Awards and Opportunities:

• Arthur C. Helton Fellowship
• Edward R. Murrow Press Fellowship
• The Jonathan Mann Award for Global Health and Human Rights
• Resources for Scholars in Danger
• Youth Action Fund

Online Publications:

• Africa
• Asia
• Eurasia
• Latin America
• MENA
• Multi-regional

Internet Spotlight:

• Culture of social networks in Africa on the example of trade
• Cybersecurity: Continued Efforts Are Needed to Protect Information Systems from Evolving Threats
• 10 mistakes bloggers do
• Wireless Technology for Social Change: Trends in Mobile Use by NGOs

Research Tip:

• Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) Database: Journalists Killed While on the Job Since 1992

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Awards and Opportunities:

Arthur C. Helton Fellowship. The American Society of International Law (ASIL) is now accepting applications for its 5th annual Arthur C. Helton Fellowship Program. Helton Fellowships provide financial assistance in the form of “micro-grants” for law students and young professionals to pursue field work and research on significant issues involving international law, human rights, humanitarian affairs, and related areas. The micro-grants are intended to ensure that these individuals have access to modest amounts of funding that can often stand between them and their first professional opportunities to become effective practitioners, experts, and scholars of international law. The deadline for applications is February 12, 2010.

The Council on Foreign Relations seeks Nominations for the Edward R. Murrow Press Fellowship. The 2010 competition is open to individuals who have covered international news as working journalists for print, broadcast, or online media widely available in the United States. The fellow is granted nine months of research, writing, and involvement in all activities at the Council in New York. The program gives the fellow an opportunity to broaden his or her perspective of international affairs and to pursue proposed research using CFR resources, such as participating in events sponsored by the CFR Meetings and Studies departments, speaking for and moderating study groups, and sharing expertise and advising on other CFR projects. The deadline is January 29, 2010.

The Jonathan Mann Award for Global Health and Human Rights. The award was established to honor Jonathan Mann and help to call continued attention to the vital links between health and human rights. The Award is presented annually to a leading practitioner in health and human rights. The award comes with a financial prize to allow its recipient a measure of freedom to pursue his or her work in the area of global health and human rights. The award will be presented during the Global Health Council's Annual International Conference in Washington. The application deadline is January 15, 2010.

Resources for Scholars in Danger. Are you a scholar, academic or journalist who is attacked because of your words, your ideas or your place in society? These two organisations can help. Scholars at Risk, an international network of universities and colleges responding to these attacks, promotes academic freedom and defends the human rights of scholars and their communities worldwide. The network provides sanctuary through temporary academic positions to professors, lecturers, researchers and other intellectuals who suffer threats in their home country. Check out the latest news, events and fellowship opportunities with the Scholar Rescue Fund.

Youth Action Fund. The Youth Action Fund aims to identify, inspire, and support dedicated young people who can mobilize their peers to promote open society ideals. The Action Fund is currently available to youth from the following countries: Baltics (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania), Jordan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Nepal, Serbia, Thailand, and Uganda. The fund plans to revisit this list of countries and include more in the future.

Online Publications:

Africa:

A Choice for Peace? The Story of Forty-One Days of Mediation in Kenya. Source: International Peace Institute. The postelection violence that erupted in Kenya in December 2007 resulted in the deaths of over one thousand people and left three hundred thousand people displaced. While catastrophic, the scale of the social and economic destruction, not to mention the loss of life, could have been much greater were it not for the peace mediation mandated by the African Union in January 2008. The Panel of Eminent African Personalities, chaired by former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, led the forty-one-day peace process, culminating in the Agreement on the Principles of Partnership of the Coalition Government. This paper gives a detailed account of the events which led up to this agreement.

On the brink of the Precipice: a Human Rights Account of Kenya's Post-2007 Election Violence. Source: Kenya National Commission on Human Rights. The violence was widespread. It erupted immediately (almost within minutes) after the announcement of the presidential election results on 30 December 2007. This immediacy was apparent in most of the theatres of violence – Nairobi, Rift Valley, Coast and Western regions. The violence eventually impacted up to 136 constituencies in six of Kenya's eight provinces.

Promoting Human Rights Professionalism in the Liberian Police Force. Source: New Tactics in Human Rights. In this notebook, we learn about the efforts, ability, and commitment of law enforcement personnel–one of the most difficult groups to reach regarding human rights–to address and confront human rights issues and violations from their own perspective and within their own ranks. This tactic provides insights into how the law enforcement profession itself can understand the connection between professionalism and human rights–exposing abuses when they occur–to send signals to government and civil society that action can and must be taken to address abuses.

