Human Rights

It's the ticking bomb scenario.  The bad guy is tied to a chair. A bomb is about to explode. The good guy shoots him in the leg.  20 seconds later, the information is disclosed and the world is saved.  It's Hollywood and TV magic at its best/worst and it's become primetime viewing throughout the US. […]

The New York Times reports that a list of terrorism suspects released today by the Saudi government includes eleven former Guantanamo detainees who passed through a Saudi rehabilitation program after their release. There’ve been a number of similar articles throughout the last month, and, indeed, starting in 2004. The struggles of the Saudi rehabilitation program […]

It's no secret that various terrorist groups have gotten significant support from Pakistan – either from elements of InterServices Intelligence or from private actors in the country. In the last year, ISI has been implicated in aiding an attack on the Indian consulate in Kabul, and Lashkar-e-Tayyiba, the alleged perpetrators of the Mumbai attack, allegedly […]

In response to the previous two posts the following is a true story of how one can emerge from tragedy and violence, and teach peace to children in the face of conflict. Teaching peace is more than just teaching about an end to war and armed conflict that has engulfed nations, but also bringing peace […]

Children are undisputedly the most victimized by war, and the long-term impact which is has on their development is profound, so how do you teach peace and tolerance in the midst of violence and hate? A child woken each night by thundering bombs of the "enemy', who wakes only to walk through the rubble filled […]

The military call it Gitmo, the journalists Guantanamo, the world – a human rights disaster where the individual ceased to exist.  The Geneva Conventions were summarily tossed aside.  This is a war where rules and conventions no longer apply said Albert Gonzalez in his Memorandum to President Bush in 2002. And for the next seven […]

“Peace is in the waves at sea. Peace must begin with you and me!” – Student, Gander Middle School, Gander, Newfoundland, Canada “Why destroy when we could create, Keep the peace, erase the hate.” – Normal Community West High School, Normal, IL, US “As I look around the world I sigh, And think, We could […]

Congressional Research Services – Congress’ think tank – has a significant report out discussing the legal issues associated with President Obama's executive order closing the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay (link available here). The report constitutes the most comprehensive publicly available treatment of the issues surrounding Gitmo closure yet offered by the United States government, […]

A justice at the military court in Guantanamo Bay moved against an executive order issued by U.S. President Barack Obama to delay tribunals there for 120 days. Judge James Pohl denied delay requests for a case involving Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri for his role in the October 2000 attack on the USS Cole, which killed 17 […]

Talking to our children about violence and war is difficult in its own right, as no parent wants to bring their child into the harsh reality that is our globalized world. And while yes, sheltering children from violence is ideal, it is not an option that holds feasibility for long. Soon children will catch a […]

The first witness in war crimes trial of Congolese warlord Thomas Lubanga reversed his testimony hours after relaying accounts of his conscription as a child soldier. The young man told the court rebels from Lubanga's Union of Congolese Patriots nabbed him and forced him into a military camp when he was in the fifth grade, […]

Yesterday was International Holocaust Remembrance Day, the 64th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, the most notorious of the Nazi extermination camps. We hope you’ll join us in taking a moment to memorialize the more than 1 million people – mostly Jews, but also Gypsies and political prisoners – who were murdered at Auschwitz and […]