In The News

A Discussion On Ethical Globalization

January 15, 2003
Is globalization unethical? That seems to be the view of many critics of globalization. Former President of Ireland and former United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson is taking an initiative to address that concern. The Ethical Globalization Initiative that she directs seeks to integrate human rights norms and standards into a more ethical globalization process and to...

New Survey Documents Global Repression

January 14, 2003
Is it only in periods of relative stability and peace that human rights should be an issue to the international community? The latest report from Human Rights Watch, a US-based international monitoring group, finds that the United States has undermined basic principles of human rights while pursuing the global war on terrorism. The organization's executive director says in this press...

What a Howler

December 9, 2002
Australian Prime Minister John Howard said recently that he favors preemptive strikes against terrorists in Asian nations, unleashing a flood of criticism from within Australia and without. This commentary in Singapore's Straits Times argues that the notion of preemption must be examined by the international community. The United Nations must be consulted before preemptive strikes occur...

The War on Terror in Southeast Asia Could Hurt Civil Liberties

Sidney Jones December 6, 2002
The war on terror in Southeast Asia has a quickened tempo in the wake of the discovery of a bombing plot in Singapore and the Bali bomb attacks killing nearly 200 people. These heightened anti-terrorist measures come just as countries like Indonesia and the Philippines are emerging from years of despotic rule. According to some observers, already there are worrisome signals that the new...

China’s Deadly Cover-Up

Nicholas D. Kristof November 29, 2002
Around one million people are infected with HIV in Henan Province in central China. Unlike other parts of China, where AIDS spread through drug use and prostitution ever since China opened its doors to the outside world, Henan's peasants received the virus by selling blood through government-monitored programs that pooled the blood, extracted plasma, and reinjected the blood back into the...

Behind the Veil: A Muslim Woman Speaks Out

Marlise Simons November 9, 2002
The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 continue to impact public sentiments around the world. European attitudes toward Muslims have shifted; over 70 mosques in the Netherlands, for example, have been attacked in the month following the attack. In light of such circumstances, the Dutch Muslim community has condemned Ayaan Hirsi Ali, a Dutch Muslim woman of Somali origin, and forced her to...

War On ‘Blood’ Diamonds Ramped Up

Ursula Owre Masterson August 21, 2002
Civil war has ravaged countries like Sierra Leone and Angola for decades. These conflicts, as much about money as about politics, often center around one of the African continent’s most precious resources: diamonds. Rebel groups often sell the gems to developed countries and use the profits to fund their fighting. After years of benefiting from the cheaper stones, Western governments, led by...