Emerging powers related - openDemocracy

China, the limits of exception

China's leaders present two stories about their country to the world. The gap between them is a recipe for growing tension.

By Open democracy

/ 19 Nov 2014

India and South Africa risk forsaking their proud histories on human rights

India and South Africa are increasingly tarnishing their reputations as democratic and rights respecting nations. Most recently by unsuccessfully seeking to undermine a resolution on the right to peaceful protest at the UN Human Rights Council.

By Mandeep Tiwana

/ 9 Apr 2014

Will the US ‘lose’ India? The Khobragade human rights puzzle

When the US attorney seeks to glow with a human rights halo, this is met with an angry groan in India.

By Open democracy

/ 11 Feb 2014

Memo to Brazil: in the post-2015 development agenda, advocate for peace

Brazil should consider brokering a broader conversation on development that includes peacebuilding at its heart. At the same time, its diplomats can constructively challenge the creeping securitization of development.

By Robert Muggah

/ 3 Feb 2014

Caste as a colonial creation

The discussion around UK legislation on caste discrimination is too quick to forget how much it was Britain which invented the system in the first place.

By Open democracy

/ 7 Jan 2014

Human rights, social justice, and US exceptionalism

American politicians often talk as if human rights were only relevant in other countries, but grassroots organisations are increasingly using the human rights framework to win social and economic rights for the poorest and most marginalised people in the US. Cathy Albisa, director of the National

By Open democracy

/ 10 Dec 2013

Hindu chauvinism and the denigration of human rights

Such baseless and cynical claims are the stock-in-trade of Hindu chauvinist propagandists: as if to be critical of the BJP’s pogroms is to be supportive of the Congress party’s or Maoist or Communist violence or for that matter violence by misguided and fanatical members of disadvantaged communiti

By N. Jayaram

/ 23 Sep 2013

Daring to speak: militarism and women’s human rights in Burma

‘How can we get peace and democracy when we still have domestic wars and when everyday people are dying?’ Jessica Nhkum spoke to Jennifer Allsopp at the Nobel Women's Initiative conference in Belfast about the importance of documenting human rights violations, injustices and inequality on the grou

By Open democracy

/ 17 Jun 2013

Brazil should take a shot at United Nations reform

The United States and others in NATO are looking to Brazil to help shoulder the burden in the world´s hot-spots, including Syria. Until now, Brazil has refused, but is focusing too obsessively on negotiations inside the United Nations.

By Robert Muggah

/ 29 May 2013

Footnotes on citizenship from rural India

Contrary to the dominant narrative of a vibrant democracy with a strong record of integration, many in India are in effect non-citizens. Citizenship cannot reach its potential unless there is a commitment to achieve equality and justice in practice. (Video, 33 mins)

By Open democracy

/ 9 May 2013

Caste simmers in India

The Dalit community of India is at the bottom of the social hierarchy, assigned to do the least desirable menial jobs. Their rights are systematically and regularly violated. India is at a crossroads in how it will treat this social group going forward, shaping the quality of democracy in this cou

By Open democracy

/ 22 Oct 2012

Dilma Rousseff and Brazil: signs of change

The first months of Brazil's new president show both Dilma Rousseff and Brazilian democracy in a fresh light, says Arthur Ituassu.

By Arthur Ituassu

/ 22 Apr 2011