A federal judge in Miami sentenced the alleged Islamic terrorist, Jose Padilla, to 17 years and four months for conspiring with terrorist cells around the world. Padilla and two others received convictions in August for conspiracy to kidnap and kill citizens abroad and two lesser charges of material support. Judge Marcia Cooke of the Federal […]
"Child survival is not only a human rights imperative, it is also a development imperative," said Joy Phumaphi, Vice President, Human Development Network at the World Bank. "Investing in the health of children and their mothers is a sound economic decision and one of the surest ways for a country to set its course towards […]
The word ‘Freedom’, has been used to wage wars and to stand in honor, yet one rarely thinks of the word ‘Freedom’ as something that the majority of the world is without, but as we dawn a new year that is the case for much of the world. According to a recent report by Freedom […]
The Sudanese government appointed an alleged Janjaweed militia leader to a cabinet post. Human rights officials and observers in Washington accuse the appointee, Musa Hilal, with coordinating the Janjaweed militia during Darfur's bloody campaign. Human Rights Watch called on the U.N. Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, to urge the Sudanese president to revoke the appointment. Hilal denies […]
Everything that we see is a shadow cast by that which we do not see. – The Measure of a Man, 1958 Those words ring as true today as it did then, we still walk around in the light failing to to see the shadows that are all around us, ignoring the children of the […]
The U.S. District Court in New York sentenced a 25-year-old Canadian of Kuwaiti descent to life in prison for plotting in 2001 a bombing of the U.S. embassies in Manila and Singapore. The FBI in May 2002 arrested Mohammed Mansour Jabarah at a FBI-run safe-house in Oman for alleged al-Qaida suspects fleeing Afghanistan following the […]
Most anyone knows that the first two years in a child's life key to adult development, and it is the undernourishment of children and pregnant mothers that is the underlying cause of some 3.5 million preventable child deaths each year. After the age of two much of a child's life is already permanently imprinted upon […]
While the bruises of the body fade in time, the scars of child abuse never fade. Children are never the same again after an abuser has entered their lives, they loose not only the innocence of childhood, but also the chance at a normal future. One cannot erase the memories of abuse, they live in […]
Guatemala: Alvaro Colom was sworn in yesterday as Guatemala's new president. Colom pledged to alleviate poverty in the country, where half the people live on an estimated $1 per day. Afghanistan: Due to an increase in prices, more than 1 million people in rural Afghanistan are at risk of food shortages, says the United Nations […]
There are some 27 million slaves in the world today, making the already horrendous crime one one of the There is no corner of the world untouched by this unspeakable crime, which preys mostly on women and children. The United States has taken the issues with the utmost seriousness, and over the last 8 years […]
Officials and judges from the U.N.-backed war crimes tribunal for former members of the Khmer Rouge traveled to one of the disposed regime's villages to hold a town hall meeting for local residents. Five senior members of the Khmer Rouge were arrested in 2007 and charged with a variety of atrocities, including war crimes and […]
The use of the internet to sell things comes as no shock in our high tech digital age; however, what about the distribution of child pornography and the selling of children? The sad reality is that the use of such sites as MySpace and Craigslist have been at the forefront of these illicit and horrendous […]
The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Adm. Mike Mullen, said Monday he wanted to see the detention facility at the U.S. Naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, closed because it damaged American's international reputation. “I’d like to see it shut down,” Mullen said. “I believe that from the standpoint of how it reflects […]
The number of internally displaced people in Iraq had increased some 50% from 2006 to 2007, however some claim the numbers may now be falling, but only slowly. There are still millions of Iraqi's living away from home due to the threat of violence there, leaving some to flea their homes and head to other […]
Kenya: A total of 3,704 people have fled the ongoing violence in Kenya, crossing the border into neighboring Uganda according to the Uganda Red Cross. Most of the refugees have sought shelter in schools which are closed for the holidays, their fate and futures remain unknown as the violence in Kenya continutes. Iraq: According to […]