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Open Think Tank Articles
Memo 21: Amid growing fears of Turkey moving away from the West, atlantic-community.org presents the findings from its special analysis week on Turkey. Members agree that Turkey’s foreign policy should not be misinterpreted as a shift East and call upon the US and the EU to start embracing Turkey’s growing influence.
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Alex Glennie: A more even-handed approach to promoting political reform in the Middle East and North Africa on the part of western policymakers is both a moral necessity and a strategic imperative. As part of this, dialogue with non-violent Islamist parties and movements, alongside other opposition groups in the region, must be prioritised.
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Gordon Cinco: China’s policy towards its ethnic nationalities is unsustainable and inhumane. The international community must exert more pressure on China to abide by its own constitution and respect the human rights of its different ethnic groups. Great power always comes with great responsibility.
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Interview with Günter Nooke: Germany’s Human Rights Commissioner welcomes Washington’s participation in the UN Human Rights Council this month. It is now time for Germany to assist in any way it can to produce a credible front. One step towards this goal would be the acceptance of Guantanamo prisoners.
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Elizabeth Zolotukhina: Speaking out on human rights issues in Russia has proved to be dangerous for Russian journalists in recent years. Now that the reset button has been pressed in US - Russian relations, it is time for the the international community to pressure Moscow to halt these killings.
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The Editorial Team: We are proud to announce the four winners of our student op-ed competition, who will each receive US-$ 200! Thank you for your many articles, that presented solid analyses, new viewpoints, and provocative arguments, on issues ranging from the reorganization of the global financial system to the establishment of an international human rights regime.
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Alyssa M. Ramsey: The international community of wealthy democracies must focus its efforts on molding the global economy so that it becomes the driving force behind the proliferation of respect for human rights.
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Askarbek Erkinovich Mambetaliev: Recent legislation to tackle religious extremism in Kyrgystan is a pretext for targetting Evangelicals and religious minorities. State propaganda has created popular hostility towards non-Muslims. Tackling this situation requires inclusive rhetoric from local leaders and the curbing of anti-westernism.
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Interview with Lotte Leicht: The director of Human Rights Watch in Brussels says that the EU must fulfill its role in upholding human rights. But before it can credibly promote human rights throughout the world, the EU must first hold its allies accountable for human rights violations, particularly the US.
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Mark Brzezinski & Lanny A. Breuer: The US government abuses the law and ignores human rights in the name of security; this shapes the American image abroad and undermines strategic US objectives. American credibility as a standard setter in human rights suffered a major setback. It will take time to repair this damage.
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Ariela Blätter: Many fear that the International Criminal Court’s charges against the Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir will have “disastrous consequences” for the peace process in Darfur. This, however, could only be true if there was evidence of a real and substantive peace process in the first place.
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Joerg Beige & Arianna de Mario: There are still cases of politically motivated trials that lack basic lawful principles in Russia. We should not be afraid to appear ‘russophobic’ and remind the Russian authorities that they are obliged to comply with international law standards.
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Ethan Christian Arrow: The rapid growth of India and China is reshaping the present international order. Representatives of these nations elucidate their intention to replicate the West’s wealth without replacing its established international order. Following such a path, without first securing democratic freedoms and institutions, will however, prove problematic.
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Samantha Ferrell: Combating Human Trafficking requires systematic worldwide action. In a rapidly globalizing world, organized crime groups are operating transnationally. Unless there is an increased effort on the part of international agencies, the US, and the EU, to coordinate efforts, human trafficking will only continue to expand.
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Susan Aaronson: Much more than a marriage of convenience, America and other industrialized nations, should examine their trade policies to see how it might encourage and ultimately form a coherent union with human rights abroad.
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Susan Aaronson: This article takes a closer look at the Bush administration’s policy concerning trade and human rights; a policy area that has, in recent years, been inconsistent. As the Olympics approach, how the US responds to China’s human rights violations with respect to trade negotiations could set a very important precedent.
