From September 19 to October 3, 2010, Mike Abramowitz, Director of the Museum’s Committee on Conscience, and Andrew Natsios, former Special Envoy to Sudan, traveled throughout South Sudan to assess the region’s conditions as it prepares for the January 9 referendum on independence from the North. They were joined by Lucian Perkins, a prize-winning photographer and journalist.
On October 3rd, Bosnian citizens voted in a bewildering array of elections at the federal and entity level (Republika Srpska and the Bosniak-Croat Federation) that reflected the nation's troubling, deep divisions. Voters from the Bosniak-Croat Federation largely turned to moderate politicians, while Bosnian Serbs re-elected their nationalist party, which continues to call openly for secession.
The U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum today reacted to the new United Nations report on human rights violations in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Published by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, the report outlines the most serious violations of human rights and international humanitarian law in the DRC between 1993 and 2003 and offers a range of transitional justice options to deal with the legacy of the crimes.
In news coverage of the upcoming referendum on southern Sudan's independence, there has been little discussion about the potential ramifications of this defining political moment for northern Sudan.
With four months left before South Sudan is scheduled to vote on a referendum for independence, the 1,200 mile border separating the north and south of Sudan has not yet been established. A detailed picture of the complex situation along the line emerges in a new report, commissioned by the U.S. Institute of Peace and produced by Concordis International. The report offers snapshots of the border regions and how local issues could impact surrounding communities and a wider peace in Sudan.
Leaked to the press on August 26, a draft report by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights -- which assesses human rights violations in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) -- has drawn international attention for asserting that invading Rwandan troops (APR) and their rebel allies, the AFDL, killed tens of thousands of Hutu, including many civilians, across eastern Zaire (former DRC) in 1996 and 1997. The violence, the report concludes, could be classified as genocide.
In defiance of two arrest warrants and international demand for his surrender, Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir arrived in Kenya on August 27 to celebrate the nation's new constitution.
Today, August 19, marks World Humanitarian Day, a time to honor those who have worked in dedicated life-saving service for displaced people and refugees around the globe. Often the first responders in crises, humanitarian aid workers not only deliver supplies and provide critical medical treatment, but they also become eyewitnesses to history.
At a Museum seminar last year on speech, power, and violence, experts discussed how media, particularly local-language radio and text-messaging, spread hate speech in Kenya prior to and during the December 2007 election violence that left more than 1,000 people dead. Political parties in Kenya divide largely along ethnic lines, and anger over the presidential election results erupted into political violence with ethnic overtones. Human rights advocate Maina Kiai explained (in “Hate Speech and the Political Crisis in Kenya,” PDF), "In cases such as Kenya's, the frustration with the way power is wielded and the overt favoritism that communities whose leaders control the state enjoy, make it easier to fuel tensions and conflicts."
On July 26, the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia delivered its first verdict for the crimes committed under the Khmer Rouge, who were responsible for at least 1.5 million deaths from 1975 - 1979. The UN-backed tribunal sentenced former prison commander Kaing Guek Eav, known as Duch, to 35 years of imprisonment for crimes against humanity and war crimes.