Whistleblowers Snowden, Bolkovac Comment on Report

Minova Trial Shows Need for Urgent Reforms

UN, AU Should Urgently Increase Civilian Protection

The long-awaited trial of Hissène Habré, was adjourned almost as soon as it was opened, as an outburst from the former dictator of Chad caused a scene in the courtroom.

The government of the Democratic Republic of Congo and United Nations peacekeepers should urgently take steps to arrest and transfer Sylvestre Mudacumura, military commander of the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), to the International Criminal Court.

Victims Bring Dictator Hissène Habré to Trial: The inauguration of a special court in Senegal marks a turning point in the long campaign to bring to justice the former dictator of Chad. Habré is accused of thousands of political killings and systematic torture during his presidency, from 1982 to 1990.

In 2010, border guards beat and shocked Anastasio Hernandez Rojas with a stun gun at the San Ysidro port of entry near San Diego, California. He died three days later. An autopsy report ruled his death a homicide, with hypertension and methamphetamines as contributing factors. Rojas had been deported a few months earlier and was apprehended when he tried to rejoin his family, including his wife, Maria Puga, and their 7-year-old twins, Daniela and Daniel, pictured here near the wall where their father was beaten. Puga, who has successfully demanded a governmental investigation into her husband's death, says, "I want my kids to grow up peacefully, not with bitterness. That is why I continue to search for justice."

Angie and Peter Kim came to the United States from South Korea with their parents when they were 9 and 7 years old respectively. According to them, their grandmother, a US citizen, had petitioned for their family, they said, but after years of waiting due to a backlog of visas, she died just before they could complete the process. When their father became a permanent resident through marriage to a US citizen, he and Peter became permanent residents. Peter is now a US citizen, but Angie was over 21 years old at the time and could not gain legal status. Without congressional action on immigration, she may never become a US citizen like her brother. Angie knows that in some ways she is lucky. "I'm able to sit next to my brother right now but I know...children, or parents who are literally separated from each other."

Marta Garcia left Mexico for the United States more than 20 years ago, settling in California with her husband and her three children, all US citizens. Marta said her application to gain legal status through her husband was pending, and she thought she could reenter the US legally after leaving to take care of her dying mother in Mexico. But she was arrested by immigration authorities and ultimately deported. Under current law, Marta has little hope of legally rejoining her family in the US. Sitting in a migrant shelter in Tijuana, Mexico in August 2013, she said, "I want to be with my children and watch them succeed."

Alma D. Isais Aguilar, a Catholic nun, works with the Kino Border Initiative, a group that provides food and shelter to migrants in the border town of Nogales, Mexico. Sister Alma reports that until recently, the migrants she encountered were typically heading north for the first time, but that increasingly they are long-term US residents, newly deported and desperate to return to families north of the border.