Today, the Global Justice Center submitted a formal comment to Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar detailing the ways in which proposed restrictions on Title X deny women their fundamental human rights.

The proposed restrictions on Title X, announced by the White House in May, threaten to cut off funding to any health care provider that refers, provides, or even mentions abortion, which will lead to dire consequences, primarily for low-income women. Doctors will be forced to withhold information from women, even when directly asked for it, and women will need to seek information about their medical options elsewhere.

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By Maftuna Saidova 

In 2000, the UN Security Council enacted Resolution 1325 (SCR 1325), a legally binding international agreement which promotes the inclusion of gender issues in all UN initiatives such as conflict prevention and peace-building processes.  SCR 1325 is also the accomplishment of NGOs mobilizing to raise the complexities of gender politics to the international level as a precursor to peace and security. In the years since SRC 1325 was enacted, additional resolutions with similar scopes have followed.  The core aims of the resolutions include in-depth analysis of gender based crimes, participation of women in all areas of peace-building, protection of women during and after conflicts, and relief and recovery.  However, there has been no effort made to implement any conflict prevention and peace-building provisions of SCR1325 in any international frameworks, including the Responsibility to Protect (R2P) framework.  Although many scholars have urged for the recognition and implementation of the functional similarities between the SCR 1325 and R2P in diversifying state prevention methods beyond military intervention in mass atrocities, they have not yet been widely adopted.

Trump Ignores Advisers during Trump-Putin Summit

President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin’s summit consisted of a 46 minute news conference where Trump attacked his own FBI on foreign soil and heavily praised Russia. Before the meeting, Trump’s staffers provided him with 100 pages of briefing materials that involved a tough stance towards Putin, but the president ignored most of it. Trump’s remarks were, “very much counter to the plan”, said someone familiar with the discussions. Advisers covered matters from Russia’s annexation of Crimea, to its interference in the U.S. elections. However, it has been reported that the president has been reluctant to accept the idea that Russia meddled in the elections.

Immigrant Children Return from Shelters and Recount Experiences

Federal officials have begun to return the 2,500 immigrant children separated from their parents under the Trump Administration’s former family separation policy. Mothers and fathers are being reunited with their children after weeks and months. Many of these children are now deeply traumatized, showing up with cuts and bruises on their face and refusing to speak of their experience. Most suffer from nightmares and now have difficulty trusting their parents. Some explain that they felt like prisoners, as punishment was a constant threat.  Mark Weber, a spokesman for the Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees the agency responsible for the shelters, said they couldn’t comment on specific children or cases. However, he stated, ““our focus is always on the safety and best interest of each child.”

By Katya Kolluri

The Rwandan Genocide, a horrific event in human history, is once again making its way into current news due to Jina Moore’s recent article in The New Yorker. Moore’s piece explores how those responsible for the Rwandan mass slaughter (termed genocidaires), may be freed years before their sentence ends. One of them is Théoneste Bagosora, widely regarded as the mastermind of the genocide. Survivors and family members of victims are protesting the decision of early release, stating that this practice of the court is, “a new form of impunity.” Critics are challenging this aspect of the parole system, particularly due to the fact that the convictions of these genocidaires is considered a landmark ruling in international justice. Twenty percent of the convicts of Rwanda’s International Criminal Tribunal have been released early. Allowing these perpetrators of genocide to be paroled is an injudicious decision, especially when considering the brutal pain and suffering this campaign of violence has caused.