We Really Should Talk About the Word “Should' - Shouldn’t We?
We use the word ‘Should’ all the time in human rights work. It can seem like our favorite term, and you’ll find it on almost every page of our website.
Russia ‘Should’ stop forcing Ukrainians from occupied regions into its military.
The dangers of Italy’s refugee detention deal with Albania ‘Should’ prompt EU action.”
Global carmakers ‘Should’ map their supply chains” and drop suppliers found to source parts from Xinjiang, China, to avoid forced labor.
I know some folks say it can all be a bit too much sometimes. This ‘Should’ happen, that ‘Should’ happen, the authorities 'Should' do these things… To some, it can sound like wishful thinking, especially when we’re talking about a government committing atrocities right, left, and center. Do abusive regimes ever have even a single thought about what they “Should” be doing?
But over the years, I’ve grown to like the word “Should” - we’re not using it in some pie-in-the-sky way. It’s not a reality-dodging “wouldn’t it be nice if,” but something else entirely. Every time we say “Should,” it comes after a long description of events and abuses we’ve documented and analyzed. Far from avoiding reality, we’re describing it in great detail. Then, we’re looking at international and national laws to see where authorities fall short.
The word “Should” is about expectations. We expect authorities to follow the rules, to obey the law. We point out when they don’t and say what they 'Should' do instead. Those who work in human rights are sometimes thought of as wooly-eyed idealists, but take it from someone on the inside: nothing is further from the truth. We know what the world is really like – maybe better than a lot of people, in fact. We know that inhumanity too often trumps human dignity. We document it and describe it every day. There’s no wool over these eyes.
But we demand better. Because what else ‘Should’ you do? Just accept that everything is awful forever and ever? And yes, we all know it’s like the Red Queen’s race in Lewis Carroll’s Through the Looking-Glass. Like Alice, we keep running and running just to stay in place. But if we all stopped running – if we all stopped pushing for universal human rights, stopped expecting them to be recognized – we’d all be going backwards terrifyingly quickly.
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So, we’re going to keep reminding people how things ‘Should’ be, how people’s rights should be respected, and how we ‘Should’ all work toward that aim.
Andrew Stroehlein, Human Rights Watch, https://shorturl.at/rGRST
UK’s Coming Election and the Politics of Immigration: Five Key Themes
Divisions over immigration and asylum have been a feature of British politics for decades. Much of the debate in this policy area has become tired and repetitive. This short briefing sets out a different perspective, and a challenge to the parties ahead of the next election. It highlights five alternative themes that, while generally overlooked amid the fractious debates, are in fact key to addressing concerns, bridging divides and restoring public faith. Five Key Themes:
1) Society’s divisions over immigration are quite natural and are mainly not about immigration. They must primarily be addressed through providing good work, affordable housing and core public services.
2) Trying to change people’s minds on immigration without changing their experience risks making matters worse. The aim should be to make those most concerned about immigration forget about it, not love it. Constant immigration policy shifts and ceaseless immigration rule changes achieve the opposite.
3) You need to properly frame immigration policy for the public, and immigration as being not in binary opposition to the local, but as part of a connected holistic approach which in fact supplements and enhances the local, through mechanisms such as the Immigration Skills Charge and Immigration Health Surcharge.
4) The real challenge of immigration control is not about arrivals but returns. Failure to be able to return people who should not be in the UK fundamentally undermines the public’s faith in the system, and provides the impetus for policies such as the hostile environment and the Rwanda plan. This is a tough area, but even in recent times this part of the system worked much better and can do so again.
5) The real challenge of immigration control can only be met through cooperative diplomacy, at the international, national and local levels: *Internationally: to achieve a tougher but fairer multilateral system *Nationally: requiring the two sides of the divide to work together and to accept trade-offs in the mutual interest of a better functioning system *Locally: the complementary skills and experience of central and local government – currently often at odds and wasted – must be brought into a much more productive relationship.
Read more: Social Market Foundation, https://shorturl.at/yDGLU
Rishi Sunak’s Small Boats Plan - Home Office Deems Turkey Unsafe
Rishi Sunak’s pledge to halt boats carrying migrants across the English Channel is under threat once again as the Home Office is said to have concerns about Turkey being a safe country.
The decision puts the prime minister’s hope of striking a returns deal with Ankara in jeopardy, as officials say that Turkey is “over-zealous” in its anti-terrorism laws and has unfair trials. There are also allegations of torture in the judicial system.
Three thousand Turkish nationals arrived by small boat to the UK last year, the third largest nationality and more than double the number from the previous year.
Read more: Zoe Grunewald, Indpendent, https://shorturl.at/amB58
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The Silent Serial Killer: 391 Deaths In 25 Years at the UK Border
391 people died at the France-Belgium-UK border between 1999 and 2024. openDemocracy and Les Jours investigate.
