Human Rights and Refugees
Report of the Human Rights Committee
Professional Training Series in Human Rights
Selected Decisions of the Human Rights Committee under the Optional Protocol
Selección de Decisiones del Comité de Derechos Humanos Adoptadas con Arreglo al Protocolo Facultativo
Freedom from Fear
This journal aims to contribute to the advancement of knowledge and awareness of the international community's priority issues in the field of justice crime prevention and human rights. The Magazine pursues the promotion of innovative dialogue by spreading awareness creating consensus and a sense of shared responsibility of the problems that affect the global community. As a forum for long-term change the Magazine endeavors to promote democratic values civil stability and aid the international community in developing actions towards greater peace justice and security for all members of social civil and political society.
Disability at a Glance
Reports of the Committee against Torture
World Humanitarian Data and Trends
The war on terror: Separating the (star) fish from the sea
Though hardly a new phenomenon terrorism has assumed greater political saliency since the events of 9/11. Unfortunately this greater saliency has not resulted in more effective strategies to counter the terrorist threat the nature of which is often poorly understood. This essay describes terrorism as a method then develops a model of what terrorist organizations look like and how they function focusing on their evolution from hierarchical insurgent groups of the pre 9/11 era to network-like structures of today such as al-Qaeda. Mao Zedong’s dictum about insurgency says “The guerrilla must move amongst the people as a fish swims in the sea. ”Counterinsurgent strategy has often attempted to “drain the sea”- i.e. separate the guerrilla from his support base in the population. By implication this essay will point out that counterterrorist strategies against contemporary terrorist networks must adapt this drain-the-sea principle to the network model if effective policies are to be developed.
A conversation with history
Freedom From Fear met the leader of Solidarnosc a few days from the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Iron Curtain marking the end of the Cold War during his visit in Italy to Torino Spiritualità to talk about 1989: the year that changed the world.
In the spotlight. Energy security
The geopolitical landscape has changed considerably since the fall of the Berlin Wall with the US maintaining for the time being its economic and military superiority. It seems however that the world is moving towards a fundamental reshuffle of the global balance of power with the emergence of actors whose posture will eventually shape a new global order through alliances reflecting different interests from those currently dominating international politics.
The CBRN threat: Past, present and future
In recent years world leaders news media and experts have warned of the global security threat from chemical biological radiological and nuclear (CBRN) material and weapons. Last December a bipartisan U.S. commission cautioned that “unless the world community acts decisively and with great urgency it is more likely than not that a weapon of mass destruction will be used in a terrorist attack somewhere in the world by the end of 2013.” In parallel with the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall it is interesting to highlight the Cold War origins of many modern-day CBRN challenges. At the same time this article explores how newer developments have been infusing additional complexity into the global CBRN threat landscape.
From Khmer treasures to Chinese antiquities: The ongoing plunder and trafficking in South East Asia
In June of this year in a ceremony associated with much pomp and political significance the Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva handed over to Cambodian officials in Phnom Penh a number of Khmer treasures seized by Thai authorities from smugglers in 1999. The treasures included six massive stone heads of the Hindu God Shiva dating from the 12th Century Angkorian era (Associated Press 2009).
Wall-less Europe
When the wall came down 20 years ago it was the end of a regime whose cruelty was vividly represented by images of the lengths to which it went to keep its citizens within its borders. Who can forget the images of cars being searched as they exited Checkpoint Charlie; border guards doing their utmost to find even the most ingeniously hidden escapee. How can we not remember the dark inventiveness with which a regime seemed to turn every technological advance against its own citizens? How happy one could feel to be a citizen of the free world: free to travel across our own borders with governments who respected our personal liberty not only in this context.
Gaza: A fence away from freedom
There is a fence around Gaza. It stretches from the north to the south. From a distance the fence looks innocent; it is not a tall imposing structure with deep ditches or piercing floodlights. Neither does it appear impenetrable. Yet the fence looks out of place uncomfortable dividing land that otherwise flows gently as far as the eye can see. And as everyone in Gaza knows any seemingly benign features belie the fact that the fence constitutes an absolute – separating people from productive livelihoods family members higher education and indeed freedom itself in the form of access to the rest of the world beyond it.
Has the cold war ended?
Few doubt that the fall of the Berlin Wall is the event that closed the Cold War era and brought in the twenty-first century. Like every event in history this one also has its founding myths.