Human Rights and Refugees
The new untouchables
The current American prison system is a leviathan unmatched in human history. Never before has a supposedly free country denied basic liberty to so many of its citizens. In December 2006 some 2.25 million people were being held in the nearly 5000 prisons and jails scattered across Americas urban and rural landscapes. According to a 2005 report of the International Centre for Prison Studies in London the United Stateswith one-twentieth of the worlds populationhouses one-quarter of the worlds inmates. The US incarceration rate (now at 714 prisoners per 100000 residents) is almost 40 per cent greater than the nearest competitors (the Bahamas Belarus and Russia). Other industrial democracies some with significant crime problems of their own are much less punitive: The US incarceration rate is 6.2 times that of Canada 7.8 times that of France and 12.3 times that of Japan. The US spends some $200 billion annually on law enforcement and corrections at all levels of Government a fourfold increase (in constant dollars) over the past quarter century.
Racism in football — football against racism
Anti-racism campaigners have been busy over the last couple of months. Concerns over racism xenophobia and far-right activity in and around football stadiums have reached fever pitch. Even though the new football season 2007-2008 has barely started in Europe we have already witnessed a progression of serious incidences.
Between past failure and future promise
The focus of this article is to examine the theme of racial discrimination within the context of education policymaking. It will draw on an ongoing conceptual debate that analyses contemporary education and social policy evidence within an integrationist/ multicultural framework but also analyse the extreme concepts of assimilation and antiracist education policy. The method draws on policy evidence and documentary analysis of the evolution of integration and multiculturalism concepts within education policymaking.
Poverty and human rights
Currently in both the international system and the inter-American system for the protection of human rights there are instruments which emphasize the obligation of States to guarantee the observance of the rights of all human beings without distinction as to race gender religion or political stance. However although a considerable body of treaties declarations and conventions exists to safeguard such equality in law as yet there is no effective equality in practice. In our opinion poverty is inseparably linked to human rights acting as both cause and effect of human rights violations and must be tackled if de facto equality is to be achieved. Excluded groups and persons will then be able to claim their rights from States and obtain prompt and appropriate responses at a reasonable cost thereby ensuring that social well-being spreads to all parts of society.
Community resilience: Insights from UNICRI experience in the Sahel-Maghreb
In physics “resilience” is a measure of how well a material such as rubber or metal responds to pressure by bending adapting and changing without breaking. However this concept is more than a scientific term. Resiliency can also describe a community’s ability to bounce back from pressures including natural disasters economic downturns and - in the case of UNICRI’s Pilot Project on Countering Radicalisation and Violent Extremism in the Sahel-Maghreb - violence and terrorism. In the Sahel and Maghreb the pressure on communities is certainly intense and ever-growing. Conflicts in Libya and Mali threaten to spill over porous borders while drought and desertification have increased food insecurity and heightened intercommunal tensions. Increasingly active extremist militant groups have brought violence and chased out tourists which once had been an importance source of income. Now more than ever an approach aimed at building the resilience at a community level is needed - one that can empower communities to respond to these pressures by adapting and changing without “breaking” and entering into conflict.
No one is left behind in the fight of the EU against violent extremism
31st January 2019 at the European Parliament in Brussels several officials experts researchers and journalists concerned with finding solutions to the rise of violent extremism in the Maghreb and Sahel region gathered to share insights on a 5 million euros European Union (EU) funded programme implemented by UNICRI.
Youth: The phenomenon of returning foreign terrorist fighters and its challenges
The phenomenon of foreign terrorist fighters (FTFs) is a matter of great concern for the international community. Newspapers and media are full of stories pertaining to the radicalization of young people who left their country of origin to engage in violent extremism in other countries.
No time to put climate science on ice
Nairobi 5 February 2010 - The science of climate change has been on the defensive in recent weeks owing to an error that dramatically overstated the rate at which the Himalayan glaciers could disappear.
Reducing our ecological footprint
On June 5th of every year since 1972 the world celebrates World Environment Day (WED) an occasion for the UN and environmental organizations to spread awareness worldwide celebrate positive environmental accomplishments encourage political attention and stimulate green policies and action. Given that 2010 is the International Year of Biodiversity this year’s WED theme will be “Many Species. One Planet. One Future.” Stressing the importance of conserving our planet’s precious biodiversity and the delicate interconnected “eco-librium” we all share.
The resiliency of the UN staff member’s oath of office
This is not the first time that I have been asked how we can succeed in advancing the values of the United Nations in the most critical situations. It is a good question. Even those who have served in peace missions for over thirty years cannot provide a single answer to this question.
