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| Picture Credit: wesleybolden.com |
Western lifestyle often literally means taking food from poor people - the harsh truth is "the hunger of the poor is in part a choice of the rich." Putting limits on food speculation, making cut-backs to the global food trade and assisting poor nations in creating food sovereignty are some of the things that have to be made if hunger is ever going to be defeated. The cause of hunger is not so much about a lack of food as unfair allocations of the world's resources. Acknowledging self-sufficiency is critical and by growing our own food, the power of corporate agriculture will be undermined.
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| Picture Credit: cipamericas.org |
Jason Clay of the World Wildlife Fund argues that sustainability in consumer products should be a "precompetitive" issue, where sustainable products are no longer a consumer choice but rather an industry standard. Companies could move their supply chain towards sustainability says Clay, and he is lobbying the world's agribusiness giants to adopt green practices. Convince the largest 100 companies to go sustainable, he says, and the rest would have to follow. But whether companies will commit to significant and effectual change, that might negatively affect their profits, remains to be seen. Regulation, not corporate self-restraint would produce more reliable results.
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| Picture Credit: Atlantic Council |
As Washington withdraws its troops from Iraq, its military operations in Afghanistan intensify with an increasing death toll and political carnage. This video features a panel discussion on the US strategy in the Middle East and South Asia investigating whether its superpower status has finally been eroded. The Afghanistan and Iraq occupation has unleashed unprecedented havoc in the world in an effort to secure global leadership. This debate investigates the ramifications of the war in the two countries, the moral justifications for it, and analyses the withdrawal of troops from Iraq as a 'rebranding' of the occupation.
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| Picture Credit: Alternet |
In Afghanistan, secret military teams have been given a mandate to pursue alleged members of "terrorists" and are seen as "manhunting" operations with the units assigned to them as "capture/kill" teams. Wikileaks has published the mass of secret U.S. military and intelligence documents that reveal how capture/kill teams have left a trail of dead civilian bodies. The covert "joint" teams involving the CIA and various military special operations forces are a key part of a new military "doctrine" developed in 1980 and came to be known as "find, fix, finish, and follow-up" missions, denoting how alleged terrorists are to be dealt with. Military experts are disquieted by the creation of such global hunter-killer teams who regularly kill civilians in their raids on supposed "targets."
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| Photo Credit: washedit.com |
Immigrant groups become the targets of a growing bitterness that Western Europe shows as an effect of the economic crises. A wave of political movements with a racist agenda (implicit or explicit) blames the immigrants for increased crime rates and exploiting the European welfare system. The populist anti-immigration parties are rapidly gaining support by turning the focus away from financial institutions and global economic patterns, and instead making the Romas, Iraqis or Somalis the scapegoats of Europe. With uprising parties like Italy's Northern League, the UKs British National Party and Denmark's Danish People's Party, the public climate in Europe is facing a crossroad.
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| Picture credit: Getty Images |
This week, German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle encouraged Serbia to stop challenging Kosovo's push for independent statehood. Instead, he urged the Balkan state to focus its efforts on the goal of obtaining membership in the European Union, which would require "dialogue about practical issues." To date, 69 countries worldwide, including 22 EU nations, have recognized Kosovo's independence. Westerwelle's speech at University of Belgrade suggests that the international community is increasingly moving in the direction of recognizing Kosovo's independence, despite Serbia's ongoing opposition.
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| Picture credit: AP |
This month, United States President Barack Obama will end combat operations in Iraq, but it is still not clear who "won" the war, if anyone. There is no security in the country-hundreds are still killed every month. There is little by way of functioning, sustainable infrastructure. Oil production is less than what is was under Saddam Hussein. The US is leaving in its wake a country that is just as, if not more, divided and divisive today as it was the day of the invasion. Perhaps the Obama Administration has gained a political victory, but this author asserts that the Iraqi people have lost on nearly every front.