Somaliland: A Way out of the Electoral Crisis. Source: International Crisis Group. This report examines what stalled democratization could mean. It concludes that politicians must finally uphold the constitution, abide by electoral laws and adhere to inter-party agreements if the region, which seeks independence from Somalia, is to hold genuinely free and fair elections in 2010. Otherwise, there is a risk that hard-earned stability will be lost as clan militias remobilize.

Trading peacefully across a war-torn border. Source: Conciliation Resources. A trade boom across Southern Sudan and Uganda's border is helping recovery after decades of war. Yet urgent changes in policy and practice are needed to make the most of its potential to help build peace among conflict-affected communities. Our new study 'Cross-border trade: building peace or fuelling conflict?' examines the experiences of traders, businesses, government officials and border communities and makes recommendations for change. It was launched in Juba and northern Uganda in October.

Asia:

Burma/Myanmar: internal issues and regional and international responses. Source: Parliamentary Library of Australia. This report outlines major recent developments in relation to Burma and Australia's policies towards it. Burma's military government dominates the country's politics and its economy. It has continued to repress political opponents (including Aung San Suu Kyi) and its record in economic development and human rights is considered widely to be poor. While a number of Western governments have condemned the Burma regime's policies, its relations with neighbouring countries (most notably China) have facilitated the regime in resisting external influence. The government has recently unveiled a new Constitution and has declared that elections will be held in 2010. Attention will focus in the next two years on whether the proposed elections will simply result in the consolidation of the military's dominance or provide an avenue for some change.

Police Training: Opening the door for professional and community-oriented policing: Thailand. This notebook discusses how a strategy to work toward promoting community policing in Thailand and other countries in Asia utilized the introduction of a unique, computer-based police training education program to engage and enlist the support of key leadership of the Royal Thai Police (RTP) to champion the training tool. As a tactic, the computer-based police training program provides an excellent tool to help police more effectively address their own immediate day-to-day policing challenges while also serving to build mutual trust, acknowledgement and support.

Repression and Punishment in North Korea: Survey Evidence of Prison Camp Experiences. Source: East-West Center. This report notes The penal system has played a central role in the North Korean government's response to the country's profound economic and social changes. Two refugee surveys—one conducted in China, one in South Korea—document its changing role. The regime disproportionately targets politically suspect groups, particularly those involved in market-oriented economic activities. Levels of violence and deprivation do not appear to differ substantially between the infamous political prison camps, penitentiaries for felons, and labor camps used to incarcerate individuals for misdemeanors, including economic crimes.

Eurasia:

Crisis Between Ukraine and Russia. Source: Council on Foreign Relations. Ukraine continues to face internal political turmoil and tense relations wtih Moscow, which could push both into a crisis in Crimea or further disputes over the supply of Russian natural gas to Ukraine. This CPA Contingency Planning Memorandum by Steven Pifer examines how these crisis scenarios could unfold, the implications for the United States, and the steps the U.S. government might take both to reduce the prospects of a crisis and manage it should it occur. Pifer argues that because U.S. tools for managing a crisis are limited, the U.S. interest is in preventive action such as urging Kiev to get its energy house in order and to carefully choose its disputes with Moscow.

Final report on the 23 July 2009 presidential election in the Kyrgyz Republic (English, Russian). Source: OSCE. Following an invitation from the Kyrgyz authorities to observe the 23 July 2009 presidential election and following the recommendation of its Needs Assessment Mission, the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (OSCE/ODIHR) deployed an Election Observation Mission (EOM) to the Kyrgyz Republic on 8 June 2009 in accordance with its mandate.

Future scenarios for the Nagorny Karabakh peace process. Source: Conciliation Resources. Despite increased diplomatic activity over the Nagorny Karabakh conflict in 2009, the most likely prospect is the status quo of ‘no war, no peace'. But what might the conflict look like five years from now? What policy choices do the conflict parties need to make to reach a settlement? We asked six Armenian and Azeri analysts to explore new ideas for the peace process in our Karabakh 2014 publication.

