Foreign Policy Blogs

Human Rights

MDGs a distant dream

The United Nations Millennium Development goals are taking a U-turn according to Medical Emergency Relief International. Yesterday, the leaders of the world met at the UN General Assembly to discuss promises made all those years ago. In 200o, the heads of state promised to halve poverty by 2015, achieve six other quantifiable goals for reducing […]

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International Girl-Child Day

International Girl-Child Day

Around the world millions up on millions of girls continue to remain marginalized. September 24th, International Girl Child Day, looks to bring light to the issues and awareness to the plight of girls across the globe. The fight for equality is far from new, and while historical battles have been fought and won across the […]

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National Capital Human Trafficking Awareness Month

National Capital Human Trafficking Awareness Month

September is Washington D.C.’s Human Trafficking Awareness Month, the event which was established thanks to the efforts of the DC Task Force on Human Trafficking. The Task Force was established in 2004 with the DC police department and the DC US Attorney’s office. Since the establishment of the Task Force, membership has grown to over […]

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The Fight For Freedom

The Fight For Freedom

This month Free the Slaves, the United States oldest anti-slavery/abolitionist organization launched the Freedom Awards, honoring those who have struggled for freedom and won, those who fight in the name of those who have been silenced by the chains of slavery, those who never look back and face hardship as if it were only a […]

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Fear and North Korea

Fear and North Korea

North Korea remains veiled in a murky shadow as their laconic leader, Kim Jong il, has taken ill after supposedly suffering a stroke.  No one has seen him since and he was conspicuously absent at a September 9 parade marking the country's foundering. No more fan fare, no more god awful spectacles filling stadiums teeming […]

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Haiti's Enslaved Children

Haiti's Enslaved Children

In Haiti the term Restavek, a Creole word derived from the French "rester avec", meaning "to stay with" or "to remain with", is deeply rooted in the countries history. While sending your children away to work as a domestic may be deeply rooted in the impoverished countries history, however the modern reality is that some […]

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ICC cheif calls for swift action in Darfur

The chief prosecutor for the International Criminal Court, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, called on the world community to work in unison to bring Sudanese war criminals to justice. Moreno-Ocampo, who was in New York Monday ahead of the 63rd annual session of the U.N. General Assembly on Sept. 23, said world leaders could do a better job […]

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The International Day of Peace

The International Day of Peace

Today, September 21st, marks International Day of Peace, as per a resolution declared by the The United Nations in 1981 to coincide with opening of its General Assembly. In 2001, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a new resolution that declared 21 September of each year as the International Day of Peace “…International Day of Peace shall henceforth […]

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News…

News…

ISRAEL-OPT: Thousands of East Jerusalem children not in school Thousands of Palestinian children in East Jerusalem do not attend school as there is no room for them in the state school system, parents and rights groups said, adding that the drop-out rate remained the highest in the Israeli school system. PAKISTAN: Swat conflict takes toll […]

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New Special Rapporteur addresses Council

Githu Muigai has replaced Doudou Dienne as the Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance. Muigai addressed the Human Rights Council in Geneva today and was particularly alarmed by the mainstreaming of racism and xenophobia by their adoption of political parties in democratic countries.  Muigai did not specify. Many […]

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Irreplaceable Miracles

Irreplaceable Miracles

“The child must know that he is a miracle, that since the beginning of the world there hasn't been, and until the end of the world there will not be, another child like him.”  – Pablo Casals (Spanish cellist and conductor 1876-1973) Children are our world's irreplaceable miracles; each one possesses the potential to change […]

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UN Watch criticizes Human Rights Council

The 9th Session on Human Rights is fond of statements, of pointing out the obvious, the atrocious.  It is its duty to bring world attention to the baser instincts of human nature.  But translated into action these causes often lack the will and sincerity of governments. Yesterday morning, Hillel Nueur of the United Nations Watch […]

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Deadly Baby Formula in China

Deadly Baby Formula in China

Over the last week news of investigations into China's latest manufacturing scandal has made headlines and once again shaken parents. Shocked consumers are no longer outraged by toxic toys, but toxic infant formula! The scandal first broke last week as China detained 19 as Toxic Formula Sickens Hundreds of Infants on Monday in connection with […]

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Karadzic Hearing

Agence-France Press reports indicted Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic repeated his allegations that he was offered immunity by Richard Holbrooke to the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) today, asserting that Holbrooke acted on behalf of the entire United Nations Security Council and, therefore, that his immunity offer should be considered binding. Despite […]

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9th Session of Human Rights Council

The 9th Session of Human Rights Council discussed  the issue of Darfur.  Yesterday morning Sima Samar,the UN special rapporteur for Sudan, presented her report. Her findings reveal Sudan's human rights have eroded since the surprise attack against Khartoum on May 10th. Government crackdowns against supposed dissidents are widespread. Violence against children and women continues unabated […]

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