Archive of Articles

Visit TheCityEdition.com for more recent articles on foreign policy and human rights, including an in-depth look at Pakistan and Iran.

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Sept. 11th Investigation A compilation of articles, U.N. documents and links that probe the terrorist attack in the United States and U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East.

Apocalypse 2012? A closer look at how the prophecies and science appear to be converging.

Women:

Sex Trafficking Articles From the TheCityEdition.com.

Islamic Fundamentalism's War on Women Ann Louise Barbach's article containing fascinating interviews with Fatima Mernissi, Benazir Bhutto and other key players on this issue.

An American Woman Imprisoned in Peru. Several years ago, Lori Berenson, a former student at M.I.T., was convicted by a military tribunal of treason for supporting an outlawed resistance movement. Because of Peru's anti-terrorist measurers, her lawyers were not allowed to crossexamine witnesses, including a disgruntled ex-lover who accused her of planning an armed attack against the Peruvian Congress. From the Los Angeles Times.

The Invisible Girl Indian researcher Neera Sohoni argues that international development efforts too often overlook the situation of girls, who suffer most from poverty and discrimination. Robbed of their self-esteem and life prospects while still underage, their chances for empowerment as women are limited. From Choices, a publication of the U.N. Development Programme.

• U.N. Relief Agency Incorporates Women Refugees into Relief Distribution (Finally!)The U.N. High Commissioner on Refugees recently discovered that its aid often did not reach the most vulnerable victims, and even worse, were sometimes sold for profit by the men entrusted with the task. From Refugees, the official magazine of the UNHCR

  The Beijing Conference: Now the 1,000 Mile Journey Begins A report on the Fourth World Conference on Women summing up all the highlights and international intrigue. From The Minaret: America's Source on Islam

• Rite is Wrong - Female Circumscision Travels to the West Every year an estimated two million girls around the world are forced to undergo the excision of their clitorises. Now the practice is spreading to the West with African immigrants. From the Los Angeles View.

  Feminists in Iran? Maryam Rajavi and Faiza Hashemi are two Iranian women making the male-dominated Muslim world take notice. But they differ sharply in their tactics. Maryam Rajavi is fightig the Tehran government from the outside, while Faiza Hashemi works for change from within the regime.

  Latin America:

• Central American Women Risk Jobs to Denounce Sweat Shops Catholic worker Leslie Wirpsa visited Guatemala and El Salvador in 1995 to investigate complaints of abusive working conditions and complaints of union-busting, and the American corporations with plants in the region. From the National Catholic Reporter. See also Bob Herbert's editorial on Who's Benefitting from Sweat Shops? appearing in the Los Angeles Times.

  Guatemalan Women: On the Outside Looking In With the support of some innovative United Nations programs, women refugees in Mexico are challenging their abusive treatment and taking charge of plans to return to their communities in Guatemala. From Refugees, Official Publication of the U.N High Commissioner on Refugees (UNHCR) .

• CIA Backs Out of Guatemala as the DEA Steps In. On December 29, 1995, an armistice brought peace to Guatemala after thirty years of civil war. But as the Central Intelligence Agency abandons its frontline operation there, a new war on narcotics is just gearing up. From the New York Times.

  U.S. Military Involvement in Mexico's Quagmire Deepens Satellites, telecommunications equipment, infrared rays and a heavy arsenal of firepower have been placed at the disposal of Mexico to combat a peasant uprising that threatens to erupt into a full-scale civil war..
  from Global Exchange

• Central Asia and Middle East:

  Afghanistan Falls to Islamic Fundamentalists Of the two bloody episodes that disfigured south-western Asia in September, the fighting between Israelis and Palestinians won far more headlines than the capture of Afghanistan's capital by a murky army of Islamic militants who call themselves the Taliban, "the Seekers." Yet what has happened in and around Kabul is much the bloodier of the two stories, and it may matter at least as much to the rest of the world. From The Economist.

  Islamic Fundamentalism's War on Women Ann Louise Barbach's article containing fascinating interviews with Fatima Mernissi, Benazir Bhutto and other key players on this issue.

