Human Rights

The following is an interview with Professor M. Cherif Bassiouni.  Professor Bassiouni has held many positions with the United Nations including Chairman of the Drafting Committee for the Establishment of an International Criminal Court, and Chairman of the Security Council’s Commission to Investigate Violations of International Humanitarian Law in the Former Yugoslavia.  He is currently […]

The 20th century, characterized by perhaps the greatest blood-letting in human history, has shaped our reality in ways we do not understand. It was period defined by what Matthew White calls the Hemoclysm, a blood convulsion, bookended by atrocities in the Congo. Our last century was not about freedom, love and optimism: It was shaped […]

Human Rights Watch has landed back in the news, though not in the way that it likes.  For the last few months the organization has endured controversy over its coverage and position on Israel.  First, news broke in July of a fundraising trip that Human Rights Watch undertook to Saudi Arabia where the representatives allegedly highlighted […]

A story sure to give you nightmares is the harrowing story behind child labor across the globe.  Whether it is costumes made from cotton picked by child labors in Uzbekistan or clothing sewn by child labors, ghoulish make-up with minerals mined by child labors, chocolate candy-bars made from cocoa picked by the hands of child […]

The Christian Science Monitor has good coverage of the ongoing boat people controversy in Australia.  Due to the end of the civil war in Sri Lanka, there has been a global surge in Sri Lankan Tamils seeking asylum with other countries.  Given Sri Lanka’s location, many of these asylum seekers pay people smugglers for spots on […]

After over a decade of delay, it seems that Karadzic will be tried in absentia.

The latest body of a Colombian migrant – now the eleventh – was recently found along the border region of Venezuela. The victim had been playing pick-up soccer when kidnapped two weeks ago. Who would massacre these Colombians, and to what end? It may be an extreme sign of anti-immigrant sentiment within Venezuela; Colombians make […]

Is child obesity abuse? That is the question that has been raised by many over the past few years.  As the issue plagues teachers, care providers and doctors as the rates of childhood obesity increase. According to the American Obesity Association, obesity among children and teens is beginning to reach epidemic levels, as some 30% […]

The United States has done it has topped the list, were number one…but this is one list and ranking we don’t want to go dancing in the streets about. Shockingly to many the US is the cheerless leader of deaths related to child abuse and neglect. Five children die each day in this country as […]

The World Economic Forum released their annual Global Gender Gap Report today, reporting on how successfully (or unsuccessfully) countries have been in the last year when it comes to closing the gender gap between men and women in the key areas of political and economic participation, educational opportunities, and health.  Norway lost out on its […]

Over the past months significant press attention has focused on the Honduran government, after the ouster of its former president. Manuel Zelaya, however, is not the only person dislocated by the political crisis. Today, a National Public Radio (NPR) story highlighted the increased northward movement of Hondurans, as they seek employment, not to mention a […]