Reporting on Conflict | Media Watch Blog

• News source:
• 6 August 2012
• Reporting on Conflict
• By Murray Thomson, O.C. Press release

Six hundred members of the Order of Canada have signed an appeal to the government of Canada to join in an international effort to eliminate nuclear weapons, Murray Thomson, coordinator of the project, announced today.

“It is fitting that we reached the 600th signature on August 6, the 67th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima”, he said.

The initiative, led by John Polanyi, C.C., Hon. Douglas Roche, O.C., Ernie Regehr, O.C. and himself seeks to have the Canadian government give full support to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon’s Five-Point Plan for Nuclear Disarmament, which includes a nuclear weapons convention to ban all nuclear weapons. On December 7, 2010, the Canadian House of Commons passed a unanimous motion, not yet acted on, which “encourages the Government of Canada to engage in negotiations for a nuclear weapons convention as proposed by the UN Secretary-General.” (read more…)

• News source:
• 2 August 2012
• Huffington Post
• By Andrew Lam

Alarming news and images of attacks and killings by the Buddhist majority in Rakhine Province against a Muslim minority there have been slowly trickling out onto the Internet and the wider world. Pictures of charred bodies and crying fathers have stirred largely unheeded calls for intervention, mostly from Muslim nations…

Such is the irony in a country famous for its Valley of the Temples and its unrivaled devotion to the Buddha. Alas, while Buddhism through a Western lens can appear rosy for its message of compassion, inner peace and self-cultivation, in Asian societies Buddhism as an institution has much broader political applications.

• News source:

In partnership with the Clingendael Institute of International Relations, The Hague Symposium on Post-Conflict Transitions & International Justice will be held in The Netherlands from July 21 – August 18, 2012 and will bring together 60-80 of the world’s brightest young minds from top law schools, graduate institutions, international organizations, judiciaries, grassroots justice movements, and the military. Over a four-week period, participants will undergo intensive training from the field’s premier political leaders, academic experts, practitioners, and advocates in the skills necessary to holistically restructure a society after the cessation of violent conflict and/or authoritarian rule, as well as bring those responsible for human rights violations to justice.  Participants will gain a broad understanding of this emerging field, including concepts, controversies, and institutions, as well as critically examine the historical and contemporary uses of different justice interventions through direct interactions with the actual decision makers.  In light of the Arab Spring and the increasing reach of the International Criminal Court, this training could not be more timely or necessary.

Through formal lectures, site visits to International Tribunals and Courts, and interactive simulations and workshops (as well as in informal settings), emerging leaders selected to attend will increase their understanding of strengthening legitimate institutions and governance to provide security, justice, and development and break cycles of violence; skills that are instrumental in ensuring long-term stability and preventing conflicts from recurring. In addition, students will have the option to earn LLM course credit from the Grotius Center for International Legal Studies at Leiden University; consistently ranked as one of the world’s top centers for education in international law.

The academics in The Hague will focus both on dilemmas and process, including the following key areas of interest:

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