Newsroom

Update

Over the weekend, it was reported that Sri Lanka had cancelled the visa of James Elder, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) spokesperson in Sri Lanka, for comments he had made earlier this year during the goverment's war with the opposition Tamil Tigers.  Mr. Elder had regularly expressed concern about civilians caught in the conflict and more recently about issues such as malnutrition among children in the camps for displaced civilians.  UNICEF defended Mr. Elder's earlier comments and said it was very concerned about the Sri Lankan government's decision.  U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon issued a statement today through his spokesperson…

September 9, 2009

Update

Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights recently reported that President Mugabe did NOT sign the Global Political Agreement. Well, he signed half of it. The entire 36 page document was ratified into law by Parliament as Constitutional Amendment 19. President Mugabe, however, only signed an 18 page document. The result is potentially unenforceable as “It is impossible, legally, to have an act in two different versions-one version approved by Parliament, another by the President.” The missing pages included clauses governing the mandated Constitutional revision and referendum process. This means that the entire agreement can be declared null and void, or those pages…

September 8, 2009

Update

This is the the first posting in the Forced Evictions in Africa Series Click on image to see full graphic:   Authorities in Chad have demolished 3,700 homes and businesses in the capital city N'Djamena, leaving tens of thousands of people homeless. We have exposed the pace of housing demolitions - which can only be described as shocking - in a groundbreaking new research project. Instead of giving up after Chadian officials provided us with inadequate figures last year, we turned to the power of satellite technology to put hard numbers behind the scale of destruction. On the ground research…

September 8, 2009

Update

Binyamin Netanyahu, Israel's Prime Minister, has approved the construction of hundreds of new homes in the occupied West Bank and east Jerusalem despite statements by the U.S. government, including many by President Obama, that settlements are an obstacle to peace. This BBC News video with Paul Wood aired on the BBC September 7th gives a good summary of situation. There are approximately 500,000 Israelis living on settlements in the occupied West Bank and east Jerusalem.  All settlements are illegal according to international law and no country, with the exception of Micronesia and Israel itself, view it otherwise.   Israel does not recognize the…

September 8, 2009

Update

Kenneth Mosley is scheduled for execution on September 24. He has been on death row for the past twelve years. Mr. Mosley was convicted of killing a police officer while attempting to rob a bank in Garland, Texas on February 15, 1997. If and when he is executed, Mr. Mosley will be among the 200+ victims of the death penalty under a single Texas governor. Mr. Mosley has committed a terrible crime, and things look grim for him. He overcame many adversities in his life, but finally a combination of addiction and difficult circumstances led to this tragedy. Still he says: I’m staying positive…

September 8, 2009

Update

Sudan – Deadly Attacks in the South Recent ethnic clashes in southern Sudan have killed at least 25 people and displaced dozens of civilians in Upper Nile State since Friday. Violence has been escalating recently, as women and children are increasingly targeted by both tribal militias and the Ugandan rebel Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA). The World Health Organization (WHO) also warned today that conflict-affected areas of southern Sudan, including Ezo County in Western Equatoria State where the LRA has been active recently, are facing a high risk of epidemics. WHO cites damaged health facilities, displaced health workers and the difficulty…

September 8, 2009

Update

UPDATE, September 24, 2009 "SADC Executive Secretary Tomaz Salamao told VOA that Harare’s move to repudiate the tribunal has been referred to the ministers of justice of the regional bloc's member nations who have been asked to provide legal guidance to SADC heads of state." I know, I know. "Not another rant about international courts and why they are so fantastic," you say.  Well, fooled you. I am not going to defend international tribunals as a concept or theory. It's been done to death. However, I am asserting that if you are going to go through all the bother and effort…

September 3, 2009

Update

Bob Barr thinks so.  In his Washington Times op-ed, the former federal prosecutor, Georgia Congressman and Libertarian Presidential candidate, labels Scalia the “high court curmudgeon” for his dissent from the Supreme Court's order giving Troy Davis to have an evidentiary hearing on his substantial evidence of innocence. Scalia believes, simply, that the Constitution doesn’t protect the innocent from being executed.  Barr believes that it does. “The Constitution of the United States was adopted in 1787; the Bill of Rights four years later in 1791. Apparently for Justice Scalia, these past 218 years have not sufficed to "clearly establish" that federal…

September 3, 2009

Update

After witnessing the deaths of her father Fathi, her sister Ismat, and her brother Ala on January 14, Amira Alqerem has turned to the (ICC) seven months later in hopes of justice for her family. Her family was attacked in Gaza during which lasted 22 days this past January and resulted in the deaths of more than 1,300 Palestinians and three Israelis. The AFP reported on Alqerem's court filing: "The three children were awoken by an explosion to find their father's body, covered in blood, next to a crater near their house, the document claims. Ismat and Ala went off…

September 3, 2009

Update

The results of Gabon’s presidential election, held this past Sunday, were officially announced  today, as the Ministry of the Interior proclaimed Ali Ben Bongo the winner with 42% of the vote. As we reported on Tuesday on our weekly Human Rights Flashpoints blog, all three leading candidates for the Gabon presidency – Bongo, Pierre Mamboundou, and Andre Mba Obame – had proclaimed they had won the election before official results were announced. Moreover, tensions had been rising in Gabon since Sunday’s election, with troops being stationed at several key locations in the capital, Libreville, and with widespread accusations of election…

September 3, 2009

Update

Burma - New Fighting in Northeast The last few days have seen renewed violence in Myanmar (Burma). Fighting erupted between government forces and one of the so-called ceasefire groups, when the army clashed with the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA) in Myanmar’s northeast Shan state. 37,000 people fled to the neighboring Yunnan province in China.  Even more noteworthy, the fighting and the resulting displacement led to a surprising criticism by China, the military regime’s strongest supporter. The MNDAA is one of the 17 ethnic armies that have signed a ceasefire agreement with the government. Last week’s fighting broke a…

September 2, 2009

Update

Embedded video from CNN Video On Monday, Amnesty International release a report on the death penalty in Iraq, pointing out that at least 1,000 people are now on death row in Iraq, and 150 of them have exhausted all appeals and could be hanged at any time.  The report tells a familiar tale, of how combining a hugely flawed criminal justice system with capital punishment leads for major injustices.  One of the focuses of the Amnesty report, and a focus of the CNN report above, is the case of Samar Sa’ad ‘Abdullah, who may face execution for the killing of…

September 2, 2009