Human Rights

By Derek Groen and Diana Suleimenova | – In the near future, global warming is expected to create millions of climate refugees, and individuals and organisations are already searching for ways to help them. Some ideas are obvious, such as improving conditions in refugee camps. gregorioa / shutterstock But there are also more high-tech projects […]

Displaced and Refugees

Syrian Kurds, abandoned by Trump, Face War Crimes, Ethnic Cleansing at Hands of Turkey’s Fundamentalist Proxies

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Human Rights Watch reports that the fundamentalist Arab fighters Turkey brought with it to the Kurdish regions of northeast Iraq are guilty of war crimes. In the area Turkey has militarily occupied, which it is pleased to call a “safe zone,” the Arab fighters stand accused of shooting down civilian […]

censorship

Beacon on a Hill: Iraq Hitting Protesters so Hard even Medics are Attacked

Human Rights Watch

Fire Teargas, Live Ammunition; Destroy Medical Tents

Human Rights

Saudi Arabia’s High Cost of ‘Reform:’ Arrests, Torture, Murder

Human Rights Watch

Human Rights Watch (Washington, DC) – Important social reforms enacted under Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman have been accompanied by deepening repression and abusive practices meant to silence dissidents and critics, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. The 62-page report, “‘The High Cost of Change’: Repression Under Saudi Crown Prince Tarnishes […]

Displaced and Refugees

Syrian Kurds charge Turkey with Ethnic Cleansing as US Military frets it will be “blind” without Kurdish Help

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The semi-autonomous Kurdish region of northeast Syria today accused Turkish forces of conducting ethnic cleansing campaigns in the Kurdish region they have occupied between Tel Abyad and Ra’s al-Ayn. The communique said, “and after more than 300,000 civilians fled from its cities and villages and hamlets and houses and hospitals […]

censorship

No Premature Burial for Academic Freedom: Speaking up in Ann Arbor

contributors

By Chandler Davis | – (Informed Comment) – Let me make a case for urgency of defense of academic freedom. I’m not addressing the whole University community. Surely there are some who don’t have any concern for academic freedom as the AAUP understands it. Some who think for example that it was honorable and right […]

Displaced and Refugees

Erdogan’s Plan to Resettle Arabs in Syrian Kurdish Zone is dangerous and expensive

Middle East Monitor

By Stasa Salacanin | – Although the Turkish offensive in north-east Syria has ceased for five days, concerns are mounting over the humanitarian impact of the operation to push Kurdish-led forces, which Turkey regards as terrorists, out of the area. Ankara’s plan to resettle millions of refugees into the area and its president’s threat to […]

Displaced and Refugees

No, Erdogan can’t send most of Turkey’s 3.7 mn Syrian Refugees into Kurdish Regions

The Conversation

By Shelley Inglis | – Turkey’s recent military incursion into northern Syria is aimed at weakening Syrian Kurdish forces along its border. Turkey believes those forces are linked to the insurgent Kurdish militia inside Turkey, whom Turkey and the U.S. have labeled terrorists. But that’s not the only goal. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s long-term […]

Displaced and Refugees

Deportation to Syria could mean death for women, children and LGBTQ refugees in Turkey

The Conversation

Deina Abdelkader | – Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan isn’t limiting his assault on neighboring Syria to attacking Kurdish troops that run the country’s northern region. He says the 3.6 million Syrians now living as war refugees in Turkey may also be returned “to their own homes” once northern Syria is wrenched from Kurdish control. […]