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Photo Credit:
blueridgeoutdoors.com
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When it comes to women's rights, the UN fails to grasp the whole picture. Especially in attempting to improve women's political participation, the Millennium Development Goals are falling behind. With the September summit coming up, Amnesty International wants the UN to speak of gender issues in terms of human rights instead of women's rights. If inequality is not dealt with on a structural level, there is a risk that "the symptoms are being treated while the infection spreads." And if fundamental issues like empowerment through education are overlooked, a long-term substantial change in equality for women will be hard to achieve.
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| Picture Credit: Christian Science Monitor |
The UN mapping report that led an investigation of war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Congo between 1993 and 2003 has been leaked to the press. The article features excerpts that conclude that the violence perpetrated by the forces of Rwandan President Paul Kagame and Congolese President Laurent Kabila against Hutus could constitute "crimes of genocide." The report looks into war crimes committed by security forces of various countries including Angola, Zaire, Uganda, Chad, and Zimbabwe and the many rebel groups, though it states that an international court should be the final arbiter on this issue.
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| Picture Credit: policy-net.org |
The asset-freezing sanctions regime operates under international law and requires all states to freeze the assets of individuals listed by the Security Council. Lack of due process is inherent in this regime. Almost 300 individuals have had their assets frozen for the past nine years without review. These individuals are unable to challenge the evidence against them and are given no indication of how to be removed from the list. Despite a recent review of asset-freezing sanctions by a Security Council subcommittee, the future remains bleak for listed individuals.
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| Picture credit: IDF |
Israeli servicewomen have begun to voice their opposition to the army's treatment of Palestinians in the occupied territories. The handful of women who have spoken out against the Israeli Defense Forces have been criticized for being disloyal to the army. Many women in the IDF already feel intense pressure to act "manly" and tough, and they worry that voicing their opinions will be seen as a sign of weakness in addition to a betrayal of the army. Although these women's views may not represent those of all Israeli soldiers, their eye-witness experiences suggest that the IDF's self-proclaimed title of "most moral army in the world" is misleading, if not entirely farcical.
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| Picture credit: GPF |
GPF Associate Sarah Kleinman speaks with Catherine Dumait-Harper, who served as the UN Delegate of Médecins Sans Frontières from 1993 to 2005, about the integration of military and humanitarian affairs in conflict. During this period, she coordinated MSF's advocacy efforts related to the conflicts in East Timor, Kosovo, Afghanistan, West Africa, and elsewhere. In this interview, Catherine discusses the need to keep military operations distinct from humanitarian activities because this "blurring of lines" has led to confusion, tension, and increased vulnerability for aid workers in the field. She also argues that by overlapping security and humanitarian roles, many international organizations--both military and civilian--have violated international humanitarian law.
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| Picture Credit: skywatch-media.com |
While the US spends $12bn every month indicting its "war on terror," it has so far pledged pocket change to aid the 20 million displaced Pakistani's. In this article from Al Jazeera, Mark Levine argues that if a peaceful future is to be secured for Pakistan and the wider world, relief aid is an ill advised area for the US to be fiscally prudent. He suggests the US "war on terror" needs to be fundamentally rethought to consider relief, rebuilding and the struggle against poverty and hardship. And in the "multigenerational" campaign against Al-Qaida, more resources should be allocated towards reconstruction, than are used for purposes of destruction.
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| Picture Credit: sundaymercury.net |
"Philanthro-
capitalists" that want to pay back parts of what they have earned from the society, should be doing so in a way that can accomplish more than just a "scratch on the surface." Instead of donating large parts of their capital to various foundations, like Bill Gates' "Giving Pledge," owners of multinational corporations should address issues like offshore bank accounts and corporate tax avoidance - topics that actually cuts to the core of social injustice and world poverty. This article says "progressive billionaires should concentrate on cleaning their dirty laundry first," before imposing their own priorities and agendas through new foundations.
