Human Rights

The 9th Session on Human Rights is fond of statements, of pointing out the obvious, the atrocious.  It is its duty to bring world attention to the baser instincts of human nature.  But translated into action these causes often lack the will and sincerity of governments. Yesterday morning, Hillel Nueur of the United Nations Watch […]

Over the last week news of investigations into China's latest manufacturing scandal has made headlines and once again shaken parents. Shocked consumers are no longer outraged by toxic toys, but toxic infant formula! The scandal first broke last week as China detained 19 as Toxic Formula Sickens Hundreds of Infants on Monday in connection with […]

Agence-France Press reports indicted Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic repeated his allegations that he was offered immunity by Richard Holbrooke to the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) today, asserting that Holbrooke acted on behalf of the entire United Nations Security Council and, therefore, that his immunity offer should be considered binding. Despite […]

The 9th Session of Human Rights Council discussed  the issue of Darfur.  Yesterday morning Sima Samar,the UN special rapporteur for Sudan, presented her report. Her findings reveal Sudan's human rights have eroded since the surprise attack against Khartoum on May 10th. Government crackdowns against supposed dissidents are widespread. Violence against children and women continues unabated […]

Child marriage is not one of a mere social and gender discrimination issue, but also a global health problem. Child marriages lead to early pregnancies, which leave girls at high risk for death in childbirth, complications, and low birth weights. What is the global cost of child marriages? According to a new World Vision report, […]

Rasim Delic, a former commander of the Bosnian Muslim army, received a three-year prison sentence at The Haque for failing to intervene in torture committed against captured Serb soldiers in the 1990s. Prosecutors had sought a 15-year prison term for the former commander, The New York Times reported, though trial judges failed to find sufficient […]

Let us not forget the ongoing tragedy of Darfur.  Countless UN Security Council resolutions, an American administration that rightfully called it by its proper name: genocide…and yet nothing is stopping the humanitarian disaster from unfolding under the world's spotlight. Five years of failure.  Early warning signs in the summer of 2003 could have been heeded.  […]

Clint Williamson, the U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for War Crimes, visited the Georgian capital of Tbilisi Friday to examine accusations of war crimes, local reports said. “My visit to Georgia underlines how seriously the U.S. regards the information on crimes committed during the conflict and how Washington is concerned about proceeding events that result in ethnic cleaning,” […]

“Free the child's potential, and you will transform him into the world”  -Maria Montessori (Italian physician and educator, 1870-1952) Giving children freedom of expression and the freedom to pursue their own interests is the greatest gift we can give our children and our future.  Sadly this gift is all too often unseen around the globe, […]

Today began like any other day for me and so many others, as in an early morning fog craving a cup of coffee I boarded the metro praying for a seat.  My prayers were answered and I put on my headset and tucked into my magazine.  Then I could faintly hear an announcement…something about the […]

Today is, of course, the anniversary of the September 11 attacks. President Bush's remarks on the dedication of the Pentagon's memorial to the victims are here. There's little Dan or I can add to the great deal that has been said about the attacks except to add our prayers for the victims and their families […]

I received information from a source inside Human Rights Georgia that some of the components of the cluster bombs dropped on  civilians may have been manufactured by a German facility that produces decoy countermeasures. These include flares and chaff amongst others. It is claimed that the said company's labels were found on unexploded cluster bomblets. […]