Human Rights

The Obama Administration checked another high profile terror suspect off its’ list today. A senior Administration official reports that a U.S. drone strike in Yemen killed Anwar al-Awlaki, a U.S. born cleric that allegely sought to inspire “lone – wolf” jihadists in the Western world. Security officials argue that Al-Awlaki was the inspiration behind the […]

Last Spring I brought you the piece, Bullying is Abuse, regarding the case of 15 year-old Phoebe Prince, who committed suicide in Boston following instances of bulling.  Now with technology in every child’s hands bullying is even easier, quicker and can be more widespread with only the click of a button or mouse. Children can easily text […]

I don’t know about you, but in the morning the first thing I do after hitting snooze a few times is start to dream about my first cup of coffee.  I jump from the bed all energized thinking about the aroma of that hot cup of dark wonder…  as if I can already smell it.  […]

  San Marino became the first nation to ratify an amendment proposed at the 2010 Kampala Review Conference of the Rome Statute, which governs the International Criminal Court. San Marino deposited its ratification of the amendment to Article 8 at U.N. Headquarters today becoming the first nation to ratify the amendment classifying the use of […]

Something needs to be done to protect civilians and prevent civil war in Syria. Last week, Avaaz, a human rights organization, reported that more than 5,000 people have been killed in Syria since the uprisings began in March. Meanwhile, a number of sources are suggesting that Syria may be on the brink of a civil […]

Yesterday, twenty aid agencies called on the international community to put “people’s lives before politics” in Somalia. There are two very urgent problems in this war torn nation. First, aid dollars for famine relief are falling short. The head of Somalia’s National Disaster Management Agency claims the Somali government is only receiving 30 – 40 […]

Armed drones may be just the beginning of a major technological revolution in the defense industry. An expert on military robotics, P. W. Singer says the “Predator” and “Reaper” drones flying over Pakistan and elsewhere are “the equivalent of the Model T Ford or the Wright Brother’s Flyer.” Indeed, more can and is already being […]

In 2008 international rumors and reports flared in China that the controversial one-child-per-couple law may be coming to an end, however the rumors turned out to be just that and the law was then set to remain in effect for at least the next decade according to government officials. The  statement by the Chinese government […]

Saving a the life of a child is truly simple, yet all too often children suffer and die needlessly.  This year alone across the globe some two million children will die from preventable diseases.  These children will suffer and die from diseases that here in the United States are nothing more than a faded memory, […]

A new report on women and children has stated that “more than 350 000 women die each year in the developing world from complications of childbirth and pregnancy. As many as 2.6 million babies are stillborn annually, and 3 million of the more than 8 million children under five who die each year succumb in […]

In 1995, then First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton riveted the world at that year’s Beijing World Conference on Women. She made a compelling case for all of us – particularly governments – to address the issues important to women and girls, and made the tag line “women’s rights are human rights and human rights are […]

This past fortnight seems to have been full of surprises – Australia, for example, introduced a third gender category for passports, beyond the tradition male/female dichotomy. And fittingly, there have also been two stories in the media that demonstrate that subversion of this “either/or” set-up isn’t limited to the West: women in Afghanistan and Libya […]