Foreign Policy Blogs

Human Rights

Are Girls still Marginalized? Discrimination and Gender Inequality Today

Are Girls still Marginalized? Discrimination and Gender Inequality Today

“The emotional, sexual, and psychological stereotyping of females begins when the doctor says, “It’s a girl.’” -Shirley Chisholm Over half of the worlds population is female, yet they unjustly receive an unfair balance in life from conception. Not one society is spared from it’s second class treatment of the female population. No matter how long […]

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BBC Feature on Columbian Drug Cartels.

I wrote on Columbia the other day. The BBC has a featurette on the drug culture there.

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Happy Memorial Day!

Happy Memorial Day!

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Great Articles on Childrens Issues in Central Asia

I highly recommend that you read two of my esteemed fellow writer's, Bonnie Boyd's, posts on the Central Asia Blog. Central Asia: Iodized salt and children's health, which looks at the Xinjiang province of China and the governments efforts to eradicate iodine deficiency's in children. Tajikistan: 64% poverty, and portents for more, the post looks […]

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Have a Happy Memorial Day Weekend!

Have a Happy Memorial Day Weekend!

Photo by ArtLex Memorial Day was established as a day to remember those who served and died to give us our freedom and protect our country and rights. As families and friends around the US gather this weekend for picnics, parties, a day on the boat, a day at the beach or a good old […]

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U.N. expert faults U.S. on human rights in terror laws

By Evelyn Leopold UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – The United States apparently violated international law in its military tribunals by using coercion to extract confessions and writing counter-terrorism laws that restrict immigration on questionable grounds, a U.N. investigator said on Friday.

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"Knowledge makes a man unfit to be a slave." – Frederick Douglass

"Knowledge makes a man unfit to be a slave." – Frederick Douglass

Yet with infinite knowledge we still enslave not only men, but mere children!

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Lebanon Tribunal to Get Vote Next Week, UN Ambassador Says

Lebanon Tribunal to Get Vote Next Week, UN Ambassador Says

The US Ambassador to the United Nations, Zalmay Khalilzad, is pressing for a vote on the establishment of a special tribunal to investigate the assassination of former Lebanese prime minister, Rafik al-Hariri. The current Lebanese prime minister, Fouad Siniora, formally requested the establishment of the tribunal on May 14. The draft resolution circulated by Britain, […]

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The African Nation of Burundi Agrees to War Crimes Tribunals and Truth Commissions

The African Nation of Burundi Agrees to War Crimes Tribunals and Truth Commissions

The central African nation of Burundi has agreed to set up a war crimes tribunal and truth and reconciliation committee to examine atrocities during its 12-year civil war. The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Louise Arbour, was in the region as part of a 12-day tour of central Africa, including Rwanda and other Great […]

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The Root of Power

The Root of Power

Where does one find true power? Power is not in money, property, education or jobs, power is with all of us, in our words. If we can only learn to harness the power that we have and use our voices and learn to listen to the words of those around us. When we listen closely […]

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Follow-up to 'slavery in America'

Follow-up to 'slavery in America'

Hopefully many of you where able to catch the powerful and shocking, first part of 'slaves in America’ with Charles Gibson to follow the the story of Evelyn Chumbow, from Cameroon, a former slave, held captive in Maryland. Chumbow, was brought to the US at 11, with dreams of an education and new life in […]

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Roundup: ICC Investigates Africa, Pope Acknowledges Injustice in Latin America, Guilty Verdicts in Serbian Assassination, Yemeni Jailed on Terrrorism, Pakistani Troops Rearming Congolese Militias.

Roundup: ICC Investigates Africa, Pope Acknowledges Injustice in Latin America, Guilty Verdicts in Serbian Assassination, Yemeni Jailed on Terrrorism, Pakistani Troops Rearming Congolese Militias.

International Criminal Court Investigates War Crimes in Central African Republic The International Criminal Court (ICC) launched an investigation into allegations of "massives rapes and other acts of sexual violence" perpetrated by officials of the Central African Republic (CAR).  The top courts in CAR had referred the former President Ange Felix Patasse and Congolese rebel leader […]

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International Court Investigates Central African Republic

The International Criminal Court is to investigate war crimes allegedly committed in the Central African Republic (CAR) in 2002 and 2003. (BBC) The Hague court's prosecutor said his investigation would mainly focus on the large number of alleged rapes. The period covers the aftermath of a failed coup by current President Francois Bozize against the […]

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Columbian Officials Supporting Death Squads, Paramilitary Commanders Say.

Columbian Officials Supporting Death Squads, Paramilitary Commanders Say.

Salvatore Mancuso, a top military commander in Columbia testified that the government there was tied to the murder of civilians and cocaine trafficking, stating "paramilitarism was state policy."  According to the Washington Post, 14 members of Columbia's Congress, 7 former lawmakers, the head of the secret police, and many others have been implicated in cooperating […]

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Lebanon Conflict Seen to Destablize Hariri Tribunal

Lebanon Conflict Seen to Destablize Hariri Tribunal

The Lebanese Prime Minister, Fuad Siniora, has sent a formal request to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon calling for the ratification of an international court for Lebanon. The tribunal will be used to try suspects involved in the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, who was killed in a massive explosion there in […]

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