Kazakhstan at a cross-roads. Source: Foreign Policy Center. This report notes that 2010 stands as a landmark year in the history of Kazakhstan and for the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE). It will be the first time a Central Asian nation takes the leadership of a major international political organization. Kazakhstan will also be the first non-democracy to become the OSCE's Chairman-in-Office. Kazakhstan will be under the international spotlight to an extent that it has not seen since independence. Against that backdrop, the Foreign Policy Centre is publishing a series of three detailed background papers assessing a number of key issues in Kazakhstan. These will be followed by the publication of a pamphlet.

Securing a voice for displaced Georgians. Source: Conciliation Resources. Over 200,000 ethnic Georgians remain displaced from their homes since the Georgian-Abkhaz conflict in the early 1990s. This new publication 'Out of the margins' documents the lessons learned from our work with Georgian NGOs and activists to help internally displaced people defend their rights and become more politically active. It was launched in Tbilisi in October and is available in English, Russian and Georgian.

Spotlight on Georgia. Source: Foreign Policy Center. This new FPC pamphlet examines the growing human rights and governance challenges facing Georgia. It highlights increasing concerns, both internal and international, about Georgian rule of law, media freedom, policing and electoral processes. The pamphlet recommends how Georgia must reform and what the international community should do to support it.

Latin America:

After Plan Colombia. Source: The Center for International Policy's Latin America Security Program. This is a new report on the Colombian government's U.S.-supported "Integrated Action" or "CCAI" programs: a combination of state-building, counter-insurgency and counter-narcotics that is being viewed as the successor to Plan Colombia. It the product of months of research, including visits to two areas where these programs are underway.

From the Streets to Markets: Formalization of Street Vendors in Metropolitan Lima. Source: Center for International Private Enterprise (CIPE). This report highlights the achievements of the Institute of Liberty and Democracy (ILD) in removing barriers to market entry in Peru. The case study takes a detailed look at the reforms championed for over a decade by Hernando de Soto and ILD that increased formal sector activity and created new economic opportunities for street vendors in Lima, Peru.

Honduras: Rights Violations Under De Facto Regime. Source: Comité por la Libre Expresión (C-Libre). This report recorded 127 cases of violations against freedom of expression since the Honduran de facto government seized power in June. The report is based on the monitoring and tracking of violations of freedom of expression and the right to information, based on first-hand investigations by C-Libre, media reports and information provided by human rights organisations. The closure of and explosive attacks on media outlets, illegal detentions and the dismissal of journalists has resulted in self-censorship, says the report. The suspension of constitutional rights undermined the rule of law, while brutal censorship of the media prevented Hondurans from knowing what was happening throughout the country, and hence unable to form their own opinions of the political situation. For more information, please see the full report (Spanish language only).

IAPA Surveys Corrosion Of Free Speech. Source: Inter American Press Association (IAPA). This report notes violence against journalists, restrictive laws, arbitrary judicial decisions and a culture of impunity are major trends in the deterioration of free speech throughout the Americas. The IAPA has released its findings in a series of country reports after its general assembly on 6 to 10 November in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The most critical issue is the 16 journalists killed in the past six months (eight in Mexico, three in Honduras, two in Guatemala, two in Colombia and one in El Salvador), the highest number in recent years, reports IAPA. The death of so many journalists marks an extreme wave of violence linked to organised crime and a matter of impunity.

ICHRP Releases Human Rights and Corruption Report in Spanish. Source: Escuela de Graduados en Administracíon Pública y Política Pública (EGAP) .On November 23, the International Council on Human Rights Policy (ICHRP) announced the release of the Spanish version of its report, Corruption and Human Rights: Making the Connection. This report was first published in February 2009 and recommends that the destructive relationship between human rights and corruption should be addressed together.

MENA:

Bahrain: Smear Campaign Against Free Expression. Source: Bahrain Centre for Human Rights (BCHR). This report notes a large number of fake human rights and civil society organisations have sprung to life in Bahrain, when in reality they are fronts for greater government control, says a new report by (BCHR). In fact, BCHR explains, this scheme of false rights groups was a reaction to an acceleration of human rights violations being documented - sectarian discrimination, torture, violations of freedom of expression, human trafficking - and passed on to international rights groups.

Doing Business in the Arab World 2010. Source: World Bank Group. This report notes that Arab economies have picked up the pace of business regulatory reform in the past year, according to Doing Business in the Arab World 2010. Released on Nov. 8, the report examines the business regulatory environment of 20 Arab economies within the Middle East, North Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa. The authors found that 16 Arab economies introduced 38 reforms that made it easier to do business — and 2 reforms that made doing business more difficult — during the period studied (June 2008 and May 2009). The United Arab Emirates and the Arab Republic of Egypt rank among the top 10 global reformers in 2008/09, Egypt for the fourth time.

