I wrote last week about the difficulties in prosecuting pirates, even high-profile ones, and the increase in pirate attacks after the Navy Seals’ awesome and heroic rescue of the Maersk Alabama. As Eugene Kontorovich notes, the surviving Maersk Alabama pirate will be tried in New York. Other pirates detained by the German navy are suing […]
It is from here, in this giant glass building in Brussels, with its intricate halls, winding corridors and twenty odd languages that the European Commission is reaffirming its aid commitments to developing countries amid the financial crisis. Heavy machinery is pounding away outside, the subway is under renovation, and those who enter the adjoining International […]
The FPA Children’s blog is looking for kids views on today’s human rights issues, such as; peace, war, poverty, education, etc. Every Friday we post a “notable quotes about children” piece in which a quote is posted by a notable activist, politician, historical or literary figure, however we would like If you are a teacher […]
We are happy to inform you that the Foreign Policy Association’s Children’s Rights Writer/Blogger, Cassandra Clifford, will now also be writing on Human Rights for the Examiner. Cassandra will not be leaving the FPA, but working with the Examiner to expand upon the reach and awareness of Human Rights using a unique local perspective. Cassandra […]
A child’s education should begin at least one hundred years before he is born. – Oliver Wendell Holmes (1809-1894) American author and poet. It is undoubtedly true that a child’s education begins well before that child is even born, for it is what we leave a child that they will learn from. The lessons of […]
Spanish prosecutors Thursday advised against going forward with investigations into six former U.S. officials charged with sanctioning torture as Washington releases memos justifying the use of waterboarding. Spanish Attorney General Candido Conde Pumpido said the decision to hold back on the probe stemmed from the fact that none of the six – including former U.S. […]
LESOTHO: Cash for kids This month, 5,000 orphans and vulnerable children in three districts of Lesotho will start benefiting from a new government scheme to alleviate the poverty preventing them from going to school, having enough to eat and staying healthy. About 55 percent of the estimated 180,000 orphaned children in the tiny mountain kingdom, […]
They number in the tens of thousands. Toiling away in heat that reaches 50 Centigrade, the slaves of Dubai are the unseen and unheard workforce that has constructed this mecca of extravagant waste of natural resources (water) and consumerism. The Dubai resident consumes 3x more water than the average American. For thirty years, the city in […]
In yesterday’s post Iraq’s Forgotten Refugee Children, the need to ensure that those displaced by the Iraq war are adequately meet. Humanitarian aid is with out a doubt needed, as are other infrastructures to ensure that some symbolance of normality and daily life is given to refugee families. Adequate, food, shelter and sanitation are still […]
We’ve talked about piracy a few times – it’s certainly been one of the primary unlawful uses of force in global news over the last year. Of course, this week we have some very good news: US Navy Seals rescued the captain and crew of the Maersk Alabama, an American cargo ship seized by pirates. […]
A Facebook Haggadah is born. Sample: “Joseph and Pharaoh are now friends…. Pharaoh sent The Israelites Bread of Affliction.” Ever wonder what happens to the leavened goods in Israel during Passover? PRI’s The World talks to Hussein Jaber, a Muslim catering manager at a Jerusalem hotel who gets them all! Barack Obama hosts what is […]
The war in Iraq has taken its toll on all sides, but those left to suffer disparagingly are the children who are quite literally caught in the cross fire. Children are left wounded, disabled, or even worse dead. Those who escape harm from the violence of the conflict are often left nothing short of hanging […]
Just outside the Schuman metro station, in front of Brussel’s executive arm – the European Commission, a Romani woman cradles her small child. Next to her is a cup. It is a sad spectacle for a Europe that has had and continues to have an entire people either living on the cusp of poverty […]
When in July 14, 2008 prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo charged Sudan’s President Omar Hassan al-Bashir with genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes, few people would have argued against. Only a month before, Moreno-Ocampo stood in front of the United Nations Security Council and said Khartoum had slaughtered some 300,000 people. The evidence is there buried […]
“There is a ”sanctity” involved with bringing a child into this world: it is better than bombing one out of it.” – James Baldwin (1924-1987) African-American writer. So often we take for granted the power and fragility of life, for the power and miracle of birth is often quickly overshadowed by the power of destruction […]