In May 2010, I was given the opportunity to accompany the Afghanistan Human Rights and Democracy Organization (AHRDO), an NGO that promotes human rights through arts and culture, as its staff conducted participatory theater workshops as psycho-social therapy and organized civilian war victims to take an active role in shaping the national debate over the government’s intention to negotiate with some of the insurgent factions currently battling Afghan and international forces.
Lots of goings on around the UN and Iran. As it happened, I attended a small press briefing with Ban Ki Moon at UN headquarters yesterday. He described the recent Brazil/Turkey fuel exchange deal as a potentially "positive step in building confidence if followed by broader engagement with the IAEA and international community." Meanwhile, moments before the conference began, Secretary Clinton declared to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that all five members of the Security Council have agreed on a draft sanctions resolution on Iran.
In May 2010, I accompanied the Afghanistan Human Rights and Democracy Organization (AHRDO), an NGO that promotes human rights through arts and culture, as its staff conducted participatory theater workshops as psycho-social therapy and organized civilian war victims to take an active role in shaping the national debate over the government’s intention to negotiate with some of the insurgent factions currently battling Afghan and international forces.
A political milestone has just been marked in Guinea: the campaign for the first round of the presidential election was launched yesterday, the first free and open competition for the country’s top leadership post since independence in 1958. The first round of the election is scheduled for June 27, with a potential second round slated to occur 2 weeks later, should no absolute majority emerge from the first round of voting.
The Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre, created by the Norwegian Refugee Council at the request of the UN, has published a disturbing report (pdf full report, pdf fact sheet) no
Last week saw ongoing violence in Kyrgyzstan between supporters of ousted president Kurmanbek Bakiyev and supporters of the new Otunbayaeva administration. Two people were killed; at least twenty were wounded.
Fact 1: "Of the 192 member states of the United Nations, 85 have laws that still criminalize homosexual behavior and, in some of these countries, conviction can even result in the death penalty."