A year after the assassination of esteemed Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya, nine people have been charged with involvement in the murder. One of them is a lieutenant-colonel in Russia’s secret service. It is alleged Pavel Ryaguzov gave Politkovskaya’s home address to another of the suspects, who in turn gave it to her killer. The 48 […]
Controversial Oxford ethicist Julian Savulescu cites evidence that intellect is an attribute that ‘makes life go well.’ IQ is negatively correlated with things like unemployment, divorce, poverty, jail and the need for welfare benefits. If you could somehow improve the IQ of the whole population by as little as three points (or 3%, on average), […]
It's International Nestlé-free Week. Time to swear off Nescafé, Milo (*gasp*), Butter Menthol and Nestlé chocolate, yoghourt, frozen dinners and goddam Cheerios and find ethical alternatives. Sometimes a lack of joined-up thinking allows people who care about human rights (whole NGOs, in fact) to drink Nescafé. Or maybe they aren't familiar with the world's longest-running […]
US philosopher and mensch Richard Rorty died this month, aged 75. He observed that "philosophy occupies an important place in culture only when things seem to be falling apart." A reluctant pragmatist, Emeritus Professor Rorty saw a path to realising human rights by appealling to hearts rather than minds: ‘If, like many of us, you […]
In the US, it’s a word so offensive that white people, at least, only ever refer to it as the ‘N’ word. In that peculiar vein of Australian humour (where your best mate is a bastard and a mongrel), a blond, white footballer Edward Stanley Brown was nicknamed ‘Nigger’ and that word is emblazoned on […]
Ordinary people are doing extraordinary things to oppose the war in Iraq; courageous, costly things. And more than just expressing opposition, some are acting to prevent war crimes being committed. This month, four ‘Christians Against All Terrorism’ were pursued through the courts by the Australian Government for breaking into the secret US military facility Pine […]
Some 700 people were arrested in the South Pacific nation of Tonga last year following riots on 16 November. Arson and looting on the main island of Tongatapu caused extensive damage to the capital Nuku’alofa and beyond. A preliminary human rights report issued shortly after the crisis documented violence and other abuses by police and […]
"The scale of maternal mortality is catastrophic. Every minute a woman dies in childbirth or from complications of pregnancy. . . well over 500,000 women a year. 95% are in Africa and Asia. . . This is global health inequality on a shocking scale. For every woman who dies, as many as 30 others suffer […]
Recruiting child soldiers under the age of 18 is a crime under international law. Recruiting children under the age of 15 is a war crime. The International Criminal Court‘s first trial will be that of DRC warlord Thomas Lubanga Dyilo, charged with recruiting child soldiers as young as 10. The term ‘child soldier’ refers to […]
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