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Erich Follath: I claim in this exclusive contribution that now is the best time for the rest of the world to press China on human rights issues. As a biographer of the Dalai Lama, I know how important this chance is for Tibet—and for the international community.
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Günter Nooke: The EU should use stronger language towards Russia as regards the persistent erosion of human rights in the country. The unresolved politically motivated murders, discrimination of minorities and excessive police violence against peaceful protesters in the country cannot go unmentioned at today’s EU-Russia summit.
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Global Must Read Articles
Aung Sun Suu Kyi’s plight is well known, but there are more than 2000 other activists in Burmese prisons. ++ Many are subject to torture, denied medical treatment, and forced into manual labor. ++ Ethnic minorities face cultural genocide. ++ The UN has gone so far as to accuse the military junta of violating international law. ++ It is time for that government to be held accountable. ++ Real
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Obama’s caution vis-à-vis Iran betrays the promises he made in Berlin during his election campaign. ++ The excuse that his only choice is between feeding views that America is “meddling” or virtual silence is unfounded. ++ He should seek a global statement which condemns the violence and supports the protesters, uniting the diverse nations already speaking out. ++ Obama, you spoke of
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The United Nation’s election process for the Human Rights Council is a farce with “no opportunity to choose the best” proponents of human rights. ++ Governments seem to have forgotten the commitment made just three years ago to create an organization able to protect victims and confront abuses. ++ Instead they have opted for expediency with uncontested nominations from countries with questionable
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The debate about water boarding misses a fundamental point: human rights abuses have no place in a democracy, whether they occur once or 183 times.++ Torture is a systematic attempt to break people.++ Amnesty for perpetrators is unacceptable in a democracy.++ If Obama yields to CIA pressure, he will lose the trust of the international community.++ As a bare minimum, Obama should use the
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Silence often prevails over the denouncing of atrocities that take place in the Muslim world because the fear of compromising dialogue is huge. ++ Yet, there is a limit to the threshold of acceptance. ++ Even if communication between the Muslim and Western communities is key, when fundamental human rights such as discrimination and violence against women are at stake we cannot close our eyes. ++
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This weekend US Sec. of State Hillary Clinton visited China and let down human rights activists when she “downplayed” the significance of US pressure on China’s dismal HR record. ++ Yes, Chinese cooperation on global climate change and security issues is of utmost importance, but not so if the opportunity cost is to forgo US pressure on human rights. ++ Such pressure has
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Britain has always taken pride in its liberalism: unrestricted individual liberty, a right to privacy, outmost respect for human rights. ++ But the current paranoia with CCTV cameras, data collection and unjustified surveillance threatens to sacrifice liberalism at the altar of national security, community cohesion and the “special relationship” with the US. ++ The upcoming Convention on Modern
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The US President’s focus on the economy — although sensible — may compromise the opportunity to examine and condemn the use of torture. ++ Obama should create a non-partisan committee responsible for investigating torture cases under President Bush, attempt to balance the quest for security with individual rights and create consensus on the implications of such acts. ++ Finally, the US
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While the world welcomes the end of the Bush presidency and places its hopes on the man who promised change, China stands aloof from the celebrations. ++ President Bush turned a blind eye to China’s human rights abuses and failed to provide criticism of Chinese military expansion, leaving it undisturbed to pursue its goal of becoming a world power. ++ Currently, global recession and a new
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This week marks 30 years since China put into place measures to increase economic and political freedoms. ++ The latter have not been realized. ++ On the contrary, China’s judicial system in the years since has been “corrupt and ineffective,” with regular curtailment of civil and human rights and detention of activists and protestors. ++ It is crucial that China redress this,
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Yesterday marked the 60th anniversary of the UN’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights. ++ There is still much work to be done. ++ The UN Human Rights Council, established in 2006, has been hampered by America’s absence. ++ Compounding issues, “hapless Western governments have been consistently outmaneuvered and outvoted on the council” by nations with blatant human rights
