalization in the social sciences, especially in fields like economics, sociology, and political science. Within political science, there was a tension between the empirical study of institutions and behavior (what would later be called "positivist" approaches) and the normative-historical approach that emphasized values, ideologies, and the moral purposes of politics. Gettell’s work traces the development of political ideas chronologically, beginning with the classical thinkers of ancient Greece—particularly Plato and Aristotle—whose inquiries into justice, the ideal state, and the nature of citizenship set the stage for centuries of political reflection. He then moves through the Roman period, early Christian thought, medieval scholasticism, Renaissance humanism, the rise of early modern political theory (with Hobbes, Locke, and Rousseau), and onward to the nineteenth century, examining liberalism, socialism, nationalism, and other emergent ideologies.
For the modern reader, returning to Gettell’s work can serve as both a foundation and a springboard—a foundation for understanding the grand narrative of Western political thought, and a springboard for questioning, expanding, and diversifying that narrative to include new voices, global perspectives, and contemporary concerns. In it is an invitation to reflect critically on the ideas that continue to shape our political world. In an era marked by resurgent nationalism, territorial conflict, and the weakening of multilateral institutions, History of Political Thought retains a sobering relevance. Across the globe, from Ukraine and Russia, to Israel and Palestine, to China and Taiwan, we witness conflicts fueled by competing historical narratives, divergent political ideologies, and the enduring potency of the concept of sovereignty. These disputes often invoke deeply rooted claims to land, culture, and legitimacy, echoing ideas that can be traced back to the very thinkers Gettell profiles—whether it is Hobbes' notion of authority and order, Rousseau's theories of collective will, or the romantic nationalism that pervaded 19th-century political philosophy.
The idea of a world governed by shared norms—what Kant envisioned as a “perpetual peace” based on republicanism and international cooperation—remains elusive. States remain the final arbiters of their own security, often dismissing international judgments when they conflict with national interest or identity. Gettell’s text unintentionally underscores the fragility of systems that depend on consensus and voluntary compliance. Just as no political theory he surveys offers a perfect formula for reconciling liberty with order or equality with authority, no international institution can entirely overcome the foundational dilemma of political life: how to balance the need for collective restraint with the desire for self-rule. The UN, lacking coercive power over its most powerful members and constrained by veto politics in the Security Council, reflects this unresolved tension.
As global politics once again teeter between cooperation and confrontation, Gettell’s work calls us back to the deeper philosophical questions that must underlie any lasting peace: What is legitimate authority? Who decides? And how can competing visions of justice coexist in a shared political space?

Read-Me.Org Inc. New York-Philadelphia-Australia. 2025. 433p.

By Joseph Lelliott

Previous research by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and others has shown that trafficking in persons could not occur on a large scale without the aid of corruption. Corruption facilitates all stages of trafficking, from the initial recruitment of victims through to situations of exploitation themselves. It also hinders effective investigation, prosecution, and punishment of perpetrators and allows traffickers to operate with impunity.

This report, developed through the partnership between ASEAN-Australia Counter Trafficking and UNODC Regional Office for Southeast Asia and the Pacific, examines how trafficking in persons and corruption legislation in ASEAN Member States (AMS) criminalises corruption as a facilitator of trafficking. It aims to identify current linkages between trafficking in persons and corruption in the criminal provisions of AMS legislation and highlights potential ways for provisions to be applied in practice to punish corruption that facilitates trafficking.

Trafficking in persons is of major concern throughout Southeast Asia, including in the ten ASEAN Member States. Evidence strongly indicates that various types of exploitation are widespread in the region. Previous research by UNODC and others has shown that trafficking in persons could not occur on a large scale without the aid of corruption. Corruption facilities all stages of trafficking, from the initial recruitment of victims through to situations of exploitation themselves. It also hinders the effective investigation, prosecution, and punishment of perpetrators and allows traffickers to operate with impunity. This report examines how trafficking in persons and corruption legislation in ASEAN Member States criminalizes corruption as a facilitator of trafficking. It has two aims: 1. To identify current linkages between trafficking in persons and corruption in the criminalization provisions of ASEAN Member States’ legislation. 2. To highlight how trafficking and corruption criminalization provisions can be applied in practice to punish corruption that facilitates trafficking.

Bangkok, Thailand: United Nations Office for Drugs and Crime (UNODC), Regional Office for Southeast Asia and the Pacific, 2025. 142p.

