- News source:
- 29 September 2008
- Reuters
- By Claudia Parsons
UNITED NATIONS – African Union leaders are more interested in protecting Sudan’s president than its people and Southeast Asian leaders do the same when it comes to Myanmar, a group of women Nobel Prize winners said on Monday.
“All those clubs, the African Union, ASEAN, or the U.N. Human Rights Council club, recognize their job as protecting the state rather than protecting the human rights of people from states that violate them,” said Jody Williams, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1997 for campaigning against land mines.
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- News source:
- 29 September 2008
- Prensa Latina
LA PAZ – News media in Bolivia highlight today a communique of organizations and networks of civil society of 26 countries throughout the World that support the process of changes led by president Evo Morales.
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- News source:
- 29 September 2008
- Daily Star (Lebanon)
- By Hussein Abdallah
BEIRUT – Efforts to achieve reconciliation among Lebanon’s Christian factions geared up on Sunday as a Maronite League delegation visited Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Butros Sfeir at Bkirki to brief him on the results of its recent talks with rival leaders.Maronite League chief Joseph Tarabay told reporters afterward that inter-Christian differences should be contained.
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- News source:
- 26 September 2008
- Mennonite Central Committee
NEW YORK — About 300 international religious and political figures, including Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, attended a dialogue at a Manhattan hotel on the evening of Sept. 25 to discuss the role of religion in responding to global challenges and building peace and understanding between societies.
Speakers included President Ahmadinejad, the Rev. Kjell Bondevik, former prime minister of Norway, and the Rev. Miguel d’Escoto Brockmann, president of the United Nations General Assembly.
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- News source:
- August 2008
- Abstract published on Human Security Gateway
- By Central Asia-Caucasus Institute & Silk Road Studies Program
In August 2008, Russia launched an invasion of Georgia that sent shock waves reverberating – first across the post-Soviet space, but then also into the rest of Europe and the world, as the magnitude of the invasion and its implications became clear. This invasion took the world by surprise. But what should have been surprising about it was perhaps the extent of Russia’s willingness to employ crude military force against a neighboring state, not that it happened. Indeed, Russia had for several years pursued increasingly aggressive and interventionist policies in Georgia, and had employed an array of instruments that included military means, albeit at a smaller scale.
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- News source:
- August 2008
- Abstract published on Human Security Gateway
- By Human Rights Center | University California Berkeley
Two years after the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) held its first elections since independence, the country is at a crossroads. Among the key challenges facing the DRC today is the question of how the country will address the massive human rights atrocities of its recent past to establish a foundation for peace and security, the rule of law, and respect for human rights to prevail in the future.
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- News source:
- August 2008
- Abstract published on Human Security Gateway
- By The Brookings Institution
The Afghanistan Index is a statistical compilation of economic, public opinion and security data. This resource will provide updated and historical information on various data, including crime, infrastructure, casualties, unemployment, Afghan security forces and coalition troop strength.
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- News source:
- JULY/AUGUST 2008
- By The Fund For Peace
Whether it is an unexpected food crisis or a devastating hurricane, the world’s weakest states are the most exposed when crisis strikes. In the fourth annual Failed States Index, FOREIGN POLICY and The Fund for Peace rank the countries where state collapse may be just one disaster away.
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- News source:
- 24 September 2008
- The New York Times
After months of bitter negotiation, Iraq’s Parliament passed a provincial election law on Wednesday, clearing the way for elections to be held in most areas of the country by the end of January. Many in Iraq hope that the passage of the law will help shore up the fragile security gains of recent months. The elections are seen as crucial in helping to heal the country’s deep political and religious fissures.
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- News source:
- 23 September 2008
- Daily Times
Thousands of lawyers across Nepal launched a boycott of the courts Monday to protest the Supreme Court’s decision to ban the bar association chairman after he alleged widespread corruption among the country’s judiciary.
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- News source:
- 23 September 2008
- Democratic Voice of Burma
One-kyat banknotes printed with anti-government slogans were distributed in Gyopinkauk township, Bago division, yesterday morning as part of a campaign to protest the actions of the military regime.
