- Ethical Examples of Interviewing Sexual Violence Survivors in the DRC A series of interviews conducted by Lauren Wolfe, director of the Women's Media Center's Women Under Siege Project, provide examples of good practices we outline in our "Guide to Interviewing Survivors of Sexual and Gender-Based Violence."
- Angelina Jolie Agrees, Their Voices Matter What did Angelina Jolie notice in Our Voices Matter? Hint: It's why WITNESS is releasing a guide on ethical interviews with survivors of sexual violence.
- The ICC Renders Its First Sentence: Is Justice Served for Congolese Child Soldiers? The International Criminal Court (ICC) has rendered it’s first ever sentence in the case of Mr. Thomas Lubanga, a Congolese warlord and leader of UPC (Union Patriotique Congolais). Lubanga was convicted, as co-perpetrator, on three counts of war crimes including enlisting and conscripting of children under the age of 15 and using them to participate actively in hostilities in the Ituri region, in northeastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) between September 2002 and June 2003.
- The Case for Justice: Why Transitional Justice Matters in Today’s World Without accountability for massive human rights abuses, societies coming out of conflict or dictatorship have little chance of building sustainable peace. This is the main principle of transitional justice, a set of measures used to seek redress for legacies of mass atrocity or state repression. Focusing on situations in Egypt, Uganda, Colombia and the Congo, “The Case for Justice” illuminates the crucial, but often misunderstood process facing countries across the globe.
- Rural Women and Girls of Eastern Congo Seek Justice as World Celebrates International Women’s Day Today the world celebrates the 101st International Women’s Day (begun in 1911). This year’s theme, declared by the United Nations, is “Empower Rural Women – End Hunger and Poverty,” as highlighted in this message from the UN Secretary General, Mr. Ban Ki-Moon.
- Elections in Egypt and the DRC: Hope for A Better Future Today is very special to the African continent with two major election days taking place in Egypt and in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). In these two big African countries, WITNESS has two very active campaigns.
- The ICC’s Lubanga Trial Nears Close: Will Child Soldiers Receive Justice? The Lubanga trial is coming to an end as the prosecutors, victims' representatives and the defense counsel make their closing statements in the submission of evidence phase before the trial chamber of the International Criminal Court (ICC).
- Video Connects Communities in the DRC to Trial at the International Criminal Court This video aims to inform the public in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), especially in war-affected zones, about the Thomas Lubanga Dyilo trial at the International Criminal Court (ICC) at The Hague. It is available in English (below), French and Swahili.
- New Documentary Film Aims to Prevent Another Genocide Michael Kleiman and Michael Pertnoy co-directed The Last Survivor. To find a screening of the film near you or to host a screening of your own, visit the website for more information.
- Kicking off the World March of Women in Bukavu, DRC This is a second post in a series I'm doing from the World March of Women in Bukavu, Democratic Republic of Congo. For some more background to my trip and the training I conducted last week please watch this short video on the WITNESS website and read my previous blog post.
- Peter Gabriel Contributes to The Voice Project In the spirit of his latest tour, Scratch My Back (on which WITNESS was invited to join the North American leg), our co-founder Peter Gabriel has just released another cover: "In My Neighborhood" by Tom Waits.
- Gender-Based Violence in the Context of Armed Conflict and Political Repression WITNESS recently made a decision to focus a concentrated level of support to networks of human rights defenders working to challenge gender-based violence that occurs during and after armed conflict and under political repression (for more detail on this, see our previous blog post on the new network campaign strategy).
- tyrannybook: The Facebook of Human Rights Violators and Those Who Watch Them Earlier this month, Amnesty International Portugal launched tyrannybook, a new social media site designed to spotlight some of the world's worst human rights violators.
- Thomas Lubanga Trial at the ICC: The Second Week The second week of accused Congolese militia leader Thomas Lubanga's trial at the International Criminal Court (ICC) came to a close with the father of the boy soldier that recanted his testimony late last week, and suggested he had been coached on what to say.
- Thomas Lubanga Trial at the ICC 2009 – Day 4 Bukeni Waruzi, program coordinator for Africa and the Middle East at WITNESS, sends his last vlog from The Hague where he has been an NGO observer at the first ever trial at the International Criminal Court for Thomas Lubanga, accused of conscripting children under the age of 15 for soldiering in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.
