-Friedrich Nietzsche, The Twilight of the Idols (1899) Millions of children are forced to grow-up in a conflict ridden nations, children from Afghanistan, Burundi, Central African Republic, Chad, Cote d’Ivoire, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Haiti, Iraq, Lebanon, Occupied Palestinian Territory/Israel, Somalia, Sudan and Uganda, to Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka, the Philippines and Colombia, […]
The conditions of life in the Sahrawi refugee camps is far from easy. Isolated in a desert in south-western Algeria, many of the refugees have spent their entire lives dependent on international aid. But a recent article in the International Herald Tribune quoting former Sahrawi refugees now residing in the Moroccan controlled Western Sahara are […]
One doesn't have to think long and hard to realize that children who are born into conflict ridden countries are at a disadvantage to those children born into peaceful nations, however the disparity between the two when it comes to education may very well surprise you. Some 500 times more funding goes into the education […]
Khalid Sheik Mohammed faces the U.S. military tribunal at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, Thursday. The Pentagon charged KSM, along with several other co-conspirators, with terrorism and one count of murder for every victim of the Sept. 11 attacks on New York, Pennsylvania and Washington D.C. If convicted, each faces the death penalty. KSM claims, among other […]
To follow-up with yesterdays post, From Child Laborer to President, on Alejandro Toledo, who is now working with his organization Global Center for Development and Democracy, to combat inequality and poverty, especially among the countries child labors. The Committee for Prevention and Eradication of Child Labor in Peru has estimated that 2.5 million children, most […]
On the heels of the International Criminal Court Chief Prosecutor's report released earlier this week, which implicated the Sudanese government in the ongoing genocide in Darfur, a coalition of human rights groups released this video fleshing out the charges against Harun and Kushayb with testimony from victims and calling on the UN Security Council to […]
A razor blade, circumstance, and forced isolation are the only tools the US military tribunal need to charge 29-year old British national Binyam Mohamed with an alleged al-Qaida dirty bomb plot. Whether or not Mr. Mohamed is actually guilty can not excuse the US from engaging in medieval practices dating back to the 13th century. […]
In the face of adversity makes many crumble and it makes others stronger. It was strength and determination in the face of adversity that took one young Peruvian boy from a childhood working on the streets to become the leader of the nation that once look at him with hopeless eyes. In 2001, Alejandro Toledo […]
In the historic first case transferred to Croatian courts by the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY), General Mirko Norac was convicted and General Rahim Ademi acquitted of war crimes on theories of command responsibility. The historic conviction is a major step forward for Croatia, whose government long resisted responsibility for war crimes […]
The Associated Press reports that International Criminal Court Chief Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo issued a new report today to the UN Security Council describing evidence that high officials in the Sudanese government are directly linked to the ongoing genocide in Darfur. The report said a pre-trial hearing would be held next month. Evidence of Sudanese government […]
Chad has agreed to release all former child combatants held in detention, while armed rebel groups in the Central African Republic (CAR) have also committed to freeing any children in their ranks, a top United Nations envoy announced June 2 after a six day trip to the two countries. In Chad the Government has agreed […]
The term “Article 98 agreement” refers to the provision of the Rome Statute establishing the International Criminal Court that prohibits the Court from prosecuting someone located within an ICC member state if doing so would cause the member state to violate the terms of other bilateral or multilateral treaties to which it may be a […]
The US State Department has reinstated the scholarships of seven Gaza Strip students. Last Thursday the students were denied exit visas. Israel's tight security makes it nearly impossible for any Gaza Strip resident to leave the territory. However, there are “humanitarian” exceptions. Israeli officials are now blaming the US for not requesting special exemptions for Fulbright scholars.
In a stunning development, various media outlets are reporting that the NGO Reprieve has information suggestion that the Bush Administration is running prison ships to hold individuals who have been captured via a rendition program: “The United States is operating “floating prisons” to house those arrested in its war on terror, according to human rights […]
In my post on August 1, 2007, UN Peacekeepers and the Abuse of Children, I reported on the failings of UN peacekeepers in the wake of recently emerging and wide spread abused in Liberia. However as I reported then then these abuses where not new in the world of the blue helmets, and nor are […]