Lebanon's Unstable Equilibrium. Source: United States Institute for Peace (USIP). In the wake of Lebanon forming a new government, USIP assesses how the country can ensure ongoing political progress and stability.

Online Discourse in the Arab World. Source: U.S. Institute of Peace (USIP) This report examines online discourse in the Arab world and emerging trends of the blogosphere. The report is based on an event held at the U.S. Institute of Peace on June 17, 2009, when researchers from Harvard University's Berkman Center for Internet & Society presented their findings from a comprehensive mapping of the Arabic-language blogosphere. Authors Joel Whitaker and Anand Varghese assess the conclusions of the groundbreaking research and their implications for policymakers and peacebuilders around the world.

Palestine: Salvaging Fatah. Source: International Crisis Group. This report examines the current state of the 50-year-old movement which has been the heart of Palestinian nationalism. It argues that while Fatah has begun long-overdue internal reforms to revitalise the movement, much remains to be done. In particular, Fatah's leaders need to clarify its political strategy if it is to play an effective role in leading Palestinians toward a two-state solution.

Political Instability in Egypt. Source: Council on Foreign Relations. This report notes that Egypt is now entering a period of political transition with the expectation that President Hosni Mubarak's twenty-eight-year tenure will shortly come to an end. The transition will further weaken the capacity of the Egyptian government to manage economic, social, and foreign policy challenges, thus sharpening the potential for political instability. This CPA Contingency Planning Memorandum by Steven A. Cook assesses the possibility of a troubled leadership succession or an Islamist push for political power, the implications for the United States, and policy steps the U.S. government might take depending on what it determines as its broader policy objectives in Egypt.

U.S. Policy in Afghanistan: Basic Questions — Strategic Choices. Source: RAND Corporation On October 29, 2009, the RAND Center for Middle East Public Policy convened a half-day symposium of experts — including Dr. Zbigniew Brzezinski, Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad, Ambassador James Dobbins, Senator Carl Levin, and others — and journalists to address assumptions and alternatives for U.S. policy in Afghanistan. In the first session, panelists spoke about counterinsurgency strategy. Among the topics they addressed were military troop levels needed to support a counterinsurgency strategy, the role of Afghan security forces, and potential costs of increased military operations. The second session covered counterterrorism, including the degree to which the U.S. should consider Afghanistan a national security interest, the nature of military operations against the Taliban and al-Qaida, regional political stability, and military troop levels in the region. The final panel was on containment. Foreign policy experts spoke about strategic options and U.S. policy in Afghanistan. Among the issues they addressed were military disengagement, regional security and political stability, as well as pitfalls and challenges in any sustained military presence in the region. Each panel also answered questions from the audience.

Multi-regional:

Citizen Media Law Project Launches Legal Assistance Network for Online Journalists. Source: The Berkman Center's Citizen Media Law Project (CMLP) This is a new pro bono initiative that connects lawyers and law school clinics from across the country with online journalists and digital media creators who need legal help. Lawyers participating in OMLN will provide qualifying online publishers with pro bono and reduced fee legal assistance on a broad range of legal issues, including business formation and governance, copyright licensing and fair use, employment and freelancer agreements, access to government information, pre-publication review of content, and representation in litigation.

Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative - Silencing the Defenders: Report to the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meet. Source: Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative. The purpose of the report is to urge the Commonwealth and its Member States to recognise and value the work of human rights defenders, afford them the space and protection needed for them to engage with those who govern, and put in place practical measures that will assure their ability to serve the cause of good governance, development and rights. These measures include eradicating impunity, ensuring zero-tolerance for abuse of power, proactively putting in place actionable, time bound national human rights plans and articulating clear policies that indicate that defenders will be afforded both space and real protection when they engage in peaceful activities to promote human rights.

Country Aggregate Reports. Source: World Bank. These reports provide information on World Bank lending activities by country. You can find both aggregate information and individual information on World Bank loans, credits, and grants provided to various countries. Choose country from dropdown menu.

The European Union's Reform Process: The Lisbon Treaty. Source: Congressional Research Service (CRS). This report notes that in December 2007, leaders of the European Union (EU) signed the Lisbon Treaty. The treaty aims to reform the EU's governing institutions and decision-making process to enable the 27-member EU to operate more effectively. This new treaty grew out of the proposed "constitutional treaty" that foundered after French and Dutch voters rejected it in referendums in 2005.

