Human Rights in the News: March 2022
/Welcome to the March 2022 edition of Human Rights in the News, Woven Teaching’s monthly collection of important human rights stories from around the world.
A person wearnig a black headscarf holds a face mask in front of their face (Credit: UNICEF/Vinay Panjwani)
A third of the world remains totally unvaccinated against COVID: Tedros
UN News | March 30, 2022
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the leader of the World Health Organization, recently stated that “This is not acceptable to me, and it should not be acceptable to anyone. If the world’s rich are enjoying the benefits of high vaccine coverage, why shouldn’t the world’s poor? Are some lives worth more than others?” According to the WHO, there are five strategic areas that governments should focus on and invest in to help curb the COVID-19 pandemic.
US President Joe Biden speaks at a podium (Credit: Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
Biden to mark Transgender Day of Visibility with new measures in support of transgender Americans
Donald Judd and Paul LeBlanc | CNN | March 31, 2022
On Transgender Day of Visibility, US President Joe Biden announced new measures to lower employment barriers for transgender individuals and efforts to support the mental helath of transgender children. "Efforts to criminalize supportive medical care for transgender kids, to ban transgender children from playing sports, and to outlaw discussing LGBTQI+ people in schools,” Biden stated, “undermine their humanity and corrode our Nation's values."
Russian police detain a person wearing a green jacket (Credit: Dmitry Lebedev/Kommersant/Sipa via AP Images)
Russia: Brutal Arrests and Torture, Ill-Treatment of Anti-War Protesters
Human Rights Watch | March 9, 2022
Since the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, thousands of anti-war protesters have been arrested in Russia. As of March 9, 13,500 people had been detained. Reports of police using excessive force are widespread.
Mourners carry the coffin of a 14-year-old environmental activist from Colombia (Credit: AFP/Getty)
More rights defenders murdered in 2021, with 138 activists killed just in Colombia
Karen McVeigh | The Guardian | March 2, 2022
According to Front Line Defenders, a group which tries to protect activists, 358 human rights defenders in 35 countries were killed in 2021. “Many of the killings could have been prevented, as they were preceded by threats and calls for protection.”
Viktor Orban stands at a podium in front of many Hungarian flags (Credit: Bernadett Szabo/Reuters)
In Hungary, Viktor Orban Remakes an Election to His Liking
Matt Appuzo and Benjamin Novak | The New York Times | March 31, 2022
Hungarian Prime Ministor Viktor Orban–who faces reelection this week–has recently made several changes to election law that benefit his party. According to the New York Times, “When [Orban’s] political party, Fidesz, won the last two national elections, it received less than half the votes, yet still secured a two-thirds supermajority in Parliament. The supermajority has allowed Mr. Orban to ram through changes to the Constitution as part of his illiberal agenda.”
A child runs through a train station in Hungary after crossing the border from Ukraine (Credit: Christopher Furlong/Getty)
Hospitals under fire and hard-won abortion rights: human rights this fortnight – in pictures
The Guardian | March 12, 2022
An incredible collection of photos from around the world.
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