Human Rights in the News: September 2022
/Welcome to the September 2022 edition of Human Rights in the News, Woven Teaching’s monthly collection of important human rights stories from around the world.
A protester raises their arms in front of a fire burning in the street in Tehran (Credit: AFP via Getty Images)
Why Iranian women are burning their hijabs after the death of Mahsa Amini
Bill Chappell, Joe Hernandez | NPR | September 21, 2022
The death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini at the hands of Iranian police has sparked protest throughout the country. In recent weeks, women have burned their hijabs and cut their hair in protest. Large demonstrations have begun transitioning from protests against so-called morality laws to general anti-government protests.
Colombian President Gustavo Petro addressing the UN General Assembly (Credit: Seth Wenig/AP)
Colombia’s President slams ‘addiction to irrational power’ and calls to end war on drugs in fiery first UNGA speech
Hira Humayun and Caitlin Hu | CNN | September 20, 2022
In his first address to the UN General Assembly, Colombian President Gustavo Petro condemned the U.S.’s war on drugs as a failure and criticized the global north’s refusal to address climate change. “The climate disaster that will kill hundreds of millions of people is not being caused by the planet,” he said, “it is being caused by capital. By the logic of consuming more and more, producing more and more, and for some earning more and more.”
A 12-year-old child stands in front of the rubble where their school stood before being destroyed in an air strike (Credit: UNICEF/Ashley Gilbertson)
‘Dire’ and deteriorating pattern of rights abuse continues in Ukraine
UN News | September 27, 2022
A new report by the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission to Ukraine argues that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has had devastating consequences for human rights in the Eastern European country. Nearly 6,000 civilian deaths have been documented (the actual figures being much higher, as the UN does not have complete information from the combat zones). Hostilities “not only endanger the lives of civilians, but also leave them living in degrading conditions and undermine their rights to health, education, housing, food and water”.
School in Myanmar that was targeted in a recent military strike (Credit: Reuters)
Children killed after Myanmar army helicopters fire at school
BBC News | September 20, 2022
At least 11 children were killed in an attack on their school by the army of Myanmar. The democratically-elected government of Myanmar was overthrown in 2021 in a military coup; at least 1,500 people have been killed by security forces since.
Police car (Credit: Pixabay)
US National Registry of Exonerations reports racial disparities among wrongful convictions
Sarthak Gupta | Jurist | September 27, 2022
The National Registry of Exonerations recently released a report stating that Black people in the United States are seven times more likely than white people to be wrongfully convicted of a serious crime.
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