Persistence of Civil Wars. Source: Institute for the Study of Labor. This report notes that a notable feature of post-World War II civil wars is their very long average duration. We provide a theory of the persistence of civil wars. The civilian government can successfully defeat rebellious factions only by creating a relatively strong army. In weakly-institutionalized polities this opens the way for excessive influence or coups by the military. Civilian governments whose rents are largely unaffected by civil wars then choose small and weak armies that are incapable of ending insurrections. Our framework also shows that when civilian governments need to take more decisive action against rebels, they may be forced to build over-sized armies, beyond the size necessary for fighting the insurrection, as a commitment to not reforming the military in the future.

Reducing Economic Informality by Opening Access to Opportunity. Source: Center for International Private Enterprise (CIPE) This is a toolkit on informal sector reform, explains the sources and consequences of the informal sector, outlines methods for improving participation in markets, and describes three case studies from CIPE's work in Peru, Guatemala, and Kenya.

Transparency International Corruption Perceptions Index 2009. Source: Transparency International. This report notes that as the world economy begins to register a tentative recovery and some nations continue to wrestle with ongoing conflict and insecurity, it is clear that no region of the world is immune to the perils of corruption.

When Legal Worlds Overlap: Human Rights, State and Non-State Law. Source: International Council on Human Rights Policy Date. This report is written for human rights advocates and policy-makers who find themselves in contexts where a specific dispute or subject matter is governed by multiple norms, laws or forums that co-exist within a single jurisdiction. Plural legal orders occur in numerous circumstances: for example, where different family laws apply to specific ethno-cultural groups, where customary dispute resolution mechanisms operate without state sanction, where non-state legal orders (such as alternative dispute resolution mechanisms) are established.

Zimbabwe: The Power Sharing Agreement and Implications for U.S. Policy. Source: Congressional Research Service (CRS). This report notes that after almost a year of uncertainty following Zimbabwe's March 2008 elections, opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai was sworn as Prime Minister of a new coalition government on February 11, 2009. The new government's establishment came five months after a power-sharing agreement was signed in an effort to resolve the political standoff resulting from the flawed 2008 elections.

Internet Spotlight:

Culture of social networks in Africa on the example of trade. Source: Crisscrossed. There are over one billion Internet users worldwide according to a list from Wikipedia. Every day thousand of people joining social networks such as Facebook. How can these social networks be used to boost business? Are there differences between countries or regions how such social networks work? Mark Davies from Esoko, explains intriguing thoughts from his work in Ghana on market information systems through mobile phones.

Cybersecurity: Continued Efforts Are Needed to Protect Information Systems from Evolving Threats. Source: GAO. This report notes that Pervasive and sustained cyber attacks continue to pose a potentially devastating threat to the systems and operations of the federal government. In recent months, federal officials have cited the continued efforts of foreign nations and criminals to target government and private sector networks; terrorist groups have expressed a desire to use cyber attacks to target the United States; and press accounts have reported attacks on the Web sites of government agencies. The ever-increasing dependence of federal agencies on computerized systems to carry out essential, everyday operations can make them vulnerable to an array of cyber-based risks.

10 mistakes bloggers do. Source: Michale Hyatt blog. Assuming you want to increase your blog traffic, there are certain mistakes you must avoid to be successful. If you commit these mistakes, your traffic will never gain momentum. Worse, it may plateau or begin to decrease.

Wireless Technology for Social Change: Trends in Mobile Use by NGOs. Source: United Nations Foundation (UNF). In this report the authors examine real-life examples of and trends in wireless technology solutions being used to drive change in the areas of health, humanitarian assistance, and environmental conservation. The compelling stories portrayed in this report demonstrate that telecommunications can be a powerful tool for positive change in our world.

Research Tip:
 

Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) Database: Journalists Killed While on the Job Since 1992

As stated in an announcement posted by The Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas "The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has released a global online database of journalists who have suffered violent deaths relating to their work since 1992. The database is designed to memorialize those who have died and to call for justice in unsolved cases."

Users can search by country or year. Results contain a picture and bio of the slain journalist, along with a statistical analysis of beats covered by victims, job, medium, gender, local/foreign, type of death, freelance, suspected source of fire, impunity.

The CPJ's Web site also contains a database of journalists killed in 2009, a list of journalists imprisoned since December 1, 2008, and a list of journalists missing from 1982 to 2008.