Britain believes that its aid to Rwanda is morally irreproachable because the stated aim is helping the poorest. Who could reasonably argue with that? The problem lies not in intentions but in execution, and failing to understand the consequences of large sums being handed to authoritarian states without sufficient conditionality.

The request today by the International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor to the court’s judges to open a Kenya investigation is a decisive step toward justice for the country’s 2007 post-election violence.

Burundian authorities should immediately retract an ordinance outlawing the Forum for the Strengthening of Civil Society (FORSC), an umbrella organization representing 146 Burundian civil society associations.

On the eve of World AIDS Day 2009, HIV prevention efforts – and the promise of antiretroviral therapy (ART) as prevention – are being undermined by punitive laws targeting those infected with and at risk of HIV.

Conditions in Equatorial Guinea cast serious doubt about the credibility of the forthcoming presidential election. President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, who has ruled the oil-rich West African country since seizing power in a coup in 1979, is widely expected to easily win the presidential vote scheduled for November 29, 2009.

The Commonwealth has developed a 21st-century role – as a haven for serial human rights abusers.

Victims of serious human rights crimes require support, protection, and assistance when seeking justice through the courts. The protection of a victim's well-being in the context of a trial is a legal imperative, though in many countries such protection measures pose serious challenges and are frequently inadequate. In the Democratic Republic of Congo, a country plagued by continued armed conflict and a weak judicial system, the task of providing protection and support to victims seeking legal redress is all the more complex.

The International Criminal Court’s (ICC) joint trial of two Congolese rebel leaders offers victims the chance to see accountability for atrocities committed in Congo’s armed conflict.