Human Rights – Siyasa

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Towards a Refortified “Status Quo of the Holy Places” in Israel/Palestine | Curtis Hutt

CURTIS HUTT, 26 FEBRUARY 2024 The Status Quo is an evolving set of historical arrangements concerning existing rights at holy places in Israel/Palestine. Their details are notoriously complex as they pertain not only to ownership but also to specific permitted practices. Parties to separate agreements often differ as to their scope and applicability. The definition of “holy […]

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Is the War in Afghanistan Over? | Said Sabir Ibrahimi

SAID SABIR IBRAHIMI, 22 NOVEMBER 2021 On August 15, 2021, the Taliban militant group ousted the quasi-democratic Islamic Republic of Afghanistan backed by the U.S. and reinstated the Islamic Emirate in Kabul. The Taliban argues that since the group controls the entire country, the conflict is over, and the international community should recognize the group […]

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Xinjiang and Global Supply Chains: Are You Buying Products Made with Uyghur Forced Labor? | Kelly Hammond

KELLY HAMMOND, 24 MAY 2021 By now, the ongoing human rights crisis in the western Chinese province of Xinjiang is well-known and well-documented. Governments around the world continue to denounce the illegal incarceration of Uyghurs and other Muslim ethnic groups, such as Kazakhs and Kyrgyz. They are also speaking out vehemently against reeducation camps, the […]

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Islam as a Conflict Resolution Tool? Evidence from Turkey’s Kurdish Conflict | Gülay Türkmen

GÜLAY TÜRKMEN, 17 MAY 2021 On March 17, 2021, a top prosecutor at Turkey’s Court of Cassation filed a case with the Constitutional Court demanding the closure of the pro-Kurdish People’s Democratic Party (HDP), which is currently the third-largest party in the parliament. This move came as no surprise to those who are in the […]

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Winston Churchill, T.E. Lawrence, and the Cairo Conference of 1921 | John Calvert

JOHN CALVERT, 3 MAY 2021 A century ago, in March 1921, the shape of the contemporary Middle East was decided at a conference held in Cairo, Egypt. In attendance were the movers and shakers of British imperial policy: Winston Churchill, T.E. Lawrence, and Gertrude Bell, among others. The decisions they made had lasting consequences for […]

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The Changing Landscape of Political Islam in Indonesia: A Backgrounder | Alexander R. Arifianto

ALEXANDER R. ARIFIANTO, 26 APRIL 2021 Indonesia, the largest Muslim majority country in the world, is considered a prime example of a successful democracy with a Muslim majority society. Leading Indonesian Muslim organizations and intellectuals have promoted its brand of moderate Islam. Recently, such a reputation had come under serious challenge. New and more theologically […]

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The Crisis in Xinjiang—A Historical Perspective on Muslims in China | Kelly Hammond

KELLY HAMMOND, 05 APRIL 2021 China’s Uyghurs have rightly been the center of news coverage recently. In China, the ongoing efforts to suppress Islam and Uyghur culture have led to the terrible and illegal incarceration of over one million Uyghurs and forced labor conditions. Recently governments in Canada, the United States and the EU have […]

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Dealing with Dictatorships: The Paradox of Great Power Support | Sean Yom

SEAN YOM, 15 MARCH 2021 During President Biden’s first month in office, the US raised the possibility that relations with Saudi Arabia would need “recalibration,” given its harrowing record of recent human rights violations. This move signaled a familiar scene that plays out in Washington whenever a non-democratic American ally commits egregious human rights abuses. […]

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Are Muslims to Blame for Islamophobia? | Turan Kayaoğlu

TURAN KAYAOĞLU, 6 APRIL 2020 On February 27, in the New York Times, Mustafa Akyol wrote that, “the justification of many terrible deeds in the name of Islam today, from terrorism to tyranny, from patriarchy to bigotry” is a cause of Islamophobia. He argues that the solution is “right there in the Quran”: Muslims should […]

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Islam Was Not the Solution: The False Promises of the Islamic Revival | Ahmet T. Kuru

AHMET T. KURU, 4 NOVEMBER 2019 “Are Arabs Turning Their Backs on Religion?” was the title of BBC’s 2019 coverage of a survey conducted in 11 countries with 25,000 interviewees. In 2018, BBC had reported the decline of religiosity in Turkey, too: “The Young Turks Rejecting Islam.” Other sources also documented declining Islamic religiosity in […]