Category Archives: UN

Why Diplomacy is Failing in Syria

By Manish Rai: There have been multiple diplomatic efforts to resolve the Syrian conflict since it erupted in 2011 but all have ended in vain. Recently as well no agreement was reached or set out in a final document at the ministerial meeting on Syria held in the Swiss lakeside city of Lausanne. It proved…

ISIS Survivor’s Cry For Help Falls On Deaf Ears At The U.N.

By Dr. Amy L. Beam: Nadia Murad’s mother and six of her brothers were shot and killed in mass executions when ISIS attacked her village of Kocho, Shingal, Iraq, August 15, 2014. The wife and child of her brother who survived six bullet wounds are still missing. Twenty-four-year-old Nadia Murad escaped her torturers. Between 9,000…

Is The World Saying We Cannot Curb Terror Without Dictators?

By Chiman Salih: Mr.Tony Blair, the former UK prime minister, said in his statement about the Chilcot Report: “I will at the same time say why, nonetheless, I believe that it was better to remove Saddam Hussein and why I do not believe this is the cause of the terrorism we see today whether in…

The West’s Immoral Refusal To Rescue Ezidi Women

By Dr. Amy L. Beam: On June 2, 2016, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon addressed the UN Security Council on sexual violence in conflict.  He stated “It is estimated that the Ezidi community gave the Islamic State up to $45 million in ransom payments in 2014 alone.” It is irresponsible for the UN Secretary General…

Open Letter to UN Sec-Gen: ‘Think Again on the Planned World Humanitarian Summit in Istanbul’

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon (AP Photo/Anja Niedringhaus)

By Peace in Kurdistan Campaign: Open letter to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to think again on the planned World Humanitarian Summit in Istanbul We learn with disbelief that the first World Humanitarian Summit will be hosted by President Erdogan in Istanbul. Of all locations where such an international event could be held, Turkey, at the…

Why Shouldn’t The UN Take the Model United Nations For Granted?

By Ausama Anwar: The moment you decide to decide is absolutely momentous. However the moment you decide to be active and engaged in contemporary talks and causes is all the more important. Actually I am not intending to relate a mere personal experience, for what matters most has to do with the morale heightened and…

A Forgotten Proportion: The Child War Victims

By Hanar Marouf: Whereas children must get worried about which toy shall they buy or which book shall they read, whereas parents should be busy with offering warm and safe couches, whereas winter and raining must be greeted optimistically without worrying, the Islamic State has led to people being perturbed and concerned for every second…

Scholars’ Statement of Solidarity and Call for Action to Support Kobani

To the International Community: The humanitarian crisis caused by the Islamic State (IS) continues to terrorize and displace hundreds of thousands of people in the Middle East. The autonomous canton of Kobani is now bearing the brunt of the IS’s attacks as the international community has mostly been passive. The city has been under siege…

Declare Western Kurdistan, the Rojawa, as a ‘Safe Haven’!

Rebwar Reshid

By Rebwar Rashed: The first non-violent demonstration against the Bashar Al-Assad regime started in late February 2011, more than 3.5 years ago. The people of Syria demanded more freedom and true political pluralism. However the path to more freedom now looks infinite with two hundred thousand casualties, many millions of displaced people, destroyed homes and…

UN, human rights and the inevitability of change towards a working policy for Iran

By Jamal Ekhtiar: Over the past three and a half decades, human rights issues in Iran have been on the agenda of the United Nations International rights system, but no progress has been made and now there must inevitably be change in the UN’s Iran rights policy. While the system claims to safeguard and protect human…

Terror, executions, the right to life, prison conditions and extra suffering for regional Iran

By Jamal Ekhtiar: One of the serious concerns under the current system in Iran is the violation of rights to life, including arbitrary executions carried out without equitable trials. The Iranian government usually justifies executions in the name of fighting crime and drug smuggling, which is an excuse because it could use other ways to…

The UN and the non-implementation of existing rights laws by the Iran government

By Jamal Ekhtiar: Most of UN Special Rapporteur Dr. Shaheed’s recommendations concern some hundreds of individuals and, linked with this, Dr. Shaheed makes recommendations to the government in Iran about how to improve its legislation. However, in reality, the problems of human rights in Iran are not only associated with the need for new laws….

Shaheed’s UN reports and marginalized civil society in regional Iran

By Jamal Ekhtiar: Another issue covered by the Special Rapporteur and the UN rights system is civil society, but the UN has been unable to address some vital problems of Iran’s severely deprived regions. Yet again the UN focusses on issues facing central Iran and overlooks other problems that need care and attention. Civil society…

Shaheed, the UN and ignored historical grievances of Balochestan, Ahwaz and Kurdistan

By Jamal Ekhtiar: The term ‘minority’ has been wrongly used in UN literature to define sizable nationalities in Iran and minority rights has been a pillar of the UN rights system, but retrograde developments have prevented the realization of even recognized minority rights for several nationalities in Iran. Bookmark on Delicious Recommend on Facebook Share…

Iran: Shaheed’s UN reports and a few dark spots on rights to education

By Jamal Ekhtiar: The United Nations rights bodies carelessly mishandle the issues of social and cultural rights, education and students problems with their ‘selfish uproar’ rhetoric, but their long history of so-called human rights safeguarding in Iran has produced no tangible results. The UN rights system seems to respect and advocate rights to safety and…