How serious is wildlife crime?
Whilst there is little specific data demonstrating the involvement of organized crime groups in wildlife crime (i.e. known members of such groups who have been convicted of wildlife crime offences) there is a considerable number of indicators of such involvement. For example:
Youth and globalization
Mentioning security policies young generations and globalization in the same breath might appear as an attempt to tar issues that are fundamentally different with the same brush. The reason these three issues have often been ‘lumped together’ is the underlying concern that young people might become the main actors in activities which could potentially pose a threat to security (defined as a peaceful community life) above all in urban areas such as cities.
Reflexions on forms and dimensions of radicalization(s)
It is now very rare to come across or even to write an article on such issues like dialogue Terrorism and Radicalization without expanding on theoretical definitions and ideological arguments which most likely make it difficult to get any clear idea about the nature impact and perspectives of these issues. Moreover it gives the impression of repetition polemics and rather useless rhetoric that we find in almost every piece of literature in this field. Since this article is no exception we will try to limit as much as possible the notional dimensions of the issues it will tackle and stress the practical aspects of their analysis. We will not therefore risk any definition of ‘dialogue’ or ‘Radicalization’ but we will focus on the challenges that these two concepts raise both on the level of understanding and their application to reality.
“Pennies from heaven” Three case studies on civil forfeiture
Colombia 19th June 1991: Pablo Escobar turns himself in a few hours after a Constituent Assembly overturned the extradition of Colombian nationals. Seven years of terrorism and political murders perpetrated by the Medellin Cartel and “The Extraditables” whose motto was “we prefer a tomb in Colombia than a dungeon in the US” were over. That day Colombia knelt down to the narcos: with no extradition law no money laundering legislation no international judiciary cooperation and a level of corruption that had reached the highest instances of power.
Cities contemporary laboratories. Security challenges and technological devices for urban policymakers
Tokyo - 35 million Mexico City - 20 million Sao Paulo - 19 million and Mumbai - 18 million are the world’s four biggest mega cities that have according to UN Habitat possibly a third or maybe even half of the population of some G8 countries. In fact there are 163 countries with populations smaller than Mumbai.
Invest in security for major events. The Australian approach
Terrorism can hit anywhere at any time. They do not just strike critical infrastructure but wherever people travel congregate relax live or attend a major event. The bombings in Bali (2002) Madrid (2004) London (2005) and the latest in Mumbai (2008) are chilling reminders of this. Each of these incidents highlights the turmoil caused by terrorist attacks where the human financial and other costs are immeasurable for individuals and entire families businesses corporations communities and nations alike.
Western Muslims volunteering to fight in Syria and Iraq: Why do they go, and what should we do?
In this paper we first put ISIS volunteers in context by considering other examples of Americans citizens fighting in someone else’s war. Next we consider poll results indicating that many U.S. Muslims perceive a war on Islam and prejudice against Muslims; at least ten percent of younger U.S. Muslims justify suicide attacks in defense of Islam. Against this background it is perhaps surprising that only a few hundred U.S. Muslims have volunteered to fight in Syria. In the absence of accurate data about U.S. volunteers we review what has been learned about the thousands of European volunteers for ISIS many of whom seem to be pushed to action by individual- level mechanisms described by McCauley and Moskalenko in 2011. Finally we raise doubt about current efforts to criminalize and block would-be volunteers.
The economics of ISIS — A case of theft or money laundering?
Founded in 2004 the terrorist organization Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) has striven to set up what they call an Islamic state within what is currently Syria and Iraq (Mirror 2014).
Major events
One of the key challenges that have changed security decision-making post 9/11 has been the menace of a mass casualty event. This has regularly taken the form of synchronized terrorist incidents carried out without warning aimed at civilian targets.
The changing nature of women in extremism and political violence
We remain fascinated by terrorist acts and how seemingly normal people transform into cold-blooded killers. We have certain preconceived notions about who becomes a terrorist and why. Much of the conventional wisdom and preconceived notions are more conventional wisdom that empirically based on reality and facts. Mohammed Emwazi previously known as ‘Jihad John’ an educated middle class British citizen who became notorious for beheading Western aid workers and journalists in Syria surprised many who saw an educated Westernized person with no history of radical views.2 The stereotypes about terrorists include faulty assumptions about sanity a history of anti social behavior poverty or drug and alcohol abuse.3 More often than not terrorist groups use these assumptions to their benefit. Among the many assumptions about level of education wealth and ethnic background inevitably has also been that of gender.