2022 started with the looming societal and economic consequences of a pandemic we are yet to leave behind and continued with a war that devasted Ukraine, leaving millions homeless (here you can find a list of organizations to support). While the conflict in Ukraine occupied most of the media attention, it was not the only one to tear off families. The conflict in Tigray kept leaving more dead and displaced, and we are now witnessing a newly erupted war between Armenia and Azerbaijan. At the end of the summer, in Iran, young people started protesting against an oppressive regime that is now hanging its most critical citizens, while in neighboring Afghanistan, women lost their human rights to education.

It is not unusual that women are the first ones to suffer from regime oppression, given that in many parts of the world they are already under severe scrutiny and pay with their lives for choices that do not conform with what their societies have imposed on them, as Ahmed Marwan Al -Saeedi discussed in his article on Honor Killings in Iraq.

2023 started with a perduring sense of exhaustion, with another attempted coup d’état, this time in Brazil, with new bombardments in Ukraine and a brand-new version of COVID with the reassuring name of Kraken. As of mid-January, new war crimes have been committed in Ukraine, but many are the territories where the International Crisis Group is pointing to discussing the crises that will likely define this 2023.

While we cannot predict how these will go, as a human rights publication our commitment is to try and tell the stories of the people and communities affected by human rights violations, but also stories of respect, solidarity, and effective implementation.

Whilst we aim at casting a light on events that are not discussed by many and to give a voice to those who are normally not given one, we hope we will receive pieces that will talk about how human rights have been protected and present you how new technologies can help and not hinder human rights such as our latest publication on Vtubing.

This 2023, as in the past, we are ready to discuss, review, and publish original pieces and interviews that will give us and you, additional reasons to be advocates and activists.

The Editorial Team of Rights!