Human Rights

The conflict between Israel and Palestine is far from being anything remotely close to new, and who's right and whose wrong remains muddled in the smoke and dust of war. However one thing is clear, and that is that the children on both sides of the war are caught in the middle. Currently Gaza's children […]

The defense team for Congolese warlord Thomas Lubanga Tuesday said secrecy clauses made the trial inherently unfair, adding it struck a blow to the notion of transparent international justice. All but two of the 93 alleged victims of Lubanga taking part in the trial were allowed to do so under the cloak of anonymity and […]

There is a point where numbers merge with the real and the surreal.  Its relevance and impact seem abstract and incomprehensible. One million displaced since August 2008, 5 million killed over the past years.  300,000 women and girls raped and brutalized. 17,000 UN soldiers, the UN’s largest peacekeeping mission.  And yet after all this suffering, […]

On Monday, the ICC will begin proceedings in its first trial ever – Congolese warlord Thomas Lubanga Dyilo will stand trial for using child soldiers during the Congo's civil war. (As TRIAL notes, Lubanga's group, the Union of Congolese Patriots (UPC), is also accused of massacring civilians). The legal documents filed before in the case […]

Earlier this month Human Rights Watch's (HRW) released their 19th annual World Report, the report summarizes human rights conditions in more than 90 countries and territories worldwide. The 2009 HRW report highlights the extensive and investigative work which the HRW staff, and human rights activists in the field, undertook in 2008. 2008 marked the 60th […]

"Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end." – Seneca (Roman philosopher, mid-1st century AD) As we embark on a new year and a new administration, I felt this quote was truly fitting for the week. Let us embark on new beginnings domestically and internationally, but let us not forget the past, both good […]

I came across this photo expose, The American Teen, which I found tremendously enthralling and wanted to share it with you. In the 22 photos photojournalist Robin Bowman, manages to not only capture the diversity of the American teen, but also the complexity of the generation. From drugs to god, pregnancy to chastity pledges, rural […]

U.S. President Barack Obama will sign a series of Executive Orders Thursday ordering the closure of the military facility at the naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba within a year. At issue is the fate of the detainees held there.  Obama Wednesday in his first full day in office ordered a 120-day halt to military […]

Another sad story to digest.  This time, once again, an aspiring journalist was shot dead along with a human rights lawyer outside a metro in Moscow.  Murdered in broad day light. Only 25 years old, Anastasiya Baburova, kept a blog about life in Russia, about her passion for rollerblading and her frustration with Putin’s  government.   […]

The Washington Post Wednesday reported that U.S. President Barack Obama ordered a suspension of war crimes trials for suspected terrorists held at the naval facility at Guantanamo Bay.  We may have more on this later in the day. Washington Post Staff Writer Wednesday, January 21, 2009; Page A02 GUANTANAMO BAY, Cuba, Jan. 20 — In […]

Barak Obama was sworn in yesterday as President of the United States, however with President Obama, not only comes the new First Lady Michelle Obama, but also the ‘First Daughters’. Malia, 10, and Sasha, 7, have surely done well thus far in the public spotlight, and shadow of their father. Nonetheless what does the move […]

DC has been a buzz all weekend with the glitz and glamour of the inaugural balls, as well as the not so glamorous road blocks and street closing; however rain, shine or snow crowds of people will descend on the city streets in only a few hours. Many young and old have already begun to […]