Security
A category for abuses of physical security, persecution, and violence.
Gabon’s Lords of Poverty
Gabon’s Lords of Poverty Gabon’s Ba’aka pygmy population may soon be saying au revoir to smoked fish and nihao to tofu, if the $3.5 billion Belinga iron-ore mining deal, awarded to a Chinese consortium in 2006, goes off without a hitch. The ore, billed as one of the world’s last remaining major untapped deposits,... »
Governance and Development: Iraq after the US invasion
Governance and Development: By: Carol Blenda Reyes Avila The loss of life continues to rise in the US-led invasion of Iraq as both proponents and detractors of the war begin to question the almost certain human rights violations that are occurring. Overseeing the establishment of a sound and appropriate government once appeared to be... »
Human Trafficking: What a Perfected Business!
A lot of us think that success had come in the beginning of the 1800’s with the demise of the transatlantic slave trade, but pretty tragically, the incidence of slavery is more pervasive now, than ever before. There are an estimated 27 mm. slaves in the world today, more than at any other time... »
Sovereign Immunity: Samantar v. Yousuf
Human rights violations, war crimes, and international humanitarian law in the context of “Failed States” and “Civil Wars” are permeating into global discourse at a steady pace. While a few celebrated cases have dominated international attention, the “rules of accountability” are an organic process with growing pains. One of the main issues that hinder... »
Children in the Lord’s Resistance Army
According to a 2008 publication written by Khristopher Carlson & Dyan Mazurana the number of forced marriages within the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) in Uganda had reached a number of over 60,000 Ugandan children. According to the documentary Invisible Children, within the LRA it is believed that 90% of troops are abducted children. Since... »
Rights Based Approach Critical to Haiti’s Recovery
As news reports and video continue to reveal the extent of devastation Haiti suffered during the massive earthquake on January 12th, people from around the world are opening their purses to help the impoverished survivors of the 150,000 Haitians killed. At the onset of most natural disasters, fundraising is high and effective, but this... »
The Future of Afghan Children
In the State Department’s “Country Report on Human Rights Practices” written in 2001, there were multiple large scale human rights violations that transpired at the hands of the Taliban. These violations ran the gamut of articles written in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and as the State Department report describes... »
Human Rights Violations and Health: Need to Target Both in Conflict
The last few decades have brought enormous amount of human suffering through the conflicts. The conflicts threatened health of those affected and contributed to widespread human rights violations. Recognizing the link between human rights violations and health, as well as targeting both human rights and health simultaneously by human rights workers and health professionals... »
Epic Failure: The Usurping of Law & It’s Lack of Consequences
Torture. This single two-syllable word has the ability to conjure dozens of images and expressions: barbaric, pain, inhumane, Abu Ghraib, and, most importantly for the purposes of this paper, illegal. Torture and its techniques have been outlawed by both international and domestic law for dozens of years. And, as with all laws, this derives... »
Famine in Africa: A Lost Cause?
“Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired is, in a sense, a theft from those who hunger & are not fed, those who are cold & are not clothed.” (Dwight D. Eisenhower, April 16, 1953) While the definition of famine varies depending on the organization, the United States Agency for... »