Latest news
9 April 2014
Human Rights Watch released a letter that was sent to the US Secretary of State John Kerry on 31 March. The letter urged the United States to not resume military aid to Egypt unless the military-backed government ceases the alleged human rights abuses and ensures that violators are held accountable. (more…)
Source: Human Rights Watch | Egypt: Failure to Meet US Aid Conditions
Source: Reuters | Rights group calls on U.S. to delay military aid to Egypt
8 April 2014
Following accusations by the Rwandan President Paul Kagame of French involvement in the Rwandan genocide, France did not attend the ceremony on 7 April 2014, marking the 20th anniversary of the Rwandan genocide. According to the French Foreign Ministry, Rwanda barred the ambassador from the commemoration.
Kagame told the magazine Jeune Afrique in an interview last month that both France and Belgium had a ‘direct role in the political preparation of genocide and participation in its execution.’ Kagame accused France of training and arming the Hutu armed groups who were the main perpetrators of the genocide and of involvement in the slaughter of Rwandans who attempted to escape through a French-controlled territory. (more…)
Source: Reuters | France to shun Rwanda genocide ceremony after Kagame accusations
Source: The New York Times | 20 Years After, Rwanda Pauses to Recall Carnage
Source: The Wall Street Journal | Rwanda, France Spar on Anniversary of Genocide
3 April 2014
On 1 April 2014, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) ordered military commanders to draft plans in order to reinforce the defenses in Eastern Europe. The US already sent military aircrafts to increase air patrols over the Baltic nations. Further steps that will be taken to reassure Eastern European countries are expected to include sending more military equipment to Eastern European states, improving the capability of the rapid response forces, holding more military exercises and increasing the naval presence in the Baltic Sea. (more…)
Source: The New York Times | NATO to Firm Up Its Presence in Eastern Europe as It Halts Cooperation With Russia
Source: The Guardian | Nato moves to bolster eastern European defences against Russia
Source: Reuters | NATO suspends cooperation with Russia over Ukraine crisis
Source: The Washington Post | NATO allies pledge to beef up eastern defences
2 April 2014
David Jason Karp has recently published Responsibility for Human Rights: Transnational Corporations in Imperfect States at Cambridge University Press.
According to the abstract, the book ‘provides an original theoretical analysis of which global actors are responsible for human rights, and why. It does this through an evaluation of the different reasons according to which such responsibilities might be assigned: legalism, universalism, capacity and publicness. The book marshals various arguments that speak in favour of and against assigning “responsibility for human rights” to any state or non-state actor. (…) David Karp argues that relevantly public actors have specific human rights responsibility. However, states can be less public, and non-state actors can be more public, than might seem apparent at first glance.’
Source: CUP | Responsibility for Human Rights: Transnational Corporations in Imperfect States | David Jason Karp | March 2014
31 March 2014
On 27 March 2014 the United Nations Human Rights Council adopted a resolution that intends to launch an international inquiry into alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity, committed by the Sri Lankan government as well as the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) during the country’s 25-year civil war that ended in 2009. (more…)
Source: UN News Centre | UN rights council approves inquiry into alleged abuses in Sri Lanka war
Source: The Guardian | UN takes step towards Sri Lanka war crimes inquiry