By Jeremy Wildeman, Research Fellow at the Human Rights Research and Education Centre, University of Ottawa and Adjunct Assistant Professor, Carleton University
Canada and Canadians have long considered themselves defenders of human rights, democracy, justice and the rule of law. Canada played a significant role in the development of what’s known as the liberal international order, including multilateral institutions like the United Nations, and international law.
Canada was once highly respected for the role it played developing the framework for United Nations peacekeeping,…
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By Peter Watson, Emeritus professor, Physics, Carleton University
Playwright Tom Stoppard, in Rosencrantz and Guildernstern are Dead, provides one of the best definitions of science: “The scientific approach to the examination of phenomena is a defence against the pure emotion of fear.”
Nowhere is this more true than in the study of electricity in the wild; namely, lightning. Primitive humans must have been terrified by lightning, so much so that it is built into many religions.…
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By Megan Ames, Associate Professor, Psychology, University of Victoria
Carly McMorris, Associate Professor of Education, University of Calgary
Research into autistic students and post-secondary education yields insight into how institutions and faculty can foster more welcoming spaces, and tips for students navigating campuses.
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By Elisabetta Canteri, Postdoctoral Researcher, Globe Institute, University of Copenhagen
Damien Fordham, Associate Professor of Global Change Ecology, University of Adelaide
Despite surviving through large climatic fluctuations in the past, future climate warming may cause a drastic decline in caribou populations.
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By XN Iraki, Professor, Faculty of Business and Management Sciences, University of Nairobi
The Central Bank of Kenya has made two significant changes in the country’s banking sector. The first is to lift a decade-long moratorium on licensing new banks. Second is to raise capital requirements, the amount of money banks are required to keep readily available compared with the value of other assets they have. Bank capital is what shareholders have invested in the banking business. It’s…
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By Rachel Wynberg, Professor and DSTI/NRF SARChI Bio-economy Research Chair, University of Cape Town
June Bam-Hutchison, Professor in Education Rights and Transformation, University of Johannesburg
Sarah Ives, Instructor of Anthropology, City College of San Francisco
A ground-breaking benefit-sharing agreement was signed in 2019 between South Africa’s lucrative rooibos herbal tea industry and two organisations representing Indigenous San and Khoi people.
Indigenous San and Khoi – the oldest known populations of southern Africa – are traditionally hunter-gatherers and pastoralists. Their traditional knowledge also contributed towards the development of the rooibos tea industry.
Today, the commercial…
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By Richard Atimniraye Nyelade, Lecturer, Sociological and Anthropological Studies, L’Université d’Ottawa/University of Ottawa
Fatima, a fisherwoman on Lake Chad, sets out at dawn not just to make a living from the shrinking waters, but to pay a “tax”. Before casting her net, she must hand over part of her meagre earnings to armed men claiming allegiance to Boko Haram. If she refuses, her catch, her boat, even her life, could be taken.
Boko Haram is an insurgent network that began in north-east Nigeria in 2002 and later fractured into two…
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By Jonathan Beloff, Postdoctoral Research Associate, King's College London
The Congolese military court has accused former president Joseph Kabila of treason, corruption, war crimes and supporting the March 23 Movement (M23) rebel group. During court proceedings that began in July 2025, arguments were made for utilising the death penalty against Kabila, who was in power from 2001 to 2019.…
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By Rezwan
Savar Upazila in Bangladesh has been declared a “degraded airshed,” marking the country’s first initiative of its kind to address air pollution. Experts have called for coordinated action to tackle the crisis.
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Friday, September 5, 2025
Sanctions imposed by the United States on three prominent and well-respected Palestinian human rights groups are “completely unacceptable and should be withdrawn”, UN human rights chief Volker Türk said on Friday.
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