The credibility of the world's "blood diamond" monitoring group has been damaged after its failure this week to suspend Zimbabwe despite overwhelming evidence of serious human rights abuses and smuggling in the Marange diamond fields in eastern Zimbabwe.
A proposed Ugandan law on HIV/AIDS promotes dangerous and discredited approaches to the AIDS epidemic and would violate human rights. The HIV and AIDS Prevention and Control Bill could be taken up by Uganda's parliament shortly.
Turkey should not allow President Omar al-Bashir of Sudan, an accused war criminal, to attend a conference in Istanbul, and should arrest him if he sets foot in Turkey.
A report released on November 5, 2009 by the United Nations Panel of Experts on Sudan reveals continuing human rights violations in Darfur and underscores the urgent need to reform Sudan's repressive national security law.
Congolese armed forces in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo have brutally killed hundreds of civilians and committed widespread rape in the past three months in a military operation backed by the United Nations.
A network of African civil society and international organizations today called upon African Union states to use the AU’s upcoming session about the International Criminal Court to promote the court’s ability to prosecute the world’s worst crimes fairly and effectively.
The African Union should support the High-Level Panel on Darfur's call for prosecutions to provide justice for victims in Darfur. The panel’s recommendation to create a “hybrid court” – along with establishing a truth and reconciliation commission and strengthening the domestic criminal justice system – could usefully supplement justice efforts in Darfur, but not replace International Criminal Court cases.
The Kimberley Process Certification Scheme, scheduled to meet in Swakopmund, Namibia, from November 2 to 5, 2009, should immediately suspend Zimbabwe for continuing human rights abuses and widespread smuggling in the Marange diamond fields.
An in-depth investigation into the September 28, 2009 killings and rapes at a peaceful rally in Conakry, Guinea, has uncovered new evidence that the massacre and widespread sexual violence were organized and were committed largely by the elite Presidential Guard, commonly known as the “red berets.”
The Kenyan government should immediately stop the recruitment of Somalis in refugee camps to fight for an armed force in Somalia. Kenyan authorities have directly supported the drive, which has recruited hundreds of Somali men and boys in the sprawling Dadaab refugee camps as well as Kenyan citizens from nearby towns.
