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    In July, the Trump-era wave of protests started taking a back seat to campaign rallies
    Erica Chenoweth. 10/19/2018. “In July, the Trump-era wave of protests started taking a back seat to campaign rallies.” The Washington Post. See full text.Abstract

    Erica Chenoweth and Jeremy Pressman contribute to The Washington Post's monthly series on political crowds in the United States. 

    For 18 months now, as we’ve counted attendance at political gatherings around the United States, we’ve seen crowds in all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia. For the first time since President Trump’s inauguration, we found one state with no political gatherings. In all, in July, we tallied 743 protests, demonstrations, strikes, marches, sit-ins, rallies and walkouts in all states and the District — except South Dakota.

    Our conservative guess is that between 71,502 and 73,483 people showed up at these political events, although more probably showed up, as well. This number is the lowest in one month that we’ve seen since December 2017. This year, January, March and June included some of the highest protest numbers in U.S. history, and June featured unusually high attendance because of LGBTQ Pride, Families Belong Together (which protested the policy that separated migrant families at the border), and the Poor People’s Campaign, among others.

    Read the full article. 

    Is Your Phone Tainted by the Misery of the 35,000 Children in Congo's Mines?
    Siddharth Kara. 10/12/2018. “Is Your Phone Tainted by the Misery of the 35,000 Children in Congo's Mines?” The Guardian. Publisher's VersionAbstract
    In his recent article in The Gaurdian, Senior Fellow Siddharth Kara discusses the human rights violations connected to the cobalt industry. 

    My field research shows that children as young as six are among those risking their lives amid toxic dust to mine cobalt for the world’s big electronics firms  -Siddharth Kara, Senior Fellow, Carr Center

    "Until recently, I knew cobalt only as a colour. Falling somewhere between the ocean and the sky, cobalt blue has been prized by artists from the Ming dynasty in China to the masters of French Impressionism. But there is another kind of cobalt, an industrial form that is not cherished for its complexion on a palette, but for its ubiquity across modern life.

    This cobalt is found in every lithium-ion rechargeable battery on the planet – from smartphones to tablets to laptops to electric vehicles. It is also used to fashion superalloys to manufacture jet engines, gas turbines and magnetic steel. You cannot send an email, check social media, drive an electric car or fly home for the holidays without using this cobalt. As I learned on a recent research trip to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, this cobalt is not awash in cerulean hues. Instead, it is smeared in misery and blood."

    Elodie is 15. Her two-month-old son is wrapped tightly in a frayed cloth around her back. He inhales potentially lethal mineral dust every time he takes a breath. Toxicity assaults at every turn; earth and water are contaminated with industrial runoff, and the air is brown with noxious haze. Elodie is on her own here, orphaned by cobalt mines that took both her parents. She spends the entire day bent over, digging with a small shovel to gather enough cobalt-containing heterogenite stone to rinse at nearby Lake Malo to fill one sack. It will take her an entire day to do so, after which Chinese traders will pay her about $0.65 (50p). Hopeless though it may be, it is her and her child’s only means of survival.

    Read the full article in The Guardian.

    70th Anniversary of Human Rights Declaration

    Kennedy School Hosts Discussion Honoring 70th Anniversary of Human Rights Declaration

    October 11, 2018

    The Kennedy School held a discussion featuring University of Virginia Professor James B. Loeffler ’96 Wednesday in honor of the 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

    The Declaration, adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 1948, articulates legal and moral principles for “fundamental human rights to be universally protected.” While legally non-binding, the document has been frequently cited as a basis for international agreements and domestic laws.

    Wednesday’s discussion —...

    Read more about Kennedy School Hosts Discussion Honoring 70th Anniversary of Human Rights Declaration
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    Mathias Risse, Lucius N. Littauer Professor of Philosophy and Public Administration, named Faculty Director of Carr Center for Human Rights Policy

    October 9, 2018

    Cambridge, MA—Harvard Kennedy School (HKS) announced that Mathias Risse, the Lucius N. Littauer Professor of Philosophy and Public Administration, will serve as the Faculty Director of the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy.

    Risse’s work and research is focused on the intersection of philosophy and public policy. His research addresses many...

    Read more about Mathias Risse, Lucius N. Littauer Professor of Philosophy and Public Administration, named Faculty Director of Carr Center for Human Rights Policy
    The War on Voting Rights
    John Shattuck. 10/7/2018. “The War on Voting Rights.” The Boston Globe.Abstract
    New op-ed by Carr Center Senior Fellow John Shattuck.

    "Eight years ago, on the eve of the 2010 midterm elections, Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell declared that “the single most important thing we want to achieve is for President Obama to be a one-term president.”

    McConnell’s declaration of war on the Obama presidency ushered in the age of extreme obstruction and polarization in Congress. It also foreshadowed an eight-year Republican campaign to suppress or dilute voting by the coalition that elected Obama. That effort has intensified in the Trump era and is targeted at groups with low or uneven voting participation rates, especially minorities, young people, and immigrants."

    Read the full Op-Ed in the Boston Globe.

    2018 Oct 26

    Carr Center Lunch Series - Senior Fellow John Shattuck, former Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor under President Clinton

    Registration Closed 12:00pm to 1:30pm

    Location: 

    LITTAUER L-324 FAINSOD ROOM

    Join Carr Center Fellows for our monthly lunch discussion series with human rights leaders.

    Lunches are RSVP only, and you must have a Harvard affiliation. (Please note space is very limited).

    For our third lunch in the series, please join Carr Center Senior Fellow John Shattuck 

     

    ...

    Read more about Carr Center Lunch Series - Senior Fellow John Shattuck, former Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor under President Clinton
    2018 Oct 26

    Conference: The Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court at 20 - Looking Back and Looking Forward

    Registration Closed 11:30am to 4:30pm

    Location: 

    Malkin Penthouse, Harvard Kennedy School, Littauer Building, 79 JFK Street, Cambridge, MA

    iccThe Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court at 20: Looking Back and Looking Forward


    A conference hosted by the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy
    Harvard Kennedy School

    The adoption of the Rome Statute 20 years ago was a historic achievement in the global quest for justice and peace...

    Read more about Conference: The Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court at 20 - Looking Back and Looking Forward
    2018 Dec 10

    The Fierce Urgency of Now Speaker Series: Elisa Massimino - Carr Center Senior Fellow and Former CEO of Human Rights First: Small Places, Close to Home: The New U.S. Human Rights Movement

    5:30pm to 6:45pm

    Location: 

    Wexner 434 AB

    At the 1963 March on Washington, Martin Luther King, Jr spoke of “the fierce urgency of now,” the need for immediate, “vigorous and positive action” on civil rights.

    elisa_250This year, the Carr Center hosted a series of talks that examined the current state of human rights in the country, and worldwide. Please join us tonight for...

    Read more about The Fierce Urgency of Now Speaker Series: Elisa Massimino - Carr Center Senior Fellow and Former CEO of Human Rights First: Small Places, Close to Home: The New U.S. Human Rights Movement

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