Voice of America A U.N. official in Ivory Coast says forces loyal to incumbent president Laurent Gbagbo are “indiscriminately” shelling areas seen as backing Mr. Gbagbo’s rival, Alassane Ouattara. Human rights official Guillaume Ngefa told a news conference Thursday that the shelling and other attacks have killed at least 50 people in the last week,… Continue reading UN Official: Ivory Coast Death Toll up to 462
Tag: Human Rights
International Day for The Elimination of Racial Discrimination Should Challenge Us Against all Forms of Discrimination
In 1966, the United Nations General Assembly declared 21st of March as International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. Celebrated annually, and meant to remind countries of their collective responsibility in the fight against all forms of discrimination, this day’s observation owes its existence to the 1960 Sharpeville Massacre in which 69 people who… Continue reading International Day for The Elimination of Racial Discrimination Should Challenge Us Against all Forms of Discrimination
Human Rights in Ivory Coast Deteriorating, Warns Top UN Official
10 March 2011 – A top United Nations official warned today that human rights violations, including rapes, abductions and killings, are escalating amid the ongoing post-electoral crisis in Côte d’Ivoire, with at least 27 people killed in just the past week. According to investigations conducted by UN human rights officers in the country, at least… Continue reading Human Rights in Ivory Coast Deteriorating, Warns Top UN Official
My African Dream
‘Dream’ is a natural phenomenon of the human species. This natural process which usually occurs when a person is at deep rest or sleep has a ‘dynamic’ way of relating with humans. Dreams could reveal to an individual a course of event in the future, bring a past memory to light, mystically warn of an impending… Continue reading My African Dream
Freedom, Opportunity and Tolerance
Sitting at less than five metres from the former President of Ghana, John Kufuor, I listened to what turned out to be one of my favourite public lectures in my adult life. The venue was the Rhodes House in Oxford. President Kufuor was still in power then. Three words summarised his incisive paper: freedom, opportunity… Continue reading Freedom, Opportunity and Tolerance
Female circumcision and Ugandan politics
(A comprehensive discussion of female genital mutilation is available here) Although Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting (FGM) has been condemned by international bodies as an abuse of human rights, a vast majority of people from the Sebei tribe in Uganda still practice the dangerous tradition. Despite the practice having been banned outright in the eastern African country… Continue reading Female circumcision and Ugandan politics
Encouraging Leaders to Do the Right Thing, by Nicholas van Praag
Spare the stick, spoil the child.” That was the advice from proponents of the tough love approach to parenting that prevailed in Victorian times. Nicholas van Praag asks whether such rewards and punishment policy can help in places such as Sudan