Reeyot Alemu: Young Hero of Ethiopia Press Freedom
Reeyot Alemu has recently been awarded by the International Women’s Media Foundation and UNESCO for her inspiring commitment to freedom of speech and opinion, even as she faces severe persecution from the Ethiopian government, and continues to be imprisoned.
Palestine and the International Criminal Court
The Palestinian National Authority’s 2009 declaration under Article 12(3) of the Rome Statute to join the ICC presented the international court with an opportunity to implement its Statute and respond to the many UN and other reports of human rights abuses committed in Palestine since 2002. As Mahmoud Abdou argues, the Prosecutor of the ICC’s reaction accomplished precisely the opposite, allowing power politics to further frustrate the realization of justice and accountability in Palestine.
The Myth of Rule of Law
Law is neither morally just for its own sake, nor is it capable of securing international peace and stability as it is based on contested notions of territoriality and sovereignty. Shant Abou Cham explains.
The slow peace process in Darfur: A call to turn to the local
Peace in whatever way it is perceived has remained both an aspiration and challenge in post-war international order. The combined effect of this struggle has led to constant engagement with and search for durable solutions to conflicts wherever they occur. Despite international interventions attempting to address the conflict in Darfur, and the humanitarian needs it has generated, peace remains elusive. In this article, Rose Mutayiza addresses the challenges that continue to frustrate the peace process and suggests more space be given for local voices and initiatives.The argument of this paper is that the challenges of peace in Darfur though not new, reflect to a considerable degree, institutional and normative faultiness inherent in contemporary neoliberal approaches to peacebuilding.
The State of Iraqi Democracy
Ebenezer Agbeko argues that violent sectarian divisions, internal political deadlock, regional insecurity, and the legacy of foreign occupation all work against the emergence of a robust democratic culture in Iraq.
Three Challenges to Peace in Lebanon
Vanessa Bassil argues that social divisions and state failures pose significant, but surmountable challenges to peace in Lebanon.
Youth Directory 2011: Mapping Study of Youth Organizations and Informal Youth Groups
Tags: Youth Directory, Pakistan, Bargad, informal youth groups, mapping, Punjab, Islamabad
Why the International Criminal Court is Different.
The author discusses how the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court differ from the jurisdictions of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia and the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, and concludes that power matters.
Women in Iraq
This article introduces a gender-framed analysis of the Iraq war and continuing occupation. Through this analysis the author illustrates how the coalition forces’ ignorance of the cultural context within which their actions took place has impeded upon women’s empowerment. By analysing the conflict and occupation within the framework of honour and shame, the further argument is made that, despite the rhetoric of ‘women’s liberation’ used to justify the war, the consequences of the conflict have run contrary to any claim made to emancipate women.
The author concludes that it is only through re-framing our analysis of the Iraqi conflict, with gender at the fore, that we are better able to understand the conflict as a whole. Further that it is only through self-reflection and a concentration on the peaceful empowerment of society as a whole that we are able to counter all forms of violence against women.
Keywords: Gender, Iraq, Insurgency, War on Terrorism, Occupation, Humiliation, Honour and Shame, Self-reflection, Empowerment.
Terrorism and International Adjudication
In the past few years the international community has seen a rise in international terrorism, and international law has been stunned with a new problem that it has not been prepared for. Without international legislation defining what constitutes international terrorism, no alternative dispute settlement bodies are prepared to deal with such a phenomenon. This paper focuses specifically on the proliferation of international adjudicative mechanisms and whether or not this momentum can promote the creation of a new international adjudicative body to cope with the rise of international terrorism as an alternative means to the War on Terrorism.