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Sri Lanka’s Human Rights Void

Will Baxter January 29, 2008 Will Baxter

Wife with late husband's photo
Outside the Bishop's residence about a hundred Tamil women are crying and wailing, many of them clutching copies of death certificates or missing person's reports to their chests. Crumpled up in their fists are photocopies of ID cards belonging to their husbands, their sons, their fathers-all murdered, abducted, or officially classified in a log somewhere as 'missing.' These women have all come here with the same intention: to try and gain an audience with the visiting UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Louise Arbour, to tell their story and to plead for justice. In Jaffna, when someone disappears, they unfortunately have a way of never turning up again. Making the atrocities known is often the only solace these women can have.

Activists in Australia March with Aboriginal Flag

Australian Government Intervenes in Aboriginal Communities

Mneesha Gellman and Josh Dankoff January 24, 2008 Mneesha Gellman and Josh Dankoff

Activists in Australia March with Aboriginal Flag
On July 1st, 2007, Australia's Federal government sent police and military personnel into Aboriginal communities in northern Australia to combat high levels of child sexual abuse. Policing combined with alcohol bans and welfare restrictions constitute a short-sighted intervention that ignores the root causes of social dysfunction among historically oppressed people.

Police Confront 7th Asia-Europe Meeting Protesters

The Politics of Sustained Civil Unrest in Europe

John Horvath January 22, 2008 John Horvath

Police at 7th Asia-Europe Meeting Protest
The extreme right National Party of the Czech Republic recently announced the setup of a National Guard paramilitary group that will serve at rallies and in the case of major disasters. The National Party cited the "police inability to secure calm, order and security to the public" and "fear for the behavior of minorities and immigrants" as reasons to set up the guard. To what extent is the threat of right-wing extremism in Central and Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union exaggerated?

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Online Video: Dr. Martin Luther King’s “I Have A Dream” Speech

Dr. Martin Luther King January 21, 2008 Dr. Martin Luther King

"With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day."

Watch the historic speech here online.

Sri Lankan Special Task Force

Sri Lanka: Efforts to Overcome a New Cycle of Violence

Rene Wadlow January 17, 2008 Rene Wadlow

Sri Lankan Special Task Force
On January 8, 2008, the Sri Lankan Minister for Nation Building, DM Dassanayake was killed when his convoy was hit by a powerful roadside bomb blast, allegedly planted by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) near the capital, Colombo.  The killing follows the murder of LTTE's Political wing chief S.P. Tamilselvam and the Intelligence wing chief "Colonel" Charles by the Sri Lankan security forces.  On New Year's Day, a Tamil Parliamentarian Thiagarajah Maleswaran was assassinated inside a Hindu temple in Colombo. These deaths bring Sri Lanka's escalating conflict into sharp focus.