In The News

Turkey: EU Reports Pave Way for Qualified Approval of Entry Talks

Ahto Lobjakas October 4, 2004
For over a decade, Turkey has tried to force the issue of its accession into the European Union (EU) onto the agenda of the European Commission. With the recent release of two draft progress reports, serious discussions seem imminent. While the reports laud the country's social and political reforms, Turkey still fails to meet certain entry requirements. At issue are the country's...

A Graphic Film of Protest, and Cries of Blasphemy

Marlise Simons September 27, 2004
The assimilation of Europe's many millions of Muslim immigrants dominates public discourse in the continent today. Many critics of Islam see Muslims as carrying a set of values at odds with the European identity, calling for internal reform within Muslim communities. Even some Muslims also approach the contentious issue from this angle. Ayaan Hirsa Ali, a Somalian-born refugee, now a member...

Tremors of Global Insecurity Reach Shangri-La

Kesang Sherpa September 27, 2004
As the South Asian nation of Nepal has seen, the forces of globalization may be both a blessing and a curse. While open borders helped to develop trade, manufacturing, and tourism as the country's economic pillars, a Maoist insurgency has devastated the country in recent years. Amidst this social and financial crisis, Nepali workers overseas now bear the onus of supporting Nepal's...

The Day Civil Society Got its Nose Bloodied in Hanoi

David Koh September 21, 2004
Attendees of the Asia-Europe People's Forum in Hanoi received the cold shoulder by the Vietnamese government in early September. Visitors and journalists alike were denied access to the non-governmental conference by the host nation. Yet according this Straits Times commentary, the rude awakening should not come as a surprise. Vietnam has slowly reformed since the mid-1980s, only recently...

Wedding Vows Can Lock Danes Out of Their Homeland

Richard Bernstein September 10, 2004
Even if it is love at first sight, beginning a life together in Denmark is a lengthy, maddening ordeal for mixed Danish-foreign couples. New immigration laws which, opponents argue, are the strictest in the European Union, have barred over 1,000 recently married couples from living in the country. Many of these couples have opted to live across the bridge in Malmo, Sweden. This was not the...

Most Transport Workers Yet to Unionize

Ridwan Max Sijabat September 2, 2004
In 1998, the Indonesian government ratified International Labor Organization (ILO) Convention No. 87, granting freedom of association to all workers and employers. Six years later, the majority of the republic's transportation employees have failed to effectively unionize. The keynote address at a recent International Transportation Federation (ITF) committee meeting revealed that while...

Coping with World Population Boom and Bust – Part I

Joseph Chamie August 19, 2004
The world’s population - currently at 6.4 billion - has quadrupled over the past century. In the first of a two-part series, UN demographer Joseph Chamie says that the global population boom has been accompanied by revolutionary changes in life expectancy, fertility, population aging, and large-scale migration – issues that will fundamentally shape the politics of the next century. Even with...