• Zanu-PF: It's time to take decisive action
    Jun 13, 2011
    Leaders of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) meeting at an emergency summit on Zimbabwe in South Africa on June 11 will be hoping that their tougher stance towards resolving the country's political crisis eventually leads to democratic elections and an end to the crisis. But they have a long and challenging way ahead of them.
  • Inclusive Government in Political Crisis
    Apr 14, 2011
    The announcement in December 2010 by President Robert Mugabe that his party, the Zimbabwe African National Union – Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF), would leave the country’s inclusive government and hold elections towards the end of this year should sound alarm bells across the region.
  • India Should Say No to Blood Diamonds
    Nov 1, 2010
    India’s new role as a global leader at the United Nations Security Council faces a critical test this week on the issue of “blood diamonds”. The term refers to diamonds mined under conditions of gross human rights abuse, and was popularised by the American movie, Blood Diamond, starring Leonardo DiCaprio as a mercenary turned do-gooder in the blood-soaked diamond fields of Sierra Leone.
  • Bloody Diamonds
    Jun 22, 2010
    The Marange diamond field in Zimbabwe is soaked with the blood of civilians and children. Will they make their way to stores in the West? Israel is heading the international forum that will make this decision.
  • Voices to be Heard, In Harmony
    May 3, 2010
    Today we celebrate the second anniversary of a landmark in international law, the entry into force of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). But here is the real question: is there something to celebrate? Has much changed in the daily lives of persons with disabilities since this treaty was adopted at the United Nations? Sadly, I don’t think so.
  • Protect Jewelry Industry from the Taint of Blood Diamonds
    Mar 18, 2010
    If Switzerland wants to play an even greater role in the global and domestic jewelry trade, it should demonstrate more leadership in ending the sale and production of "blood diamonds," gems procured in the context of the most severe human rights abuses.
  • Blood diamond
    Feb 1, 2010
    When people buy diamond jewellery, they often want to convey love or commitment to someone dear and special. But, this jewellery, if it contains diamonds from the Marange diamond fields in eastern Zimbabwe, could have a bloody past signifying mistreatment and abuse.
  • How Israel Can Help Stop the Flow of Zimbabwe’s Blood Diamonds
    Jan 28, 2010
    Diamonds from the Marange fields of eastern Zimbabwe are mined under highly abusive conditions – the latest “blood diamonds” of the twenty-first century. To its credit, the Israeli government has tried to put pressure on Zimbabwe to improve these conditions. In the coming year, as chair of the global group that monitors the diamond industry, Israel will have the opportunity to do even more.
  • Stem the flow of blood diamonds from Zimbabwe
    Dec 7, 2009
    As Americans flock to stores for holiday shopping, some plan to buy diamonds for loved ones. But that special gift could have a bloody past. If the diamonds are from Zimbabwe, the stones could have been mined under the control of Zimbabwe's army, which Human Rights Watch found has killed more than 200 people, engaged in torture and used forced labor, including children, in the nation's Marange diamond fields.
  • The Commonwealth is a Jamboree of Repression
    Nov 24, 2009
    The Commonwealth has developed a 21st-century role – as a haven for serial human rights abusers.