Film Review: Brother Number One

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By Laura Reed, M.A. in Human Rights Studies Candidate at Columbia University “I am deeply honored and moved to be here today, given the opportunity to speak.  I realize that this is a privilege made available to a few, especially compared to the numbers of families that suffered under the Khmer Rouge regime.”– Rob Hamill, in the opening statement of his testimony at the trial of Comrade Duch in Cambodia. [vimeo]http://vimeo.com/26093819[/vimeo] Brother Number One, featured at the 2012 Human Rights Watch Film Festival in New York, is a powerful documentary film that explores the legacy of the Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia.  Directed by New Zealand filmmaker Annie Goldson, this film depicts the personal journey of Rob Hamill as he travels to Cambodia to testify in the recent trial of former Khmer Rouge leader Duch at the UN-backed war crimes tribunal. A film about this period in Cambodian history, relayed through the story of a New Zealand family’s experience, is bound to raise some eyebrows...
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Summer Update

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Hello RightsViews readers! While things have slowed down on campus for the summer semester, we’ve been busy working behind the scenes at RightsViews and have many updates to share with you. First of all, we bid a big farewell to our founding co-editor, Tanya O’Carroll. It was Tanya’s vision for an interactive, digital forum for human rights students and scholars that got this blog up and running. Since graduating from Columbia’s Human Rights Studies MA program, Tanya has moved back to London where she is working at the Amnesty International Secretariat on a project that collaborates with the technology community to help build solutions to human rights challenges. She will remain a member of our editorial board, but is handing the reigns over to Eve and two new members of our team. Good luck Tanya, and don't forget to tweet about us!! This summer, Laura Reed will join RightsViews as an Editor, and Jessica Eaton will be joining us as an Assistant Editor. Bringing together...
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Notes From the Field: Columbia students reflect on a recent field trip to Ecuador

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In the spring of 2012, a group of Columbia undergraduate students took part in the Alternative Spring Break Program for Columbians Vested in Global Exchange for Positive Development. The GEQUA  program offered students the opportunity to engage in a local gender equality project with Fundación Brethern y Unida, one of the oldest NGOs in Ecuador, which focuses on educating youth about sustainable development and the environment. ISHR helped support select undergraduate students to participate in this program. Below, two of these students, Jessica Eaton and Christian Hubbard, reflect on their experience, and consider how their time in the field has altered their understanding of human rights and the environment.   Indigenous Rights, Women's Rights and Organic Farming: Lessons learned in the back of a pick-up truck By Christian Hubbard Prior to going to Ecuador, if you would have asked me what corn and human rights have to do with each other, I definitely would have said nothing. But after my stay in Ecuador I now have...
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Indictment, Trial and Verdict: The ICC’s First-Ever Conviction

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An interview with conveners of the American Coalition for the ICC (AMICC), John Washburn and Matthew Heaphy As the final salvos of the KONY 2012 debate began to retreat from Facebook and Twitter newsfeeds, the International Criminal Court (ICC) has finally announced its first-ever conviction. On March 14th 2012, judges in The Hague found Thomas Lubanga Dylio, 51, guilty “beyond reasonable doubt” of committing crimes of conscription, enlistment and use of children to participate in hostilities under the Rome Statute Article 8.2 (b). Lubanga was a major figure in the Second Congo War (1998-2003) and the Ituri conflict (1999-2003) that saw Lubanga's Union of Congolese Patriots (UPC) participate in murder, torture and rape on a massive scale. Ituri is a fertile region in North-East DRC rich in gold, diamonds, and oil and was often referred to as the bloodiest corner of the DRC—as the longstanding local dispute between the Hema pastoralists (Lubanga's tribe) and rival Lendu agriculturalists was exploited by regional actors. The Lubanga case is...
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Mapping the Kony 2012 Controversy: what does it mean for human rights advocacy?

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If you have a Twitter or Facebook account, you've probably watched Kony 2012. This 29-minute film has more than 65 million hits on YouTube. Invisible Children (IC) co-founder, Jason Russell, directed and narrated the super-viral film that campaigns against Joseph Kony, leader of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), a militant group that began in Uganda over two decades ago, and a wanted war criminal responsible for the death and abduction of as many as 30,000 children. Russell asks viewers to join IC’s campaign to capture Kony after describing his friendship with one of Kony’s victims, Jacob, and then sharing a compelling narrative about the promise he made to Jacob – “we're going to stop them.” In less than a week, the film has created an uproar. Many criticize the film for misrepresenting the LRA's part in two decades worth of complex regional wars in East and Central Africa. Others praise the film as a social media superstar. Whether or not IC's campaign can overcome...
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Will new constitutional commitments improve respect for human rights in Kyrgyzstan?

