• Barack Obama: Dump These 8 Unsavory Allies
    Jan 2, 2013
    If Obama wants to bolster his legacy in his second term, he can and should get tough on some of the United States' most unsavory friends and allies. Here are eight leaders to start with.
  • Ending the cycle of abuse in Congo
    Jan 2, 2013
    On Nov. 19, armed men from a rebel group called the M23 were looking for a prominent civil society leader in a village outside Goma, a provincial capital in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. He'd been in hiding for several weeks after receiving text messages threatening him for his public denunciations of M23 abuses. When the rebels didn't find him, they shot his colleague, killing him.
  • Incapacitated Prisoners Too Costly to Keep
    Dec 28, 2012
  • Rwanda’s Rampaging Rebel Force
    Dec 28, 2012

    Despite supporting a brutal rebel group in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda is about to take a seat on the U.N. Security Council. Few countries dare challenge the Security Council the way Rwanda does; even fewer get away with it. Yet on Tuesday, despite backing an abusive rebel group that has attacked U.N. peacekeepers in the neighboring Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda will take a two-year seat on the council.  

  • Anatomy of an Air Attack Gone Wrong
    Dec 26, 2012
    The villagers who rushed to the road, cutting through rocky fields in central Yemen, found the dead strewn around a burning sport utility vehicle. The bodies were dusted with white powder -- flour and sugar, the witnesses said -- that the victims were bringing home from market when the aircraft attacked. A torched woman clutched her daughter in a lifeless embrace. Four severed heads littered the pavement.
  • In Saudi Arabia, women are confined by technology
    Dec 24, 2012
    Text messages are the ultimate convenience, used by people worldwide to communicate, often to notify friends and families of their whereabouts. In many countries, new technologies can serve to enhance individual liberty. But technology does not always liberate.
  • Long road ahead for Afghan women
    Dec 21, 2012

     

    The murders of Sediqi and Safi are more than just a measure of Afghanistan’s ongoing slide toward lawlessness and violence that is likely to accelerate as the international community draws down its support in concert with the departure of international combat troops by the end of 2014. They are also highly symbolic attacks on the tentative progress toward women’s rights, embodied by the Department of Women’s Affairs offices, since the U.S. invasion toppled the repressive Taliban regime in 2001.

  • UK secret court plans 'dangerous precedent'
    Dec 19, 2012
    The British government's proposal to expand the use of secret court hearings in civil cases came one step closer to becoming law yesterday, raising serious concerns for human rights and the principles of open justice.
  • India: Without reforms, free speech remains a distant dream
    Dec 19, 2012
    A 19-year-old in Maharashtra was questioned by the police for his comment on Facebook criticising Raj Thackeray.
  • What ails rape investigation in India?
    Dec 19, 2012
    India should take a principled stand against death penalty, including for rape. But beyond principle, India must also oppose the introduction of the death penalty as it will not stop the rise in rapes or result in higher conviction rates.