May 11
A Focus on Federal Legislation Human trafficking is a persistent international and domestic problem and crime, which is bound in violations of human rights, labor, and public health standards. The definition of human trafficking varies from source to source; however, there are common entities to its overall meaning—victims of trafficking include those who are recruited, …
May 10
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), which was signed in 1990, protected the rights of persons with disabilities (PWDs), prohibited discrimination in employment, and mandated access to public services and facilities in the United States. It seemed that all the years of hard work and lobbying by activists and the disabled community to gain recognition …
May 06
Poverty, Disability, and Exclusion from Development Strategies A World Bank estimate suggests that 25% of the 1.3 billion most impoverished people in the world experience some form of disability, and according to the UN Development Program, 80% of persons with disabilities (PWDs) live in developing countries. These numbers are steadily increasing due to a number …
Apr 26
Female genital mutilation (FGM), also know as female circumcision or genital cutting, is a procedure performed for non-medical reasons that is classified by the World Health Organization (WHO) in four different types: Type I – Partial or complete removal of the clitoris and the clitoral hood. Type II – Partial or complete removal of the …
Apr 21
On Tuesday I posted about the history of CEDAW ratification in the United States and some of the arguments made against it, and wrote about how there is a new campaign pushing for it in the US as soon as possible. There are, of course, arguments in both directions for its ratification or not, but …
Apr 19
The Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) is the United Nation’s international human rights treaty on gender equality. It has been ratified by all but seven of the United Nation’s members: Iran, Nauru, Palau, Somalia, Sudan, Tonga, and the United States. I would be very willing to argue that …
Apr 12
Almost two weeks ago, Richard Goldstone, a prominent and well respected former South African judge, wrote an op-ed for the Washington Post in which he retracted some of the key findings of the Goldstone Report from 2009. The Goldstone Report,officially known as the Report of the United Nations Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict, …
Apr 07
Yesterday, April 6, marked the17th anniversary of the assassination of Rwandan President Juvénal Habyarimana which catalyzed a genocide in which 800,000 Tutsis (a Rwandan minority) and moderate Hutus (part of the majority) were systematically murdered in a three month span. A former supervisor of mine was in the United Nations Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO) …
Apr 05
Yesterday, US Attorney General Eric Holder made a statement declaring that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the mastermind of the 9/11 attacks, will be tried by a military tribunal in the Guantanamo Bay detention camp. Although somewhat inevitable, it comes as a disappointment for those who supported President Obama’s original plan to transport the Guantanamo detainees to …
Mar 24
The Tunisian Revolution ignited protests across Northern Africa and the Middle East, but they have not been the only areas affected. Much to the Chinese government’s dismay, human rights and pro-democracy groups in China have used the Middle Eastern and African protests as an inspiration for their own campaigns. This has led to incredible censorship …