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Kyrgyzstan, a small mountainous country in Central Asia, is sandwiched between China, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan. In the twenty years since independence from the Soviet Union, Kyrgyzstan has seen three regimes. The first post-Soviet President, Askar Akaev, was an early reformer but, after increasing corruption and authoritarianism, was ousted during the ‘Tulip Revolution’ in March 2005. His successor, Kurmanbek Bakiev, promised to rewrite the Constitution and undo the excesses of the Akaev era, but ultimately consolidated power and resources. Bakiev was overthrown in April 2010 (see pictures), setting in motion the first effort to create a parliamentary democracy in Central Asia. Researching the contributions of the Kyrgyz human rights community In summer 2011 I was lucky enough to receive a Kathryn Davis fellowship to study Russian at Middlebury College and also to receive a Harriman Institute fellowship to conduct research in Kyrgyzstan in the late summer and early fall for my Master’s thesis. My research interest was to further understand the contributions...
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Beyond SOPA/Pipa: a human rights approach to Internet regulation

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Wikipedia’s move three weeks ago to block access to its site across the English speaking world in protest against two proposed US bills - SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) and Pipa (Protect Intellectual Property Act) – had its intended effect. A post on the Guardian joked, “the Internet seems a little...quiet today, don't you think?” as the web buzzed with activity about the “blackout”. Countless independent blogs and a few big sites such as Wordpress and Reddit joined Wikipedia by “turning the lights out”, while other big Internet sites used banners, pop-ups and logo-changes to signal their opposition to the bills and their backers. Google ‘censored’ its logo on its search engine. In many ways, the objective of the protest was simple: to raise awareness of, and mobilize opposition against the badly designed anti-piracy bills and to dent their support in Congress. In this effort, opponents of the bills won an overwhelming victory. The Wikimedia Foundation reportedthat 162 million people experienced...
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The Human Rights Council and Libya: an historic precedent and missed opportunity

The Human Rights Council and Libya: an historic precedent and missed opportunity

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By Deborah Brown, former student at Barnard College Late last year, with little fanfare, the UN General Assembly voted to reinstate Libya’s membership to the Human Rights Council (HRC). Libya was suspended from the body last winter amid the mass killings of protestors and other egregious human rights abuses perpetrated by Muammar Qaddhafi’s regime and credible threats of continued violence. For human rights advocates interested in reforming and improving the HRC, the way in which Libya’s membership was restored represents a lost opportunity to build the credibility of the institution by creating stronger criteria for reinstating suspended members. An unprecedented step On March 1, 2011, the General Assembly unanimously took the bold step of suspending Libya’s membership from the Council for committing “gross and systemic violations of human rights.” This action was historic as it marked the first time that a member state was suspended from either the HRC or its predecessor, the Human Rights Commission, for violating human rights. It also helped to...
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Welcome back!

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We hope everybody's semester is getting off to a good start. It has obviously been a busy few weeks for human rights... The news from Burma last week of a ceasefire deal between the government and the Karen rebels and a declaration of amnesty for 651 Burmese political prisoners, 130 of whom were reconciled with their families on Friday, was a moment for celebration - even as we wait to see what it means more broadly for human rights in Burma. In the US, on the other hand, the new year brought us the more concerning National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which signed into law the ability of the US government to indefinitely detain citizens. On the tenth anniversary of the opening of the US detention camp at Guantanamo Bay last week, hundreds of activists led a march to the White House to condemn Obama's betrayal of his promise to close the prison. Amnesty released this spoof video as a reminder...
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Happy Holidays!

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As everything is wrapping up for Christmas, we wanted to say a MASSIVE  thank you to everyone for contributing to the first successful semester of RightsViews! We have had a great response from students and faculty. An especially big thank you to those who have started blogging with us - there have been some fascinating posts this semester reflecting the diversity of interests and passions within the Columbia human rights community. Thanks also to all of our readers - we have lots planned for the blog in the new year so stay tuned for some great content, and more of it! For anyone who is not tucked up at home for Christmas (like ourselves), then we leave you with this and maybe we'll catch you down at Zuccotti... Occupy Wall Street Plans To Occupy Christmas (VIDEO link) See you in January, Tanya and Eve, The editors  ...
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