Avery Kimberlin

In the past three years, the number of deaths caused by fentanyl overdoses has skyrocketed. The drug is 100 times more potent than morphine and just 2 milligrams of fentanyl, equal to 10 to 15 grains of table salt, is considered a lethal dose. Illegally manufactured fentanyl is found in heroin, cocaine, methamphetamine, and in counterfeit pills. Teenagers are the center of this epidemic. They consume common drugs, unknowing that it might contain traces of fentanyl and that those traces are enough to be fatal. It is imperative that action is taken at every level to combat the epidemic and protect those that are most vulnerable. In this brief, we cover the basic mechanisms of how fentanyl functions, how it affects the human body, how it is propagated throughout society, who is most at risk of fentanyl poisoning, and how it might fall into those groups’ hands. We stand in support of The Nyl Project’s attention on the surge in fentanyl-related deaths in the United States of America, believing that more is needed to involve NGOs, educate susceptible populations, and prevent overdoses to end the epidemic once and for all. Now more than ever, schools, governments, and NGOs need to step up and take action.

Arms transfers are directly linked to human rights. In conflict, transferred weapons and arms split apart families, equipping nations with exponentially larger capacity for destruction and annihilation. Given the nature of arms, access to information about arms transfers is often asymmetric between the public, government stakeholders, state-owned enterprises, and private companies; a trade-off exists between the benefits of making information public and transparent with the downsides of revealing sensitive national security items or trade secrets. In this brief, we review the legal landscape of access to information laws, highlighting applicability to arms transfers to analyze how transparent/accessible information and data regarding arms transfers are in the status quo. We stand in support of the Human Rights Council’s attention on arms transfers, believing that more is needed to involve NGOs, close international loopholes, and track responsible arms usage with technology to uphold human rights for all.

Social media has exploded in usage amongst children. 50% of parents state that their child has access to some type of social media, with 32% of parents reporting that their children aged 7 to 9 have access to social media. Three quarters of parents have shared the content of their children online.1 ...