Archive for the ‘UN’ Category
Happy Birthday 1325, or, Why women in Burundi won’t let me be cynical about (some) UN resolutions
If you’ve never been to a birthday party for a Security Council resolution, well, get out your party shoes. Today is the 10th anniversary of UN Security Council Resolution 1325, and the party guest du jour is Hillary Clinton, who is slated to address the council today. So what’s 1325, and why all the fuss? [...]
Sometimes, a girl’s gotta stick up for change
Check out what I think will be a debate over at change.org, between me and the new editor of the Human Rights blog. (Awkard alert! I actually write there, and for him. At until Nov 1.) I think this because I disagree mightily, heartily, with his contention that “nothing, zilch, zip, nada” has been done [...]
A chorus of truth-telling: On hegemony, Africa and the news
Forget h/t. An out and out handshake to @sonjasugira for a link to The Revolution Will Not Come By PowerPoint, a very unsentimental essay by Martin Kimani at the role of rational thinking (read: development) in Africa that left me profoundly moved. Every paragraph had me thinking deeply about something. I’ll highlight just one section: [...]
An open application to join Kofi Annan’s speech writing team
Because I’d make a few tweaks to his op-ed on Holocaust education and genocide prevention. I’d clean up some sloppy language and some bad metaphors. And lest you think that’s just snotty writer talk, here’s the point up front: The metaphors we use about genocide tell us what we think causes it. And I think [...]
After war, who’s not a ‘vulnerable population’?
I’m up to my ears in UN project reports about peacebuilding activities in various countries, and I continue to see language like this, a recommendation about what a small business should do were it to receive UN financial support: “Give more jobs to vulnerable persons affected by the conflict (ex-combatants, women, youth, disabled, …)” Ex-combatants. [...]
Does the Holocaust teach us anything about modern-day genocide? (Oh, and happy new year)
Things are quiet on this blog while we’re preparing for a server transfer and redesign. But here’s a nice graph from a piece in Foreign Policy last month, on whether the Holocaust is the right tool for teaching us about genocide (or helping us identify early warning signs, etc.). The whole piece is worth a [...]
I am a freelance journalist and multimedia producer who covers human rights, Africa and foreign affairs. [