The rising conflicts between farmers and pastoralists threaten Nigeria's food security, economic stability and ecological balance. Instead of 'silently' resolving the issues, the Nigerian government should intensify all means to end these crimes against livelihoods and address the root causes, like climate change, displacement and appropriation of grazing reserves.

Women’s rights were not won by men, LGBTI rights were not won by straight people, and refugee rights will not be won by non-refugees.

Somalia exists only in name as the country has broken up into tribal enclaves that are not only slavishly subservient to Ethiopia and Kenya but the puppet leaders of all the mini-states go on periodic pilgrimage to Addis Ababa and Nairobi for guidance and blessings from their masters there. This is what should concern Somalis, above anything else.

The US, NATO and Gulf monarchy attacks against Libya in 2011 were a war crime by any definition of the term. If there were any justice in the world Obama and Clinton would fear being on trial. Instead he leaves office looking like a model on magazine covers and they work together to make sure that she sits in the Oval Office after him.

The shameless hypocrisy of former U.S. President Clinton will not change the historical record about his administration’s cold indifference to the Rwandan genocide. Clinton pushed for the drastic reduction of the UN peacekeeping force in Rwanda, leaving the field open for the horrific murders.

Civil society organisations from the Democratic Republic Congo have expressed their opposition to a planned visit by French MPs to genocide commemorations in Rwanda this month. The organisations accuse the MPs of turning a blind eye to the horrendous atrocities committed by Paul Kagame’s regime in Rwanda, DR Congo and the Great Lakes region over the last 20 years. Experts on the region describe Kagame as “the greatest war criminal in office today.”

Obama’s admission that lack of adequate planning in empire’s war on Libya was the biggest mistake of his presidency does not settle the question. Her former Secretary of State, the chief architect of the intervention, Hilary Clinton claims credit for the overthrow and murder of Muammar Gaddafi, which plunged the country into chaos. The intervention was not about Libyans; it was about empire and its interests in Africa.

Accueillir les immigrant-e-s africain-e-s en Europe et dans les autres pays développés n’est pas seulement une question morale ainsi que l’affirment certains universitaires. Il s’agit plutôt d’une responsabilité pour le mal et les perturbations causés par le changement climatique. Mais aussi pour l’exploitation des ressources rendue possible par des rapports de force économiques et politiques biaisés.

Yet another activist has been killed in South Africa. It is the 58th assassination in the Glebelands Hostel community, where state sponsored violence silences organizing and uprisings systematically. Why is there no media coverage, no civil society outrage or demands for investigation?

In recent years the world has seen brutal atrocities inflicted upon religious minorities in predominantly Muslim countries. Many members of minority groups have been victims of murder, enslavement, forced exile, intimidation, starvation, and other affronts to their basic human dignity. The Marrakesh Declaration contends that such actions have no relation to Islam.

Combating the current threat can best be accomplished by enhancing the capacities of the African state, thereby diminishing its susceptibilities to radicalization and violent non-state actors. Radicalization often appeals to some Muslims because it resonates with their personal experiences of discrimination and economic exclusion.

While the government provided limited compensation to some of the people who were displaced or lost property in 2009 and in 2011-12, survivors of rape and other sexual violence have been excluded as a group from compensation unless they also lost property or were displaced.

The escalation of war and de-facto blockade in Yemen have resulted in the country's largest ever displacement of civilians and unprecedented levels of poverty. Within one year alone, there has been a six-fold increase of people forced to flee their homes, raising the number to 2.4 million.

The real crisis is not the influx of refugees to Europe per se but a toxic combination of destabilising foreign policy agendas, economic austerity and the rise of right-wing nationalism, which is likely to push the world further into social and political chaos in the months ahead.

The refugee crisis in Europe continues to deepen, with knock-on effects around the world. Recently, NATO sent warships to the Aegean Sea in a very opaque manoeuvre – what could be the real intent of this? And what are the implications for the fleeing refugees?

The author explores Dadaab, the world's largest refugee camp, through nine of its inhabitants, portraying them with complexity and compassion, while also critiquing the counterterror policies that have done little, he argues, to bring stability to East Africa.

Reports abound of foreign troops’ presence and plans for major Western deployment motivated by the instability, and the threat of terrorism and to take decisive military action to check ISIL’s expansion.

