Articles

We must persuade Trump to do the right thing – securing peace in the Middle East – for the wrong reason Donald Trump’s instinctive deference to the Israeli government is at odds with his self-image as an expert dealmaker. Much as it may seem laughable that the...

Trump should reverse his misguided effort to deport Mahmoud Khalil The Trump administration’s threatened deportation of Mahmoud Khalil seems to reflect a dangerous disregard for freedom of expression – a blatant example of official censorship to curb...

JD Vance says Europe should not shun far-right parties. He seems to have forgotten 1933, but hits a key conundrum In his speech last week at the Munich Security Conference, JD Vance pressed European leaders to stop excluding extremist parties from...

In decades spent convincing world leaders to protect human rights, I’ve learned a thing or two about working with his type The common wisdom is that Donald Trump’s foreign policy will be a disaster for human rights. Certainly his penchant for embracing autocrats...

Netanyahu and Gallant could show up and contest the charges against them. Obstructing justice is not the answer Donald Trump’s executive order reauthorizing sanctions against international criminal court (ICC) personnel reflects a disgraceful...

The lasting significance of Donald Trump’s stunning plan to “take over” the Gaza Strip and “permanently” resettle the roughly 2 million Palestinians who live there may be that it legitimized one option that, as a possible solution to the...

The US president’s plan to expel 2 million Palestinians from Gaza clashes with his desire to be a dealmaker. He should push for a Palestinian state instead. Donald Trump’s proposal to expel all 2 million or more Palestinians from Gaza is so mind-bogglingly...

The sudden toppling of Syria’s tyrant, Bashar al-Assad, provides an opportunity for justice that until recently few would have thought possible. The Assad regime was one of the world’s most brutal. Now its senior officials are scattered. Assad has found a...

The Israeli-Palestinian situation merits the freest possible discussion. Harvard made a mistake by adopting a definition of antisemitism that has a long track record of inhibiting that discussion. The charge of antisemitism is often bandied about these days to silence...

If the U.S. president is charged with impeding an investigation, it could make nearly all international visits a headache and a risk. On his first day back in office, U.S. President Donald Trump took the first step toward possibly renewing...

What should we make of the ceasefire that could have been concluded months ago, saving thousands of Palestinian lives in Gaza and the lives of at least some of the hostages held by Hamas and their allies? One can only celebrate that, at least...

With the Syrian leader now on the run, the prospect of bringing him to justice for his crimes is no longer theoretical. One can only rejoice in the demise of the regime of Bashar al-Assad. Much is uncertain about Syria’s future, but there is no question that the 24...

The warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant are also a reminder to governments arming Israel as it commits war crimes in Gaza The international criminal court’s issuance of arrest warrants for the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and former...

By appealing to Trump’s vanity about his legacy, perhaps we can prevent his presidency from being a geopolitical nightmare The nightmare has arrived. Trump’s “America First” norm-flouting was bad enough the last time around, when a collection of...

Balloting would have provided a rare opportunity for the world’s governments to vote on complicity in Israeli war crimes Something unusual happened this week at the UN: the US government decided not to run for a second term on the human rights council....

The UN’s resolution this week has dramatically changed the legal context of Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory The United Nations general assembly’s resolution on Wednesday advanced a dramatic legal shift, begun by the international court of...

Talking about a “rules-based order” won’t overcome Washington’s hypocrisy problem. U.S. President Joe Biden frequently speaks of the global contest between autocracy and democracy, but Vice President Kamala Harris prefers discussing the need to promote a “rules-based...

In May, the International Criminal Court (ICC) chief prosecutor, Karim Khan, announced he would seek arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for the war crime of starving Palestinian civilians in Gaza. He also...

The Israeli government has long stressed that there was no Palestine whose land it could occupy and that the territories are ‘disputed’. The court has rejected this Friday’s international court of justice (ICJ) ruling was a wholesale repudiation of Israel’s...

Civilians in Gaza are in grave danger from Israel’s disregard for international law. The vitriolic disputes taking place around the world over the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza result in part from disagreements about the moral perspective from which to evaluate...

The US’s pursuit of Assange under the Espionage Act created a dangerous precedent that threatens journalistic practices Julian Assange’s lengthy detention has finally ended, but the danger that his prosecution poses to the rights of journalists remains. As is...

If it’s true that more than 100 women and children died in the IDF’s rescue of four hostages, Israel violated international law The enormous loss of Palestinian life attendant to the Israeli military’s 8 June rescue of four hostages held by Hamas cries out for...

I was shocked to learn of the brazenness of Israel’s intimidation effort. It is to the credit of the ICC prosecutors that it has failed I should not be surprised at the lawlessness of a government that bombs and starves Palestinian civilians in Gaza, but I was still...

An air strike on a tent camp in the southern Gaza city has killed dozens, including children. The International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruling in South Africa’s genocide case against Israel on 24 May is both more and less complicated than it initially appears. To avoid...

It is disappointing, if not surprising, that the west’s response to the ICC accusations is to defend Israel despite its war crimes The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, responded with predictable vitriol to international criminal court (ICC) accusations...

