Human Rights

“Great ideas often receive violent opposition from mediocre minds.“ – Albert Einstein  Violence often stems from the launch of a new idea, a new way to move forward…from a resistance to change.  The opposition to such ideas is often met with violent conflict, sweeping up the minds and lives of young children as it continues […]

Deputy Director of Human Rights Watch  Moscow, Tanya Lokshina, says the prosecutor in the Anna Politkovskaya murder case lost a crucial piece of evidence. A video recording of the hitman pulling the trigger was “misplaced” a few days before the trial went to the Moscow District Military Court .  Two Chechens and a former police […]

The use of rape in times of war dates back to war itself, however the scale at which rape is used and savagery of it appears to only be increasing. This year V-Day is brought special and much needed attention to atrocious levels of rape in the conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, […]

Since last summer’s arrest of Radovan Karadzic, General Ratko Mladic is the top remaining fugitive from the war in Bosnia. Mladic served as commander in chief of the army of the Serb Republic in Bosnia during the war, and the indictment against him handed down by ICTY accuses him of genocide, crimes against humanity, and […]

We noted the preliminary agreement between the Sudanese government and Darfuri rebels concluded yesterday in Doha, Qatar. A day after the preliminary agreement – which was, by its plain terms, merely an agreement to continue discussing whether to come to an agreement – hostilities have re-ignited. Agence-France reports that the Sudanese government has bombed positions […]

Sudan and the largest rebel group in Darfur, the Justice and Equality Movement, signed a preliminary deal today. As the New York Times notes, the agreement commits the parties only to continue peace talks in Doha, Qatar, with the goal of developing a final status agreement. Because the current preliminary agreement requires so little, Voice […]

Kaing Guek Eav – known simply as Duch – begged for forgiveness Monday on the eve of his war crimes tribunal for atrocities committed under the Khmer Rouge. “He said to the victims, I ask your forgiveness, I ask your forgiveness,” said his lawyer, Francois Roux. Duch, who faces charges for crimes against humanity, had […]

As the day dawns on love, millions of couples are exchanging gifts which symbolize their love for each other. The commercialization of this day of love leaves many emptying their pockets, however those who pay the true cost for Valentines is often applied the, some 27 million people round the globe who are enslaved. “The estimated […]

Women who are raped have to marry their rapist says Syrian activist Mouna Ghanem. “She is a victim twice. She is a victim the first time she gets raped and she is a victim the second time because she has to marry the man who raped her,” says Ghanem in an openDemocracy 50/50 podcast. The […]

As you’ve probably read elsewhere, it wasn’t handed down today – in fact, the ICC’s only announcement was that no decision has been made. Michelle at Stop Genocide has some analysis of what may be going on here. Assuming the indictment and concomitant arrest warrant are eventually handed down, the Enough Project has this must-read […]

The International Criminal Court approved the indictment of Sudanese President Omar Al-Bashir today. The indictment is the first against a sitting head of state. There’s been a great deal of commentary on the case recently – Wes Rist criticized the African Union for rallying around al-Bashir, and Alex de Waal summarizes the arguments on genocidal […]

February 14th means a lot to many people around the world, but it most it means a day of love.  However in 1998 V-Day began to take on a new meaning, and what was synonymous with love, soon began to symbolize power, femininity, and most importantly a stand against gender based violence. This year V-Day Founder […]