Sri Lanka: A Change Agenda, or More of the Same?
Published February 09, 2010 @ 10:04AM PT
Sri Lanka's newly re-elected President Mahinda Rajapaksa wasted no time in using his substantial (if questionable) electoral mandate to send an unequivocal message to his opposition: It's my way, or the highway.
After promptly raiding his opponent's campaign office, arresting 37 people in connection with an alleged assassination plot, and just yesterday arresting the opposition leader himself -- whether such a plot actually existed, the world may never know -- the president was quick to address the long-standing conflict with the country's Tamil minority, hundreds of thousands of whom are still displaced from decades of civil war that finally came to a very violent close last May.
At face value, Mahinda's claim that he has a "responsibility of uniting the hearts of all ethnicities" is welcome. The caveat however, is two-fold: First, he disavowed all foreign engagement in the country's still-fresh post-conflict situation, and second, his track record is one of violent repression of dissent and lethal disregard for the lives of Tamils, much less their social, economic, and political concerns. Last year, intense international pressure was required simply to release 250,000 from camps cut off from journalists and most humanitarian aid. Progress toward sustainable peace and reconciliation has since been notably lacking.
Justice Should Be Blind, and Know Its Place
Published February 08, 2010 @ 09:19AM PT
Those crying foul over last week's decision by the International Criminal Court (ICC) to reconsider the genocide indictment against Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir would do everyone a favor by saving their angst for a more appropriate time.
The decision delivered last week was not related to the evidence of the case itself, but dealt with a technical application of standards of proof in the issuance of arrest warrants. It is not another example of how "the court is out to get Sudan" -- in a case that is thoroughly and inherently politicized, this ruling is about as apolitical as anything related to the case is going to get.
In an ideal world, all aspects of international criminal justice would be apolitical. Our global system has developed a body of international law, and any individual or nation that violates this law should be prosecuted and punished appropriately. But, of course, we do not live in an ideal world. The ICC itself relies on individual nations and the UN Security Council to refer and facilitate the investigation of cases -- right from the start, consideration of cases is a political decision handed to the court, not an objective choice made by the court. The Darfur situation was referred to the ICC by the UN Security Council, and the prosecutor is doing his job by investigating and attempting to prosecute those responsible for the atrocities committed there.
Senator Tom Coburn Stands in the Way of Peace
Published February 06, 2010 @ 11:13AM PT
Do you live in Oklahoma? Or have any friends and family in the lovely Sooner State? Then you need to get on the phone and tell Senator Tom "Dr. No" Coburn to stop blocking the passage of the Lord’s Resistance Army Disarmament and Northern Uganda Recovery Act.
The Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), under the leadership of self-proclaimed messiah Joseph Kony, has terrorized a wide swath of central Africa for over 20 years, and became particularly notorious for their use of child soldiers and child sex slaves. What started as a brutal rebellion in Northern Uganda has now spread across the Democratic Republic of Congo, South Sudan and Darfur, and the Central African Republic. In the past few months alone, hundreds of thousands of civilians have been displaced, and thousands more have been either killed or abducted by LRA forces. According to an Enough Project researcher, as many as 400 people have been killed in the last two months. Recent waves of violence also threaten to further destabilize already-precarious situations in South Sudan, and possibly even Darfur.
Add Your Support for the Violence Against Women Act
Published February 05, 2010 @ 08:58AM PT
I once listened to a woman recount tales of domestic violence in a refugee camp, but she struggled to find the right words to describe the violence inflicted on these women -- who had already been forced from their homes by war -- by their husbands.
"'Domestic violence' doesn't work -- it's not just a slap or a beating. It's torture," she said.
What had been an occasional problem "before" was now a pervasive problem exacerbated by conflict and forced displacement.
Violence against women takes many horrific, depressing forms. It is problem of epidemic proportions, and one that is shared by all nations across the globe -- not exactly a form of global unity that we can celebrate. Sexual violence is an increasingly common tactic used in conflicts, and the systematic infliction of sexual violence is recognized as an act of genocide and a crime against humanity.
A bi-partisan coalition of congressmen and women reintroduced the International Violence Against Women Act in both the House and Senate today. The act elevates the issue to a diplomatic priority and supports comprehensive programs to combat gender-based violence and support economic and educational opportunities for women and girls, especially those in poverty. (Far more comprehensive, that is, than giving rape victims in the Congo cameras to film their attackers.)
Women Thrive Worldwide has launched a petition on Change.org. You can add your signature and let your senators and representatives know that you support this critical and innovative piece of legislation.
Photo credit: UNiTE to End Violence Against Women
Media Plea Leads to Child Soldier's Release in Burma
Published February 04, 2010 @ 09:04AM PT
Even hardened military dictators resent bad press. In Burma, a child soldier was returned to his mother after she made appeals to international media outlets.
Sandar Win's 14-year-old son was one of many children forcibly recruited by the Burmese military, but unlike his fellow child soldiers in the ranks of the national army, he was released by the government after Ms. Win pleaded for his return on BBC's Burmese Service and Radio Free Asia (RFA). The military junta that rules Burma is among the most iron-fisted in the world -- perhaps second only to North Korea in its control of the media and flow of people in and out of the country.
The regime is also notorious for its use of child soldiers and its violent repression of political dissidents and ethnic minority groups. Many experts believe that the violence perpetrated by the government amounts to crimes against humanity, if not genocide.
Genocide Charge Back on the Table for Bashir
Published February 03, 2010 @ 03:12PM PT
This morning's action at the International Criminal Court (ICC) at The Hague was kind of a big deal -- or was it kind of not?
Last March, the court made a splash with the issuance of arrest warrants for Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur. This morning, the court determined that the legal rationale used to throw out the "genocide" charge was incorrect -- it was a procedural decision, ruling that the pre-trial chamber (three judges) that issued the arrest warrants used the wrong standard of proof in invalidating the genocide charge. Now the chamber will have to reconsider the evidence and decide anew.
On many levels, the decision was hugely important. As Darfur expert and international human rights lawyer Bec Hamilton notes, this decision has implications for the development of international criminal law and any possible future genocide cases brought before the court.
For the advancement of international justice, the fight against impunity for egregious human rights abuses, and upholding the memory and dignity of Bashir's many victims, the fact that the genocide charge might still come through is a victory -- even if the true test is yet to come, when the pre-trial chamber reconsiders its original decision.
The Mysterious Murder of a Cambodian Actor/Genocide Survivor
Published February 02, 2010 @ 09:02AM PT
Did Haing Ngor die for his role in a film about the Cambodian genocide? The Oscar-winning star of The Killing Fields was gunned down in a dark alley in L.A.'s Chinatown in 1996, and now his family wants the investigation into the case reopened.
Conspiracy theories surrounding Ngor's death refused to die when three members of a local gang were convicted of what was determined to be a robbery-related murder, and now they've been given new life by a surprising admission in last year's trial of a former Khmer Rouge prison chief.
"Haing Ngor was killed because he appeared in the film The Killing Fields," Kang Kek Ieu, known as Comrade Duch, told the Cambodian court. He added that Pol Pot, the notorious leader of the genocidal Khmer Rouge, "used a kind of trick used by Stalin when he killed Trotsky in order to kill Haing Ngor."