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| Picture Credit: mediaenvironment.wordpress.com |
The people of El Salvador have been successfully fighting off advances from giant mining companies, notorious for environmental destruction and damage to the health and livelihoods of native residents. The popular resolve has spread to the Salvadoran government, which has denied permits for gold mining in the country, sending a strong message that El Salvador will no longer tolerate foreign investors who are detrimental to its own natural environment. Yet this success of democracy is now threatened by a Washington free-trade tribunal in which two transnational mining companies are attempting to sue the government of El Salvador for denying them access to the resource.
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| Picture credit: AP |
Despite the attention brought by supermodel Naomi Campbell's testimony, the Special Court for Sierra Leone is facing significant funding and timing challenges. The process has taken three times as long as anticipated, which is testing the patience of the court's donors and raising questions about whether a link between Taylor and the RUF can actually be proven. The UN Security Council supports the process, but in the face of spiraling costs associated with other ad hoc tribunals, the Council decided to make the Special Court dependent upon funding from donor nations rather than UN coffers. Will the Court maintain the necessary funding to complete a proper trial, or will the realities of diminishing political will lead the Court to end its investigations prematurely?
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| Picture credit: Human Rights Watch |
This summer, the Israeli authorities have destroyed record-high numbers of Palestinian homes and other buildings in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. According to Human Rights Watch, the government is simultaneously subsidizing the building of Jewish settlements nearby. Legal authorities say there is no way to challenge the eviction orders within the Israeli military court system, and the cost of bringing the case to court in Israel is prohibitively expensive for most Palestinians villagers. Not only is the State’s behavior in violation of numerous international human rights and humanitarian laws, but it also makes granting a Palestinian “right of return” increasingly difficult to arrange.
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| Picture credit: sudanchildrenreading.org |
Nicholas Kristof accuses the Obama Administration of poor strategic and policy planning with respect to the conflict in Sudan. The Department of State, under the leadership of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and the US Mission to the UN, headed by Ambassador Susan Rice, are proposing vastly different strategies to the Oval Office. Fearing that the January referendum for South Sudanese independence will lead to renewed violence in various regions throughout Sudan, Kristof argues that the US should be more proactively engaged as Sudan prepares for the elections. But is it the responsibility of the US to resolve Sudan's conflict, or should the Sudanese be trusted to handle their own affairs?
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| Picture Credit: besthomegallery.com |
Voluntary codes of conduct are not enough to stop large transnational corporations from abusing the environment and human rights. Crimes committed by TNCs often go unpunished since the concept of economic crimes has no international legal definition. To get past this problem, the Enlazando Alternativas network calls for the creation of an international tribunal on economic crimes. The network wants this sort of abuse labeled as "crimes against humanity." Though small steps are being made towards an international tribunal of this kind, the pace is painfully slow and so far, TNCs optional good-will rarely gets priority over profit.
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| Picture Credit: alphabetics info |
Secretary General Ban Ki-moon released a report last week outlining seven options for prosecuting pirates off the coast of Somalia. In the past seven months, there have been 139 piracy-related incidents in the area with 450 sailors currently being held for ransom. Problems inherent to prosecuting pirates off the Somali coast include the large number of suspects and detainees as well as minimal prison capacity. The Security Council strongly supports fighting the current impunity of pirates. However, the root cause of piracy lies in the insecurity of the Somali mainland.
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| Picture Credit: www.uruknet |
The Washington's war of "enhanced interrogation techniques", i.e. torture, to extract information from prisoners produced little intelligence and made it difficult to convict accused terrorists. As the confessions of prisoners obtained by intense coercion cannot be trusted, U.S federal judges regularly throw out government's cases against Guantánamo Bay prisoners. The Supreme Court ruled in 2008 that Guantánamo prisoners could challenge their detention as enemy combatants in federal court. ProPublica and the National Law Journal prepared a report that showed the government has lost more than half the cases where Guantánamo prisoners have challenged their detention due to being forcibly interrogated both by foreign and United States agents.
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