By The sexual assault accusation of the Chinese tennis star Peng Shuai in late 2021 and her subsequent disappearance captivated the international community in a case unexpectedly common. What caught them by surprise was not just the rare instance of someone publicly speaking out about sexual abuse, but rather the alleged
A Call for Change: The Impact of Student Protests Throughout History
Advocating for anarchy or acting for a better society? In recent years, students have mobilised to demand action on climate change, raise awarness of excessively high tuition fees and to call out systematic racial discrimination. Student activism including protests of this kind is however not a new phenomenon. Rather, history
Penalty kicks and Penal Servitude – the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar
Ever since Qatar was announced as the location of the 2022 FIFA World Cup, the country’s coverage in the world media has skyrocketed. The media is heavily scrutinizing FIFA’s choice of Qatar as the host due to the country’s ongoing human rights violations. While many argue that hosting the event
Hindu Nationalism, Human Rights and COVID-19
This article is a contribution from Amit Singh, a visiting researcher at Lund University’s Department of Political Science. Views expressed in this article are the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of UPF Lund and The Perspective. In the 2020 Human Freedom Index, which ranks civil, economic and
Bombs, Borders, and Blackmail – A look backwards and forwards at the turbulence in the Western Sahara
The Western Sahara, the territory on the Northwest coast of Africa which is sometimes called ‘Africa’s Last Colony’ due to its listing by the UN as a non-decolonized territory, has had an extremely turbulent year. From escalating violence in the South of the territory to diplomatic fights over international recognition,
Ten Years On: The Challenge of Rebuilding Syria
Photo: Freedom House, Flickr In the last ten years, Syria has suffered through a brutal civil war. This war has failed to uproot President Bashar al-Assad from power and instead left the country fractured and deeply wounded. This article will explore the challenges facing Syria when attempting to rebuild the
Rap, threats, and freedom of expression
On the 3rd of March 2021, the Swedish supreme court ruled that the musician and rapper Frej Larsson would not be convicted for threatening a public servant in his song “Då ska hon skjutas” (Eng.: “Then, she will be shot”). The song includes explicitly threatening lyrics about specific police officers,
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Yemen’s crisis: seven years of bombstorms, seven years of stalemate
Ibrahem Qasim, Wikimedia Commons Ten years ago, an unprecedented wave of social movements, sparked by weariness, hope, and a yearning for liberty and justice, led to the uprooting of several autocratic regimes in the Arab world. The mantra “the people want the fall of the regime” inspired millions of people to
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‘The future we want’ – The Escazú Agreement and environmental democracy in Latin America
More than eight years after the Rio Conference on Sustainable Development, the first legally binding agreement emerging from it will enter into force in April: the Escazú Agreement. It is praised as a unique treaty breathing new life into the fight for environmental democracy and justice in Latin America and
Myanmar’s Strife
John Owens (VOA), Wikimedia Commons Myanmar—or Burma, as it was known—is a country with a troubled history. The latest example of this came to light in February 2021, when a coup d’état took place, enabling a group of military leaders (otherwise known as a ‘junta’) to grip the reins of