Archive for the ‘UN’ Category
Your Crib Sheet for Covering African Elections, in Congo and beyond
We’re all watching the DR Congo with baited breath. The recent presidential election, or process that has borne the name, has sparked unrest and violence, inside the country and in the diaspora. It’s a grave situation, certainly, and a gloomy one. But I’m having total post-electoral depression, especially when I read this piece in Foreign [...]
When the good guys are also bad guys
The Globe & Mail has an article today about abuses by Libyan rebels (h/t @geoffreyyork). I think it’s a good piece, and if you’ll indulge me a second, I’ll point out that I find the reporter Graeme Smith very deft here: For the most part, rebels appear to have kept their prisoners safe, giving them enough [...]
In Sudan, a return to ethnic cleansing?
Terrifying news today via the indefatigable Rebecca Hamilton, author of Fighting for Darfur, who has a piece on Nick Kristof’s New York Times blog today that must be read: Sudan’s Khartoum government, which is about to lose southern Sudan, is fighting to keep the Nuba mountain region… by conducting a campaign of what looks like [...]
If you work in human rights, go to this talk
A few years ago, I wrote about Patrick Ball for the Christian Science Monitor. It’s one of my favorite stories, in part because he’s such a compelling talker, in part because this data stuff is so critical. Get thee to New York! Crunching Numbers for Human Rights: the Promise and Perils of Data and Statistics [...]
Today in “diplomats who didn’t answer the question”
US Ambassador to the UN Susan Rice’s statement and q&a at the Security Council stakeout: REPORTER: Madame Ambassador, just one follow up, there has been a lot of talk about this possibly turning into renewed civil war, and we have seen this standoff now dragging on for several days. How concerned is the United States [...]
How should we measure poverty?
The United Nations is starting to rethink that question. The UN Development Program yesterday unveiles this year’s Human Development Report and the Human Development Index (HDI), the annual statistical extravaganza that offers an alternative to GDP as a measure of well-being. This year, the HDI does something new for the poor: It multiplies them. The report introduces [...]
I am a freelance journalist and multimedia producer who covers human rights, Africa and foreign affairs. [