A Tale of Nationalism and Dissidence
Cultural disconnect is at the heart of Cameroon’s political incongruity. Split in two, the government falls in the hands of the Francophones, natural resources in the hands of the Anglophones.
Who Will Save Darfur
Genocide in Darfur is stuck between international bureaucracy and lethargic, discriminate Sudanese politics. Pkalya probes Western states, special interests, and humanitarian aide initiatives, while we sit and wait to see who will save Darfur.
The Bougainville conflict: A classic outcome of the resource-curse effect?
Pre-existing ethnic and economic divisions between Bougainville and the rest of Papua New Guinea and the mismanagement of the copper wealth of the Panguna Mine exacerbated existing tensions and provided radical Bougainvilleans an excuse to legitimise the pursuit of violence as a means to resolve their grievances. This article examines the causes of the Bougainville conflict in Papua New Guinea from 1988 -1997, specifically investigating the role of the resource curse (as propounded by Collier) and briefly discusses implications for democracy and future development on the island.
The article finds that not one single factor should be isolated as a sole cause of the conflict but that there is a series of predominant causes which can trace their roots directly to the Panguna Mine. Pan-Bougainvillean ethnicity should not be discounted as an important factor but should be seen as an external projection of economic and inter-ethnic grievances.
International Cooperation to Control the Intergovernmental Small Arms Trade: Case Study China-Sudan
After outlining the deadly scope of today’s small arms trade, this paper touches on questions of international law and responsibility, or lack thereof, as illustrated by the legal intergovernmental transfer of arms from China to the Sudan, despite international pressure urging the contrary. References include United Nations documents, task force and international NGO campaign reports, contemporary media coverage and University for Peace lecture discussions.
Comfort Women and the Failure of International Law
Seong Eun Lee discusses the failure of international law to hold states responsible for their use of women as sexual slaves during the Pacific War. The history of international treaties and regulations outlawing such behaviour are briefly reviewed, as is the current state of the former comfort women’s struggle for justice. The author argues that interlocking structures of oppression based on power imbalances of gender and ethnicity have continued to frustrate this struggle in the arena of international law.
Key words: Korea, Japan, comfort women, international law, development, South Asia, World War II, gender, peace and conflict, ethnicity, sexual slavery, justice.
Mediators Beyond Borders: Pathways to Peace and Reconciliation
In this timely article, Kenneth Cloke reflects on the potential of mediation to inspire conflict transformation and social development in times of interpersonal as well as international crisis.
Technical aspects of mediation are also discussed, as Cloke draws from his considerable experience in the field, offering practical and accessible advice for the promotion of cooperation and coexistence in our own lives and beyond all borders.
Assessing the Georgian conflict
Richard Falk discusses the recent violence in Georgia in light of the geopolitical context, involving NATO, Russia, the EU, and the US.
Deconstructing Reconstruction
David Ekbladh unravels the real meaning of “post-war reconstruction”.
Stranded migrants, human rights, sovereignty and politics
Law, human rights and migration specialists analyze the case of the Cuban migrants who remained stranded for more than two months in Costa Rica, after Nicaragua refused to grant transit visas, truncating their voyage it to the United States. Politics, sovereignty, the application of legal instruments and the fulfillment of the migrants’ human rights: how are they balanced and prioritized as governments make decisions?
This article was originally published in Spanish by the Costa Rican magazine Firma.
ILO Convention 169: Free, prior consent and the Diquís Hydroelectric Project in Costa Rica
The Costa Rican government is pushing for the construction of the Diquís Hydroelectric project in the Southeastern part of the country, where indigenous peoples live. The Costa Rican law recognized the autonomy of these territories in the 1970’s and yet it insists on ignoring and overruling its own law, for the “benefit of the country.” A similar situation in Brazil has resulted in massive protests as the indigenous peoples are being marched upon. Their right to free, prior and informed consent, as prescribed by the ILO’s Convention 169 is being ignored. The Organization of American States as well as Special Rapporteur James Anaya have already expressed their concern about the situation.