In The News

'Protect Regime Now, Feed People Later'

Shim Jae Hoon October 18, 2005
Locked in a food shortage approaching crisis proportions – which reportedly caused two million deaths in the past five years – the government of Kim Jong-il has been wooing neighboring China and its brethren to the South for more far-reaching aid. As Seoul-based journalist Shim Jae Hoon reports, this move comes at the expense of broader, international emergency efforts coordinated by...

Kashmir: Amid Tragedy, Peace Beckons

Ahmed Rashid October 17, 2005
For half a century, India and Pakistan have disputed ownership of Kashmir. Now that a devastating earthquake has reduced the cities and towns of Kashmir to rubble, the opportunity – and necessity – for peace between the two nations is greater than ever before. On the Pakistani side of the border, the enormous devastation has left at least two million people without homes. On the Indian side,...

Help the Refugees Who Reach China

Joel R. Charny June 14, 2005
Thousands of North Koreans have succeeded in reaching China in hope of refuge. However, instead of receiving the humanitarian assistance that China is internationally bound to provide for those claiming refugee status, these North Koreans are labeled as illegal immigrants and deported. Once back in their home country, they face harsh conditions, including imprisonment, torture, and sometimes...

Spain Grants Amnesty to 700,000 Migrants

Giles Tremlett May 11, 2005
Going against the grain of regional ideology, Spain this week granted political amnesty to nearly 700,000 illegal immigrants living in the country. This is the latest in several blanket amnesties since 1990. During a three-month period in which illegal workers and their employers could file for the necessary papers, thousands of immigrants, from Latin America and around Europe came out from...

Sudan Aviation Set to Take Wing as Curtain Falls on 21-Year Civil War

Catherine Riungu May 4, 2005
In the wake of a diplomatic resolution to a decades-old civil war, Sudan is attempting to rebuild its aviation industry. While fighting continues and many thousands of refugees still live in fear and abject poverty, the country's Ministry of Civil Aviation is looking for ways to pick up the pieces and move forward. In the past, Sudan's air travel industry was among the region's...

Is Democracy in the Middle East a Pipedream?

Fawaz Gerges April 25, 2005
The winds of democratic change are sweeping the Middle East, but there is still much mistrust to overcome. According to Middle East scholar Fawaz Gerges, the current stirrings against autocratic rulers, from Beirut to Cairo to Jerusalem, herald a more assertive civil society and a true longing for political emancipation among Arabs. The roots of Middle Eastern political oppression lay in the...

"Return at Any Cost" Is Breach of Rights

Jamie Doward April 21, 2005
Several human rights groups are alleging that Britain is increasingly returning refugees to places of conflict. In particular, the British Home Office has purportedly been repatriating political dissidents to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), where their return means certain imprisonment, torture, and even death. Amnesty International and the Institute of Race Relations, among other...