In late June, after visiting Palestine and Israel on behalf of a group formed by Nelson Mandela, two former senior U.N. officials — Ban Ki-moon and Mary Robinson — published a scathing report on their findings, writes Vijay Prashad.
Amnesty lamented that governments have turned to “repression and unnecessary and excessive use of force” against struggling demonstrators instead of addressing their core concerns, such as high food prices and paltry wages.
Rights groups are criticizing inaction by the ICC prosecutor in a year when more than 200 Palestinians, including many children, were killed in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, writes Marjorie Cohn.
U.S.-based social justice groups tell Antony Blinken that smearing human-rights promotion as “terrorist” is a well-worn tactic of authoritarian regimes.