Category Archives: Rights and social justice

Posts about human rights or social justice issues, both in Canada and worldwide.

Formulation of Humanist Policy Internationally, with Considerations

by | January 13, 2024

By Scott Douglas Jacobsen Humanists International in Denmark Humanists International hosted its 2023 combined World Congress and General Assembly in Copenhagen, Denmark, at the Scandic Copenhagen in early August. It was the first World Congress in almost a decade. A large gathering of hundreds of leaders within the humanist movement. At one point in the General… Read more »

Ask Jon 25: Hope for the Best, Expect the Worst

by | June 3, 2021

By Scott Douglas Jacobsen Jonathan Engel, J.D. is the President of the Secular Humanist Society of New York. Here we talk about Election Day 2020. *Interview conducted on October 26, 2020.* Scott Jacobsen: Off tape, you said something. Was it an older Yiddish phrase. Okay, Jon, why did we come to you stating that particular quote? Engel: Well,… Read more »

Conversation with Jennifer Herrera – Vice President, External Affairs, National Women’s History Museum (U.S.)

by | August 25, 2020

By Scott Douglas Jacobsen Jennifer Herrera, M.A., vice president of external affairs, is the chief communications officer for the National Women’s History Museum, where she oversees all public affairs, marketing, and media relations efforts. On August 26, 2020, the National Women’s History Museum will celebrate the 100th anniversary of the ratification of the 19th Amendment with a… Read more »

Ask HRW (Israel and Palestine) 7 – New Heights to the Plight and the Fight: Covid-19, Hegemony, Restrictions, and Rights

by | August 10, 2020

By Scott Douglas Jacobsen Omar Shakir, J.D., M.A. works as the Israel and Palestine Director for Human Rights Watch. He investigates a variety of human rights abuses within the occupied Palestinian territories/Occupied Palestinian Territories or oPt/OPT (Gaza and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem) and Israel. Language recognized in the work of the OHCHR, Amnesty International, Oxfam International, United Nations, World Health Organization, International Labor Organization, UNRWA, UNCTAD,… Read more »

Conversation with John Dugard, Richard Falk, and S. Michael Lynk on the Role of the Special Rapporteur, and the International Criminal Court & Jurisdiction

by | August 6, 2020

By Scott Douglas Jacobsen As far as I know, this is the first live group conversation between Professor John Dugard, Professor Richard Falk, and Professor S. Michael Lynk. As such, the subject matter became narrowed to the positions held by Dugard, Falk, and Lynk, and the current context before the International Criminal Court regarding jurisdiction. Professor… Read more »

Interview with Professor Steven Pinker – Johnstone Family Professor, Psychology, Harvard University

by | June 10, 2020

— By Scott Douglas Jacobsen In a prior job at Conatus News in the United Kingdom, I conducted an interview with the prominent and respected author and philosopher of science, Dr. Rebecca Newberger Goldstein, who agreed to the interview and made some thoughtful comments about the idea of the “conatus” or the idea of an “effort… Read more »