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- News source:
- 23 September 2008
- New York Times
Myanmar’s longest-serving political prisoner, journalist Win Tin, was freed on Tuesday after 19 years in jail and immediately vowed to continue his struggle against 46 years of unbroken military rule.
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- News source:
- 23 September 2008
- Ubyssey
- Events held in 20 cities across Canada...
- By Victor Liang
On September 13, the War Resisters Support Campaign (WRSC) took to the steps of the Vancouver Art Gallery for a pan-Canadian rally protesting the deportation of US Iraq War resisters. Rallies were held across the country in 20 different cities, including major cities like Montreal, Ottawa and St. John‘s.
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- News source:
- 23 September 2008
- AFP
OTTAWA — Canada’s federal court on Monday granted US war resister Jeremy Hinzman a last minute stay of deportation to the United States, a spokesman for the court told AFP.
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- News source:
- 18 September 2008
- The Martlet
- By Gemma Karstens-Smith, Cody Willett
An estimated 200 Iraq War resisters and their families are currently living in Canada.
These men and women, for whatever reason, decided they would not fight in Iraq. During a pan-Canadian Day of Action on Sept. 13, many Canadians protested the Harper government’s policy of deporting war resisters.
Whether or not the Canadian government should let them stay is a contentious issue.
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- News source:
- 18 September 2008
- AP
SAN FRANCISCO — For six years, and for no pay, Dennis Edney has represented Omar Khadr, the next prisoner at Guantanamo Bay to face trial in a military tribunal system that the lawyer calls a sham.
So he’s stepping outside the courtroom, speaking out about his client and hoping to win a victory in another venue.
His goal is to sway public opinion and pressure the Canadian government into bringing his Toronto-born client home.
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- News source:
- 23 September 2008
- IPS/GIN
- By Constanza Vieira
BOGOTA, Colombia – Threats from armed men in civilian dress have forced a human rights defender from the Inter-Church Justice and Peace Commission to flee Bajo Atrato, an area of Colombia where oil palm plantations have encroached on the collectively owned jungle territories of traditional Black communities.
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- News source:
- 22 September 2008
- Windsor Star
- By Dalson Chen
Whether you’re on the ugly end of a bad business deal, or you’ve got a problem with your landlord, or you just can’t get your neighbour to stop his dog from barking at all hours of the night — there’s a place in Windsor where you can have your dispute resolved, out of court, for free.
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- News source:
- September 2008
- USIP Briefing
- By Julie Montgomery
The dramatic improvement in security in Iraq has changed the U.S. policy debate. The Iraqi Security Forces (ISF) are taking a bigger role, the Maliki government’s capacity is improving and the U.S. is gradually stepping aside.
A major reduction in the U.S. role is on the horizon, yet critical questions remain. How much influence does the U.S. have on Iraqi internal affairs and on the Iraq it leaves behind? Are there buttons that Washington can push to accelerate political progress? Or is the best solution for the U.S. to get out of Iraq and focus on reallocating resources and shoring up its position worldwide?
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- News source:
- 21 September 2008
- Toronto Star
- Why is it that Canadians "imagine ourselves playing particular roles at home and abroad, yet rarely play them?"
- By Haroon Siddiqui
Flying back to Canada from abroad, have you ever noticed that the immigration officer examining your passport is wearing, and perhaps sweating in, a bulletproof vest?…
“When was the last armed attack at a border post? How many border guards have been shot at? Two? One? Zero? Are they in any real danger? Is the danger greater than for a child crossing a street after school? What is the border guard to do with the pistol, a little training and no daily experience in armed crises?”
The critic is John Ralston Saul, philosopher and prolific writer…
His latest book is A Fair Country, Telling Truths about Canada (Viking), to be released, propitiously, as it turns out, in time for the Oct. 14 election.
What better time than now for voters and campaigning politicians alike to address Saul’s central question: What’s wrong with Canada – why has it not reached its full potential, under either the Liberals or the Conservatives?
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