On 11 January 1999, an Iraqi man was found dead in the port of Dover, England. Hidden under the trailer of a lorry, at axle level, he had just crossed the border from France when the jolts of the lorry knocked him off balance. He fell to the ground and was immediately crushed by the wheels.
The identity of this man is unknown, as is his personal history. His death would have gone unnoticed if nobody had found his body. He is not the only one to have lost his life on this journey. Between 1 January 1999 and 1 January 2024, 391 migrants died on the border between the UK, France and Belgium.
These deaths were documented by French media outlet Les Jours in a study that is as unprecedented as it is exceptional. Name, age, gender, nationality, migratory route, circumstances of death. For years the journalists at Les Jours searched for and compiled all possible information on the migrants who disappeared along this maritime border.
openDemocracy has now published the investigation in English, so the UK can know what the French now know.
Read more, Maël Galisson, Open Democracy, https://shorturl.at/cuEKL
UN Secretary-General: End ‘Abhorrent Practice’ of Female Genital Mutilation
Some 4.4 million girls are at risk of female genital mutilation (FGM) this year, the UN Secretary-General warned on Tuesday, appealing for action to stamp out this “egregious violation of fundamental human rights” and give greater voice to survivors.
“Even one mutilation is one too many,” António Guterres said in his message to mark the International Day of Zero Tolerance for Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), observed annually on 6 February.
The UN estimates that globally, 200 million women and girls have been subjected to some form of FGM, which involves the removal of or injury to female genitalia for non-medical reasons.
Challenge patriarchal norms
The Secretary-General stressed the need for urgent investments to achieve elimination by 2030, in line with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Read more: United Naions, https://shorturl.at/eqvJN
Continuing Conflicts That Create Refugees - February 2024
Twenty Deteriorated Situations – A Remarkably High Number: Burundi - Rwanda - Korean - Peninsula - Papua New Guinea - Ecuador - Venezuela - Türkiye - Israel/Palestine - Jordan - Syria - Iraq - Yemen - Iran - Comoros Islands - Mozambique - Somalia - Somaliland - Burkina Faso - Mali - Niger
Conflict Risk Alerts: Haiti, Israel/Palestine, Lebanon, Syria,Yemen
Resolution Opportunities: None
The monthly conflict tracker highlights five conflict risks, four of which underscore the threat of a major conflagration in the Middle East.
Israel’s relentless attacks on Gaza – which have killed more than 27,000 people in four months – continued unabated and could wreak further death and destruction unless mediation efforts deliver a ceasefire. A truce could offer respite and aid for the almost two million displaced Gazans fending off famine and disease.
The U.S. and UK began a bombing campaign against Yemen ’s Houthis, risking a wider escalation. The U.S. “terrorist” designation of the group could compound the humanitarian crisis and hamper the peace process. Meanwhile, front lines in several regions displayed signs of a possible return to conflict (see this month’s Conflict in Focus).
Hostilities between Israel and Hizbollah continued at high intensity as Israel stepped up pressure to push back the group’s fighters deployed along the border, highlighting the risk of all-out war engulfing Lebanon and the region.
The U.S. looks set to launch retaliatory strikes in Syria or elsewhere after a Tehran-backed group likely operating from Syria killed three U.S. servicemen in Jordan – the first deadly attack on U.S. forces in the region since Israel’s war in Gaza began.
With Haiti’s acting Prime Minister Ariel Henry due to step down on 7 February but unlikely to stick to his pledge, a former rebel leader rallied support for protests to topple him, raising the risk of instability in coming weeks.
Junta leaders in Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso announced their immediate withdrawal from the regional bloc Economic Community of West African States, marking a major setback for regional integration.
Somalia reacted furiously to a memorandum of understanding between Ethiopia and Somaliland on sea access. The diplomatic row could weaken Mogadishu’s anti-Al-Shabaab campaign and further undermine regional stability.
Burundi’s diplomatic spat with Rwanda over the latter’s alleged support for RED-Tabara rebels intensified with Burundi’s border closure, which came amid escalating rhetoric and reports of a troop build-up along the frontier.
In Venezuela, the Supreme Court reaffirmed a decision banning the opposition’s presidential candidate María Corina Machado from standing for office, dealing a blow to prospects for a competitive 2024 election.
President Noboa declared an “internal armed conflict” for the first time in Ecuador’s history after criminal groups unleashed a wave of violence in prisons and cities nationwide.
North Korea fired barrages of artillery near a South Korean island and formally dropped the goal of unification with the south, signalling Pyongyang’s intention to stoke tensions on the Korean Peninsula in 2024.
Our tracker assessed one improved situation in Guatemala . The transfer of power took place as planned, with Bernardo Arévalo assuming the presidency after months of relentless efforts to block the August election result and a turbulent inauguration.
Aside from the scores of conflict situations we regularly assess, we tracked significant developments in the Comoros, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Papua New Guinea.
Source: Crisis Group. https://shorturl.at/iyEHN
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