Human Rights

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The Brown University Watson Institute Costs of War Project has put out a report concluding that the US-led “War on Terror” has displaced 37 million people. While there are parts of the report I agree with, some of the argument seems to me flawed. Let me explain why that is, […]

Iran

Watchdog Describes Iran’s ‘Shocking’ Rights Violations against Protesters

Radio Free Europe Radio Liberty

By Radio Free Europe/ Radio Liberty | – (RFE/RL ) – Amnesty International has accused Iran of committing “a catalogue of shocking human rights violations” against those detained in connection with the November 2019 antiestablishment protests, including children as young as 10. The violent demonstrations were sparked by a sudden hike in the price of […]

Human Rights

Why is Saudi Arabia Holding its Prominent Political Prisoners Incommunicado?

Human Rights Watch

Safety Concerns for Activists, Ex-Crown Prince, Clerichu

Afghanistan

US punishes International Criminal Court for investigating potential war crimes in Afghanistan

The Conversation

By Susan M. Akram | The Trump administration has sought to weaken or abandon various international agencies since 2016. Now it’s taking aim at the International Criminal Court, a global tribunal that investigates and prosecutes war crimes, torture and genocide. Claiming the ICC’s investigation into alleged war crimes by U.S. forces in Afghanistan poses a […]

Pentagon

Cluster bombs once against Vietnamese people and still in use today

Anne-Ruth Wertheim

( Joop) – On 4 March 1971 our train pulled in to Paris’s Gare du Nord station. My then husband Ab van Kammen and I were going to spend a few days in the city. We had left our three daughters with various friends, packed our suitcases and caught the train. It would not just […]

Colonialism

Columbus didn’t represent Italy, and he Killed and Enslaved Americans, and we Don’t need his Statues

Michael Slager

Chicago (Special to Informed Comment) – Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot ordered the removal of two statues of Christopher Columbus after police and protesters clashed last week. The confrontation at the navigator’s monument in Grant Park resulted in injuries to both officers and demonstrators. According to NBC News, Chicago Police Department officials confirmed that the gathering […]

Houthi

Yemen: Houthi Stonewalling on Leaking Oil Supertanker endangers Red Sea Ecology, 30 Million Livelihoods

Human Rights Watch

( Human Rights Watch) – Houthi authorities in Yemen should immediately permit United Nations experts access to a supertanker moored off Yemen’s coast that risks spilling over a million barrels of crude oil into the Red Sea, Human Rights Watch said today. The UN says a spill would have catastrophic environmental and humanitarian consequences, including […]

Bashar al-Assad

As Syria Faces Hunger, will New, Severe Trump Sanctions on the Regime Harm the People?

Jamal Dillman-Hasso

Ann Arbor (Special to Informed Comment) – In the Ma`aret Misrin camp near Idlib, 45-year-old father of 10 Nasr Sultan recently told AFP that with the recent imminent halt of food supplies to the camp, his children will be at the mercy of famine. Mike Robson, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization’s Syrian representative, separately […]

Children

Syrian Refugee Children Are Still Being Robbed of an Education

Human Rights Watch

By Breanna Small and Bill Van Esveld | ( Human Rights Watch ) – June 30 was possibly the most important day of 2020 for Syrian refugee children. At the annual pledging conference for the “Future of Syria and the Region,” dozens of governments and multilateral donors pledged US$7.7 billion in humanitarian aid for Syrian […]