http://humanrights.foreignpolicyblogs.com The World Affairs Blog Network Sat, 07 Nov 2009 03:23:18 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Representatives from governments, civil society, and the diamond industry met this past week in Namibia for the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme's seventh plenary meeting. The Kimberley Process was established in 2003 as a way to regulate the trade of so-called conflict diamonds that came to prominence during the wars in ... http://humanrights.foreignpolicyblogs.com/2009/11/06/the-true-colors-of-diamond-regulation/ Yesterday Maine voters dealt a blow to LGBT rights, with 53% of those who voted in a referendum opting to repeal Maine's state law recognizing the right of same sex couples to get married.  While New England is considered the region of the U.S. most supportive of the right of ... http://humanrights.foreignpolicyblogs.com/2009/11/04/maine-voters-repeal-the-right-to-same-sex-marriage-dealing-a-blow-to-lgbt-rights/ Human Rights Watch has landed back in the news, though not in the way that it likes.  For the last few months the organization has endured controversy over its coverage and position on Israel.  First, news broke in July of a fundraising trip that Human Rights Watch undertook to Saudi Arabia ... http://humanrights.foreignpolicyblogs.com/2009/11/01/the-duty-to-criticize/ [caption id="attachment_1741" align="aligncenter" width="263" caption="Refugee children aboard the Oceanic Viking (from the BBC)"][/caption] The Christian Science Monitor has good coverage of the ongoing boat people controversy in Australia.  Due to the end of the civil war in Sri Lanka, there has been a global surge in Sri Lankan Tamils seeking asylum with ... http://humanrights.foreignpolicyblogs.com/2009/10/30/when-the-warehoused-dont-cooperate/ Karadzic presenting himself at the ICTY following his 2008 arrest. Agence-France Press--Getty Images It appears that the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) is going to try Radovan Karadzic, the so-called architect of the Bosnian war's genocide, in absentia.  After hiding for over a decade following two ... http://humanrights.foreignpolicyblogs.com/2009/10/30/1715/ [caption id="attachment_1712" align="aligncenter" width="357" caption="A women's self help group for microfinance in India"][/caption] The World Economic Forum released their annual Global Gender Gap Report today, reporting on how successfully (or unsuccessfully) countries have been in the last year when it comes to closing the gender gap between men and women in ... http://humanrights.foreignpolicyblogs.com/2009/10/27/closing-the-gender-gap/ Natalya Estemirova's body was found on June 15th of this year.  The award winning journalist and human rights defender was getting too close to the truth.  She paid for it with two bullets. In Chechnya and indeed elsewhere in that wide expanse of impunity (see Dagestan and Russia), Estemirova was finding ... http://humanrights.foreignpolicyblogs.com/2009/10/26/sakharov-prize/ Southeast Asia has officially joined the ranks of Europe, the Americas, and Africa in launching their own regional human rights commission.  Speculation on the proposed human rights body for The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has dominated political commentary in the region for the past year.  Yet, now that the ASEAN ... http://humanrights.foreignpolicyblogs.com/2009/10/25/aihrc-a-step-but-with-little-direction/ Yesterday I had the opportunity to attend the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to food’s, Prof. Olivier De Schutter’s, second presentation to the UN General Assembly.  The interactive dialogue that followed Prof. De Schutter’s presentation is an excellent example of how the Special Procedures system of the UN Human ... http://humanrights.foreignpolicyblogs.com/2009/10/22/live-from-new-york-un-special-rapporteur-on-the-right-to-food-engages-in-interactive-dialogue-with-the-un-general-assembly/   [caption id="attachment_1651" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Interracial Wedding Cake Toppers from www.cakella.com and www.weddinggate.com"][/caption]   While it is no secret that racism lives on in the United States, it was nonetheless shocking news that a justice of the peace in Louisiana had refused to marry an interracial couple because he doesn't "believe in mixing ... http://humanrights.foreignpolicyblogs.com/2009/10/20/race-based-restrictions-to-marriage-live-on-in-louisiana/