Human Security Stuff I’m Too Busy To Blog About
By JEM fighters will put down their arms for the opportunity to join the Sudanese army at 500 euros a head. Perhaps this will slow conflict-related violence in the region, perhaps not. Human Security Report data from earlier this year reminded us that most of the deaths in Darfur since 2005 are from diarrhea, not violence, so question is will this new deal make it easier or harder to get aid to civilians?
Julian Ku reports that the HRC is weighing in on military commissions… and being ignored by the Obama Administration.
India has passed a law requiring 33% of parliamentary seats to be reserved for women. But why only 30%? (Finland’s quota requires parity.) Recent research on the proliferation of gender quota norms worldwide asks us to consider variation in the percentage of quotas enshrined in election laws and also the conditions under which they’re effective.
An interesting debate is happening at DoDBuzz about the US refusal to join the Cluster Munitions Treaty, about to come into force. Jason Sigger comments here.
Nigeria is conducting arrests and investigating suspects involved in last week’s ethnic violence.
On top of the notorious problem of pirate attacks on aid shipments, looks like half of the aid that reaches Somali shores gets diverted before it reaches the hungry. Don’t forget this is often the price humanitarians pay in conflict zones for access to civilians. Still, one would think the UN should at least be able to prevent its local staff from stealing it for themselves.
Brian Greenhill has a new paper in International Studies Quarterly analyzing the relationship between international organization membership and the human rights performance of states.
Sweden has approved a parliamentary resolution recognizing the mass killings of Armenians by Turkey as genocide. Last week a Congressional Committee in the US approved a similar resolution; Turkey has withdrawn its ambassador from the US in response.
Finally, Christopher Albon reviews the advance version of DoD’s new handbook on what GIs should do when faced with – wait for it! – civvie NGO workers in complex emergencies. You can download the pre-release draft here.