Category Archives: international justice

New mobile gender justice court tries rape case in Congo

My inspiring story of the day (other than, you know, all the protests happening in Bahrain, Wisconsin, etc..) was about an innovative mobile gender justice court prosecuting perpetrators of sexual violence and rape in Congo. The court is trying eleven soldiers, responsible for a mass rape on New Year’s Day of dozens of women and…

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How Obama Betrayed Sudan: an excellent perspective

I just wanted to plug this great new Foreign Policy article, “How Obama Betrayed Sudan: The former Sudan Envoy on how U.S. government policy could push the country back into civil war.” I took a class at Northwestern, about Sudan and Darfur, with the author – Richard Williamson, our former Sudan Special Envoy. His perspective…

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Feature Friday: FrontlineSMS:Legal

Just this Wednesday, there was a lot of buzz on the Twitterverse about FrontlineSMS:Legal, a new addition to the FrontlineSMS family. According to their website: FrontlineSMS:Legal helps our partners bridge the distance between communities and the legal services they need most, using low-cost mobile tools. FrontlineSMS:Legal develops and implements technologies that improve the delivery, reach,…

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Commit war crimes and live in comfort. Steal a chicken and die in prison?

A recent New York Times article describes the world of comfort – and perhaps even luxury – that war criminals are provided with at The Hague, Netherlands. I don’t have a gym, a personal trainer, or a spiritual room in my tiny bedroom. On my (soon to be) non-profit salary, I certainly won’t be able…

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Indonesia opens its first prison for corruption crimes

From Jurist: Indonesia’s justice minister announced Tuesday the opening of a prison wing intended to confine individuals convicted of corruption….The wing was added to alleviate overcrowding in the Indonesian prison system and was also in response to criticism that wealthy prisoners are permitted to live in luxury. Anti-corruption reform has been one of the primary…

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Can human rights prosecutions deter future crimes?

Thanks to Running Chicken, I found an excellent new article by Hunjoon Kim and Kathryn Sikkink: Explaining the Deterrence Effect of Human Rights Prosecutions for Transitional Countries. The article basically concludes that: We find that human rights prosecutions after transition lead to improvements in human rights protection, and that human rights prosecutions have a deterrence…

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