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In 2006 president Bush signed a free-trade agreement with Colombia that Congress has yet to pass, arguing Colombia’s state of human rights is unacceptable. ++ Most Colombian exports are free of tariffs, in view of efforts to combat the drug economy there. ++ The US would benefit from such an agreement by not having to pay high tariffs on exports to Colombia. ++ With regard to the $600
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China’s recent move to make permanent its “modest easing of controls on reporting by foreign journalists” is a half measure following Olympic pledges. ++ Hu Jia is “living proof that human rights in China worsened rather than improved thanks to the Games” and is the recent recipient of the EU’s Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought, which the Chinese government tried to head off through
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When Condoleezza Rice had dinner with Libya’s dictator Moammar Gaddafi on Friday, she became the first US secretary of state to visit Libya since 1953. ++ Recently, Libya has worked with the US to end its nuclear weapons program and helped fight al-Qaeda. ++ US oil interests were also on the agenda for Rice’s visit; however, Gaddafi’s domestic repression was ignored. ++ Sen. Joe Biden is a strong
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The West not only dominates the issues of the day, it also neglects perspectives other than its own. ++ Human rights and Tibet are in the center of the Western media coverage of China, but not all countries share this critical view on People’s Republic. ++ In contrast to people in the Western countries, Chinese are very interested in foreign press and the way their country is portrayed abroad.
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America declares it stands up for human rights; it condemns the regime in Burma and calls for fair democratic elections in Zimbabwe. ++ However, it is doing so only where it is convenient: human rights infringements in China and Saudi Arabia or the fact that Dmitri Medvedev came to power in fraudulent elections are overlooked. ++ The hypocrisy of condemning one and turning a blind eye to the
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It seems that the importance of liberty and democracy in Russia is inversely correlated to the prices of oil and gas. ++ While denouncing Mugabe, Council of Europe secretary-general recently expressed his admiration for Putin and Medvedev, whose hold on power is similarly counterfeit. ++ The European fantasy appears to be that oil revenue and designer boutiques will magically turn Russia into a
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There is no other reason for a nation, whether democratic or totalitarian, to want to host the costly modern Olympics, than the chance to stage a propagandist publicity stunt. ++ The Beijing Games’ ideological content is indubitable. ++ Since a boycott would be useless, we should encourage politicization and exploit the attention of the media with counter-stunts and demonstrations for human
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To their disadvantage, Europe’s leaders are divided regarding China. ++ A visit from the Dali Lama to a European Parliament session has disgruntled one of Germany’s and most of Europe’s largest trading partners. ++ The presence of certain political figures at the Beijing games could convey mixed signals regarding Europe’s stance on human rights, as well as a dependence on China’s cheap
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In May 2007, the Council of Foreign Relations featured an online debate on America’s role in Somalia. The discussion was lead by moderators Terrence Lyons, associate professor at the Institute for conflict Analysis and Resolution, and Sadia Ali Aden, president of the Somali Diaspora Network.
Lyons spoke about Somali skepticism towards Washington resulting from recent US military
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The new EU Fundamental Rights Agency (EFRA) could improve the EU’s human rights policy and help create closer cooperation with other human rights institutions like the Council of Europe, says Gabriel N. Toogeburg of the German Institute for International and Security Affairs. EFRA replaced the European Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia (EUMC). Although surveys reveal that human
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The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace hosts China experts Sharon Hom, of Human Rights in China, and Jacques deLisle, of the University of Pennsylvania Law School, for a discussion on the balance between human rights advancements and deteriorations in the world’s fastest-growing superpower. The two experts argue that the United States’ role as a facilitator of social improvement
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After the first democratic elections in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in forty years, International Crisis Group writes that it is now up to President Kabila and the international community to lead reconstruction efforts in this transitional period of peacebuilding. The UN mission MONUC, together with the EU Mission’s “Governance Compact” and the World Bank, must tackle the problems at
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