A momentous decision has sent shockwaves around the world. Was it the right one? Kenneth Roth: Biden’s response harms U.S. interests The Biden administration’s reasons for condemning the International Criminal Court’s move against Israel and Hamas are confounding. It...

Washington is wrong to accept the court’s indictment of Russian, but not Israeli, leaders. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu fears that the International Criminal Court (ICC) will soon charge him for alleged war crimes in Gaza and...

The Israeli prime minister has good reason to worry, and the defenses he has offered so far are unlikely to help him The Israeli government believes that the international criminal court (ICC) in The Hague is about to file war crimes charges against Benjamin...

But that doesn’t mean the International Court of Justice with its conservative jurisprudence will accept it. In January, the International Court of Justice, the United Nations’ highest court, found it “plausible” that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, but is...

This attack could not come at a worse time for Palestinians. Hunger is widespread in Gaza, and famine is projected in the north by May Israel’s vendetta against the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (Unrwa)...

The ICC should prosecute Israelis responsible for bombing hospitals, denying access to medicines and vaccines, and causing excessive civilian harm. On Jan. 26, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague issued an initial ruling in South Africa’s...

The sanctions do not target Israeli officials who enable violence in the West Bank, nor affect the more urgent crisis in Gaza President Joe Biden’s executive order allowing financial and travel sanctions on Israelis involved in settler violence against...

Will Israel’s allies urge Israel to comply with the court’s ruling? It would do enormous damage to the ‘rules-based order’ if they make an exception for Israel he international court of justice’s (ICJ) ruling in South Africa’s genocide case was a powerful...

In the Hague trial, both sides have largely avoided evidence contradicting their case. Yet South Africa’s arguments are strong Watching lawyers for South Africa and Israel debate whether Israel is committing genocide in Gaza was like observing two versions...

Netanyahu’s government might welcome a chance to shift a million or more Palestinians off the demographic balance sheet by clearing Gaza The Israeli government’s mass evacuation order from northern Gaza is an ostensibly humanitarian act done in an utterly inhumane...

Nonprofit leaders, academics, and funders weigh in on donor influence and free-speech politics, following the resignation of Penn President Liz Magill The resignation of University of Pennsylvania President Liz Magill, under apparent pressure from donors, has...

Celebrating the Universal Declaration of Human Rights at 75 Featuring essays from 90 Harvard faculty and affiliates - Harvard Kennedy School, Carr Center for Human Rights Policy What is the significance of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as we celebrate its...

The conflict in Gaza is playing out in a parallel battle over academic freedom at America’s universities. A passionate exchange of perspectives is to be expected, but the debate has taken an ugly turn as efforts are made to penalize, even censor, pro-Palestinian...

President Biden has responded to Hamas’s horrendous attacks on Israeli civilians with understandable outrage. In heartfelt terms, he called them “pure, unadulterated evil,” which they were. He spoke less powerfully about the Israeli government’s response, noting only...

The US government has taken some steps to block Chinese imports made with forced labor. Britain and the EU have done shamefully little Last month, Chinese diplomats sent letters – really threats – to discourage attendance at an event on the sidelines of the...

If the Israeli government responds to this moment like George W Bush, it will soon follow the route of his government from global sympathy to global outrage Hamas’s appalling attack on Israeli civilians has been widely described as the country’s “9/11 moment”. It is...

The deepening repression of the far-right Israeli government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is providing plenty of reasons for concern. The government has moved to further undermine the judiciary, threatening to leave government decisions entirely untethered...

Human Rights Watch and I seem to be objectionable to Douglas Elmendorf, dean of Harvard Kennedy School, precisely because we are impartial observers, which gives our criticism of Israel greater weight. The Harvard Kennedy School’s Diversity Statement says...

I was told that my fellowship at the Kennedy School was vetoed over my and Human Rights Watch’s criticism of Israel During the three decades that I headed Human Rights Watch, I recognized that we would never attract donors who wanted to exempt their favorite country...

In their own way, Russia and China are threatening the world’s system for defending human rights. Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping have become stark illustrations of the dangers of autocratic rule. By surrounding themselves with...

Volker Türk lacks the temperament to be the United Nations human rights chief. The selection of Volker Türk as the next United Nations high commissioner for human rights risks becoming not only the most expected but also the most disappointing appointment of...

Editor's note: This article is adapted from remarks at a workshop hosted by DAWN, "Human Rights Go to War," that was co-sponsored by the Schell Center for International Human Rights at Yale Law School. The alternative to war constrained by the laws of armed conflict,...

Biden wants Saudi help to strengthen the alliance against Russia. But if he reduces the war to geopolitics, autocrats will rejoice. President Joe Biden is bringing the Saudi crown prince in from the cold. Mohammed bin Salman’s human rights record remains abysmal,...

The German government needs to do more to address the growing repression in China. Chancellor Olaf Scholz should extend and deepen current efforts to raise the price for serious human rights violations. China presents one of the most difficult foreign policy...

Two years ago, Human Rights Watch analyzed who bears command responsibility for war crimes in Syria’s Idlib province, the one part of the country still controlled by the armed opposition to President Bashar al-Assad’s regime. There, we documented 46 cases in...