PUBLICATIONS

Author: Sabrina Ochoa, JD October 15, 2026 Destroyed building in Sana'a, Yemen [Image credit: Fahd Sadi/Wikimedia Commons] Introduction Adopted in 2015, the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have aimed to organize international aid and development programming toward eliminating poverty and meeting other sustainable development benchmarks in all countries by 2030. But for Yemen, a nation wracked by decades-long civil wars, famine, and economic collapse, progr

Author: Anonymous October 14, 2026 Cracked earth during a dry period in Nicaragua [Image credit: CIAT/Wikimedia Commons] The repercussions of climate change on disadvantaged populations in Central America are severely affecting livelihoods, forcing internal or international migration of numerous individuals, particularly to the U.S. While climate change remains a global problem, the Central American Dry Corridor (CADC) countries, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragu

Author: Roman Gnaegi, DSocSci October 13, 2026 Health workers with mothers during an immunization campaign at a primary health center [Image source: HarunaSylvester/Wikimedia Commons] Introduction: Why should we regard health workers as human rights defenders? Health workers—meaning all those who “primarily work with the intent to advance health” such as doctors, nurses and midwives—act as human rights defenders when they ensure that all people, no matter their backgrounds,

Author: Laura Pettigrew October 8, 2026 [Image credit: Wikimedia Commons] Introduction In 2024, 23.4% of United States (U.S.) adults experienced mental illness and 5.6% experienced serious mental illness. Adults who identify with two or more races have the highest rate of mental illness at 35.5%, followed by Native Americans/Alaska Natives at 25.9%, and non-Hispanic White Americans at 25.1% (National Alliance on Mental Illness, n.d.). Native Americans/Alaska Natives had the

Author: Jim Hamilton October 7, 2026 A protester condemning the regime in Iran [Image credit: Taymaz Valley/Flickr] Introduction The conflict between the Islamic Republic of Iran, the United States (U.S.), and its allies has intensified and expanded Iran’s longstanding system of judicial repression. Since the conflict began in late February 2026, thousands of Iranians have been arrested on politically motivated charges. Judicial proceedings have accelerated, due process prote

Author: Adia May October 6, 2026 Russian textbooks delivered by the occupying authorities to a school in Borova, in Ukraine's Kharkivska region. [Image credit: Human Rights Watch] Introduction When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, Russia inherited more than just a fractured state. It had to find an answer to the unresolved question of national identity: what narrative would explain who Russians were and what their state had done. Malinova (2018) coined this as a search fo

Author: Khalil Dabdoub September 30, 2026 [Image credit: Lucas Metz/Unsplash] Introduction As humans, we all struggle with our mental health at some point in our lives whether we reach the clinical threshold for a diagnosis or not. Experiencing a mental health challenge is increasingly common. 1 in 7 individuals globally live with a mental health disorder (WHO, 2023). Mental health disorders have a significant impact on an individual’s daily functioning and overall well-being

Author: Nadia Nasri September 29, 2026 [Image credit: Appimage/Wikimedia Commons] Women in Iraq have endured a long battle in their fight for equality. While early progress was made in 1959 to secure equal rights and protection under the law, Iraqi women now face setbacks and threats to the very rights they fought so hard to achieve. Currently, Iraq ranks 158 for women’s wellbeing out of the 181 countries on the Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security (GIWPS) index

Author: Mia Baxley September 24, 2026 [Content warning: This article contains descriptions of sexual violence and physical abuse.] The bridge over the River Drina in Višegrad, Bosnia-Herzegovina. During the 1992 genocide campaign in Višegrad, the bridge had been used to throw bodies into the river. [Image credit: Monique Snijder/Unsplash] Introduction In 2013, conflict studies specialist Lee Ann Fujii created the term “extra-lethal violence,” which she defined as “physical ac

Author: Eirini Triantafyllidou September 23, 2026 [Image source: C.Suthorn/cc-by-sa-4.0/commons.wikimedia.org] Introduction Online child sexual abuse and child sexual abuse material (CSAM) are serious and growing problems. According to figures cited by the European Commission itself, the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) received over 21 million related reports in 2020, with more than 1 million concerning EU Member States, rising to nearly 30 million in