• Terrorist Hamas: A Frankenstein Created by the U.S. Taxpayer? A former reporter for ABC looks at U.S. support and financing of the Muslim Brotherhood, the principle organization of islamic fundamentalism. Ostensibly recruited to fight communism and the PLO, the Brotherhood from its inception had a far more ambitious agenda. From the International Herald Tribune.
• Child Servitude in the Global Economy In India, and elsewhere, the children of poor families provide a source of cheap labor for making oriental carpets and other products for export. Human rights groups try to stem the rising tide of kidnappings and forced servitude. From The Christian Century.

  Child Labor in Pakistan. An in-depth report on the Dickensian labor practices and enslavement of children in Pakistan, government indifference, and the efforts of human rights groups to rescue the victims. From The Atlantic Monthly. (Note: this is a direct link to their database.)

  Asia (China, Japan, Burma)

• China's Factories Operate on a War FootingMilitary-style obedience portends rigid discipline, enforced overtime, imprisonment in compounds and sometimes even corporal punishment, all in the quest to make a cheap pair of shoes. Sociologist Anita Chan gets an inside look. From the Washington Post.

• How One Family Came to Boycott China and Corporations Responding to Public Pressure.
• Tibetan Nun Tells Story of Arrest, Torture and Escape. China's occupation of Tibet in defiance of international law has been accompanied by widespread human rights abuses. A firsthand account from this underreported area of the world. From the New Internationalist magazine.
• Seeking Reparations for the "Comfort Women" During World War II, the Japanese government sanctioned a scheme by which its army kidnapped some 200,000 girls and women from its Asian territories and forced them to serve as prostitutes. At the 1995 Commission on Human Rights session in Geneva, humanitarian law specialist Karen Parker delivered a searing speech on Japan's war crimes and the United Nations' failure to protect women in time of war. From the Karen Parker Home Page for Humanitarian Law.
• The Voice of Her people Nobel peace prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi almost overnight became the heart of Burma's struggle for democracy and freedom, and continues to challenge the State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC) despite house arrest. From Parade Magazine Also, an article about Burma's Pro-Democracy Movement, from Asiaweek. Third, an article on the building of the Death Railway that is being built with slave labor, including children. From the South China Morning Post. Finally, an article on Tourism in Burma From Geographical Magazine.

  Africa:

• Executions in Nigeria spark global boycott of Shell The hanging of Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight other activists protesting environmental destructionhas set into motion one of the largest consumer boycotts since the battle over apartheid in south Africa. From the Los Angeles Weekly.

  The Balkans

  Legitimizing Ethnic Division: The Clinton Policy on Bosnia. By coddling the Bosnian leadership, the Administration appears to be protecting war criminals and undermining the tribunal in the Hague. An editorial by Anthony Lewis. From the New York Times.

  United States

  Regulating Sex in the Ranks American admirals and generals like to boast that they carry around contingency plans for wars, riots and even hurricanes. But they're still stumped when it comes to solving one of their most basic problems: sex. And in a go-along, get-along male-dominated culture, women may also have to change their tactics. From the New York Times.

  Ex-DEA Agent Outlines Agency's Role in CIA crimes. A former employee of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency discusses how the DEA and CIA aided Guatemalan intelligence personnel in the commission of human rights crimes in that country, citing file numbers and case names to corroborate his claims. From the National Catholic Reporter. Plus an additional story regarding the same DEA agent's claim that the CIA sponsored cocaine flights for the "Contras". From the Los Angeles Times.

• The Truth about Infectious Diseases The demise of antibiotics in fighting drug-resistant strains of diseases like tuberculosis may take us back to the days of widespread epidemics. An in-depth look at the approaching crisis. For additional information, see the Answers to Common Questions. From UCSF Magazine.

• Multinational Corporations Tackle Ethics in their Foreign Dealings U.S. Companies are saving a bundle by shipping their production facilities to developing countries. But are they guilty of human rights violations in the process? From The Economist.

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