By Lawrence W. Sherman, Friedrich Loesel, Dorothy Newbury-Birch, David Weisburd

In late 1997, the key founder of the medical Cochrane Collaboration, Ian Chalmers, called Larry Sherman from Oxford to discuss the recent “Maryland Report” (Preventing Crime: What Works? What Doesn't? What's Promising?) submitted to the US Congress by Attorney General Janet Reno and her Assistant Attorney General, Laurie Robinson. The report had attempted to undertake a series of semi-systematic reviews in all areas for which federal funding had been made available. Sherman directed the project at the University of Maryland, where the co-authors collaborated. All of them had been informed, in part, by the systematic reviews that David Farrington had already published at Cambridge, such as his 1981 review of randomized experiments in crime and justice.

Chalmers was not the only person to suggest that the Maryland report should become a springboard for an ongoing process of systematic reviews. The same idea struck a Philadelphia radio broadcaster, Jerry Lee, who contacted Sherman in mid-1997 to discuss his possible donations to make that continuation happen. Within months, Jerry Lee had donated major funding to Maryland, including money for a visiting professorship at Maryland for Cambridge Professor David Farrington.

Farrington's engagement with the Maryland authors and Jerry Lee's support coincided with the developing support of the Cochrane community. By April 2000, Sherman delivered his inaugural lecture at the University of Pennsylvania, where by 2003, he founded its criminology department. The April 2000 event turned into a joint event for founding the Campbell Collaboration (named after program evaluation pioneer Donald T. Campbell) under the leadership of Penn Professor Robert Boruch (a former colleague of Campbell's and a renowned methodologist in social experiments).

A central actor in this effort was to be the first Chair of the Campbell Coordinating Committee on Crime and Justice, one of three initial substantive committees for overseeing systematic review production in social and human services. That Chair, by acclaim, was David P. Farrington. He was, for many reasons, an ideal choice. He had hundreds of co-authors from all over the globe, including students and many others who had asked him to collaborate. He also had an incredibly broad range of subject matter interests, from juvenile delinquency to domestic abuse to crime prevention programs, from street lighting to cognitive therapies.

For the next 4 years, the Campbell Crime and Justice Group (CCJG) met up to twice yearly, with Farrington as the Chair and Jerry Lee's foundation supporting meetings in Europe—and in conjunction with annual meetings of the American Society of Criminology. Farrington's leadership attracted a group of outstanding scholars, all of whom with years of experience in conducting and reviewing evaluations of anticrime programs. Farrington led these meetings to highly productive results. He also ensured that peer reviewers with appropriate expertise were found to move the Campbell Reviews to completion. His commitment to publication also ensured high visibility and policy influence from the Committee's work.

The global character of the reviews was aided by his recruitment of not just US and UK citizens but also Asians and Europeans. One of the most active members was Germany's Stockholm Prize-winning criminologist, Friedrich A. Loesel. As a leader of German criminology, Loesel collaborated with Farrington since the 1980s in the Advanced Research Center Prevention and Intervention in Childhood and Adolescence of the German Research Foundation. As first Presidents of the European Association of Psychology and Law, Loesel and Farrington promoted experimental research in this applied field of psychology. Both collaborated over many years in the CCJG and published together on program evaluations and protective factors agains youth violence. Farrington and Loesel also collaborated on the Academy oft Experimental Criminology, whose first President was Sherman in 1999. Farrington, as his successor, and several other presidents, produced a publication on the Academy's 20th Anniversary when Loesel was president. It summarized what had been achieved but also contained important perspectives for future experimental work and its relation to nonexperimental criminological research.

It is important to note David's commitment to the broader idea of advancing evidence-based policy and experimental research. He played a key role in advancing the annual Jerry Lee Symposiums (supported by the Jerry Lee Foundation), which brought together major researchers, policymakers, and practitioners and showcased Campbell's efforts. During David's tenure as Chair, he encouraged David Weisburd to found the Journal of Experimental Criminology, published by Springer, which is now a top impact criminology journal.

David Farrington also benefited from the teams associated with David Weisburd, who, with collaborators, produced early reviews of such topics as problem-oriented policing, community policing, second responders, and DNA testing. David F. also worked with David W. and Lawrence Sherman in developing funding from the National Institute of Justice and other sources,ir (2004) and then Chair of the Crime and Justice Group (from 2008).