Panel discussion: National Mechanisms for Genocide and Mass Atrocity Prevention
Coordinated National Strategies for Confronting Contemporary Genocide

DETAILS

New York City Bar Association
42 West 44th Street New York, NY, 10036
Wednesday, February 3, 2016 6:00pm-8:00pm

SYNOPSIS

On Wednesday, February 3, 2016, the New York City Bar Association (NYCBA), in partnership with the Auschwitz Institute for Peace and Reconciliation (AIPR), will host a panel discussion entitled, “National Mechanisms for Genocide and Mass Atrocity Prevention: Coordinated National Strategies for Confronting Contemporary Genocide”.

The event will take place at the NYC Bar and will focus on the composition, mandate, and activities of National Mechanisms, with a particular focus on the challenges and opportunities that accompany their work. This discussion will explore the tools and apparatuses available to these National Mechanisms and how they are employed in developing and implementing a unified national policy for genocide and mass atrocity prevention.

PANEL

• Ambassador Tuvako N. Manongi, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Permanent Mission of the United Republic of Tanzania to the United Nations
• Ambassador Jorge Montaño, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Permanent Mission of the United Republic of México to the United Nations
• Ambassador Federico Gonzalez, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Permanent Mission of the United Republic of Paraguay to the United Nations
• Moderator Owen Pell, Partner at White and Case LLP and Member of the Auschwitz Institute’s Board of Directors

SPONSORS

African Affairs Committee - Elizabeth Barad and Jason Spears, Co-chairs

CO-SPONSORS

International Human Rights Committee - Anil Kalhan, Chair UN Committee - Michael D. Cooper, Chair
Cyrus R. Vance Center for International Justice - Alexander Papachristou, Executive Director

RSVP

AIPR’s New York Programs Officer Rob Scharf at [email][email protected] or
Elizabeth Barad at [email][email protected]

OTHER NYC EVENTS

1. MEETING OF NYC BAR’S COMMITTEE ON AFRICAN AFFAIRS

To be held at the headquarters of the Bar at 42 West 44th Street.

Monday, February 1 at 6:30 P.M.

PROFESSOR JENNIFER TRAHAN will give a presentation on her recent trip to Rwanda.

Jennifer, an Associate Clinical Professor of Global Affairs at N.Y.U., recently took her students to Rwanda where she met with, among others, the Minister of Justice, President of the Supreme Court and the National Commission for the Fight against Genocide where she received a PowerPoint presentation of their list of génocidaires.

Jennifer has served as counsel and of counsel to the International Justice Program of Human Rights Watch; served as Iraq Prosecutions Consultant to the International Center of Transitional Justice; and worked on cases before the Special Court for Sierra Leone and the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. She is the author of “Genocide, War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity: A Digest of the Case Law of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda”, and “Genocide, War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity: A Topical Digest of the Case Law of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.” She is also the author of scores of law review articles, including about the Iraqi High Tribunal, the crimes in Darfur, and the International Criminal Court’s Crime of Aggression.

2. MEETING OF NYC BAR’S COMMITTEE ON AFRICAN AFFAIRS

To be held at the headquarters of the Bar at 42 West 44th Street.

Monday, March 7 at 6:30 P.M.

PROFESSOR MIKE POSNER will give a presentation on the confluence of business and human rights. He launched the first-ever center on business and human rights at a business school. He is a professor of Business and Society at NYU Stern. Prior to joining NYU Stern, Posner served from 2009 to 2013 in the Obama Administration as Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor at the State Department. From 1978 to 2009, he led Human Rights First, a New York-based human rights advocacy organization.

Posner played a major role in shaping U.S. policy from inside and outside of government on issues ranging from refugee and asylum law and policy, national security and human rights, Internet freedom, and business and human rights. Throughout his career, he has been active in several leading organizations in the field of business and human rights, including the Fair Labor Association, the Global Network Initiative, and the Voluntary Principles on Security and Human Rights.

Communities living along the northern part of Lake Malawi in Karonga district have launched a spirited campaign to stop Uranium Miner Paladin Africa Limited from dumping ‘toxic’ waste into Lake Malawi.

Up to 100 fellows are selected every year in a globally competitive process based on personal, academic, and professional achievements.