Human Rights

I spent an afternoon discussing with Fatos Lubonja last week in Tirana, Albania. He was sitting at a cafe, outside on a terrace. Here in front of me, was a man who spent 17 years in the Albanian gulag. He was initially sentenced 7 years for criticizing Enver Hoxha, a brutal dictator who ruled the […]

Anti-trafficking campaigns like this, are working to increase awareness. Local soccer stars are also to be used in a massive safe sex campaign launched by the Gauteng Department of Health and Social Development (All Africa). As the count down to FIFA’s 2010 World Cup in South Africa begins to draw nearer and nearer, increased preparations […]

Are you an international educator? Do you seek to teach or study abroad to strengthen both your skills and your knowledge on how to be a more efficient and effective international educator? The NAFSA (Association of International Educators) 2010 Annual Conference & Expo, in Kansas City, Missouri, is the place for you to explore the […]

China has eight non-communist parties under the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). What at first seems like an oddity under an one-party system is not so once we understand the reality of the relationship between the CCP and these parties. Open political debates are strictly constrained in China. The CCP maintains its dominance […]

The Council on Foreign Relations has launched the inaugural Foreign Affairs‘ Essay Contest for undergraduate students.  The contest gives the young leaders of tomorrow to show how they see key world issues and how to address them to create change across the globe. A panel from the Foreign Affairs editorial staff will select one undergraduate’s […]

  People marked International Women’s Day yesterday in a variety of ways. In Europe, the Commissioner for Human Rights for the Council of Europe, Thomas Hammarberg, made news with the publication of his Viewpoint that bans against the Islamic niqab or burqa would violate a woman’s privacy and could potential violate the European Convention on […]

In case you missed it during your morning stroll through the blogosphere, today is International Women’s Day.  In fact, it is the 100th anniversary of when the IWD started to be celebrated as a global day of recognition and appreciation for the role that women play in our societies, as well as a day of […]

Today, March 8th is International Women’s Day, a day that was established to commemorate the struggle women and girls across the globe have endured in order to obtain their ‘full’ human rights. Sadly while many sit here reading this, enjoying our ‘full’ rights, millions of women and young girls worldwide are continue to be denied […]

Gender equality is the key to ending poverty, as it opens the doors of education, and helps to close the door on gender based violence. The key to a prosperous future lies in the lives of generations of girls and ensuring they have equal rights and access, especially in regards to healthcare and education. Thus […]

*Member of the European Parliament and former French Justice Minister Rachida Dati talks politics, class prejudice and fashion while “being fashion,” as my little cousin is fond of saying. My little cousin doesn’t think I am fashion because “you have to be fashion, you have to feel fashion…Fashion people go out to party every single […]

Last week Canada pledged to join the ranks of almost every other country in the world to support the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. In his Throne Speech to Parliament, Prime Minister Stephen Harper stated the importance of indigenous culture in Canada and the need to improve the welfare of First Nations citizens. […]

As we approach International Women’s Day on March 8, the pressing need to address gender inequality and violence for women and girls across the globe presses once again into the spotlight.   The key to a prosperous future lies in the youth of the world, however if we ignore half of our future we will […]