Farrington and Weisburd worked to expand the recognition of the CCJG, for example, by authoring a Criminologist article on the group's efforts in 2007 (https://asc41.org/wp-content/uploads/ASC-Criminologist-2007-01.pdf). which provided critical support to the Jerry Lee Foundation for the activities of the CCJG. Farrington was not just a leader; he worked to mentor his younger colleagues to take leadership roles. David F. invited David W. to be Co-Cha Earlier, in 2002, Farrington, along with Anthony Petrosino (who worked with David F. as an editor for the group in its early years) and Weisburd wrote an article for The Forum, a publication of the Justice Research and Statistics Association (19, no. 2: 1–6). During this period, Farrington and Weisburd placed great emphasis on extending the number of Systematic Reviews that could be published. This was greatly aided by the appointment of David Wilson as editor for the CCJG

Campbell Systematic Reviews, Volume21, Issue 2, June 2025

By Saipira FURSTENBERG, Marcus MICHAELSEN, Siena ANSTIS

Transnational repression arises when foreign governments reach across national borders to coerce, control and silence individuals in other countries using a broad range of methods, ranging from digital surveillance to extraterritorial killings. Amongst the primary targets of transnational repression are human rights defenders, whose advocacy is perceived by repressive regimes as a threat to their interests and power. As a result, human rights defenders fleeing persecution or other forms of repression at home are now facing increasing danger even though they have moved abroad. The practice of transnational repression negatively impacts every level of society, from individual rights to national security and democratic institutions. This paper presents global trends in transnational repression against human rights defenders, focusing on human rights impacts and curtailment of civic space. It examines the human rights obligations of European Union (EU) Member States as host countries to address transnational repression and outlines some of the emerging policy responses by governments worldwide. The paper also examines how current EU legal and policy frameworks and instruments could be applied to counter transnational repression and provides recommendations for improving protection for the human rights defenders.

Brussels: European Parliament, 2025. 91p.

By The Sentry

In November 2018, the United Nations lifted sanctions on Eritrea, including a two-way arms embargo banning both the import and export of arms, after a successful campaign by Eritrea’s longtime rival, Ethiopia. As Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki and Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed Ali began to reestablish ties, having signed a formal peace agreement in September 2018, hope was high that this reset of regional relations would provide long-term security. That hope quickly faded as increasingly secret talks resulted in the military encirclement of Ethiopia’s Tigray region.

In the absence of the UN’s two-way arms embargo, the Eritrean Defense Forces (EDF) reequipped and rearmed, while its senior officers conspired with the newly configured Ethiopian security apparatus to launch the Tigray War in late 2020. The EDF played a prominent and highly problematic role in that conflict, committing atrocities in a campaign of collective punishment against the people of Tigray, at great human cost.

The Tigray War resulted in a humanitarian crisis of immense proportions. War crimes were perpetrated by all parties to the conflict, but the nature of atrocities and war profiteering carried out by the EDF was unmatched in scale and premeditation. The EDF engaged in massacres, widespread sexual violence, and systematic looting, including of Tigrayan factory machinery, medical supplies and equipment, and cultural antiquities.

Since the signing of the 2022 Pretoria Agreement that marked the end of the Tigray War, the EDF has continued to occupy territory within Ethiopia. Eritrean military commanders and their agents within Ethiopia continue to profit from a conflict economy, including through human trafficking, kidnapping, and illicit gold mining.

In the meantime, Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki has emerged as the clear winner of the new status quo, as Ethiopia’s fragile federal coalition continues to struggle with widespread disorder. With Russia emerging as a key military ally in the post-embargo landscape, the EDF now has few constraints on its continued rearmament. For Eritrea’s leadership, the new state of “no war, no peace” is proving advantageous.

Key recommendations

As a matter of urgent conflict prevention, the United States, European Union, United Kingdom, and other like-minded jurisdictions need to send a clear message to the Ethiopian government, the Eritrean government, the Tigrayan People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), and the Tigray Interim Administration (TIA) that they will face an escalated international response and sanctions if there is a resumption of conflict.

The US, the EU, and the UK should consider designating Eritrean Defense Forces Brigadier General Eyob Fessehaye (aka Halibay), Brig. Gen. Simon Oqbu (aka Riesi Mirak), and Maj. Gen. Romadan Osman Awliya for their responsibility for human rights violations in Tigray.

The UN Security Council should determine that Ethiopia-Eritrea border issues—including unimplemented components of the November 2, 2022, Pretoria peace agreement—constitute a threat to international peace and security, and it should thus establish a panel of enquiry with a Chapter VII mandate to monitor and report on the situat

Washington, DC: The Sentry, 2025. 45p.