Human Wrongs Watch
A young Syrian girl sits on a broken chair by her tent in Faida 3 camp, an informal tented settlement for Syria refugees in Bekaa Valley, Lebanon. Credit: UNICEF/Alessio Romenzi
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13/01/2016
The Struggle for Merdeka in West Papua
Human Wrongs Watch
By Robert J. Burrowes*
13 January 2016
It has been argued that nonviolent struggles to liberate occupied countries – such as West Papua, Tibet, Palestine, Kanaky and Western Sahara – have failed far more often than they have succeeded but that secessionist struggles (that have sought to separate territory from an existing state in order to establish a new one) conducted by nonviolent means have always failed. See ‘Why Civil Resistance Works: The strategic logic of nonviolent conflict‘.
However, this argument fails to properly take into account one crucial variable: the quality of the nonviolent strategy that has been used.
Given that none of the cases cited above, for example, has ever planned and then systematically implemented a comprehensive nonviolent strategy of liberation/secession, it is accurate to observe that struggles that largely (but not necessarily wholly) reject the use of violence and then use a randomly selected and applied range of tactics, most of which are not violent, have ‘failed far more often’ or have ‘always failed’ to achieve the desired outcome.
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13/01/2016
Steady Increase of Int’l Migrants – From 173 Million in 2000 to 244 Million in 2015
Human Wrongs Watch
The number of international migrants worldwide has continued to grow. Back in 2000, there were 173 million international migrants, in 2010 there were 222 million, and this past year in 2015, 244 million migrants, the UN reported.*
Migrants and refugees from several countries arrive by special train in Berlin, Germany. Photo: UNICEF/Ashley Gilbertson VII
Presenting the key finding of the latest United Nations survey on international migrant trends, the UN Deputy Secretary-General on 12 January 2016 stressed that the issue of migration is one of the most challenging and important that the Organization is taking on in the new global landscape.
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13/01/2016
Deprived of School, ‘Future of 24 Million Children in Conflict Zones under Threat’
Human Wrongs Watch
Nearly 24 million children living in crisis zones in 22 strife-torn countries are being deprived of a school education, threatening their own future and that of their societies, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) on 12 January 2016 reported
On 5 January 2016, during a school day, 9 year old Ayman sells candies in the streets of Kafar Batna village in Rural Damascus, Syria. Photo: UNICEF/Amer Al Shami
“Children living in countries affected by conflict have lost their homes, family members, friends, safety, and routine. Now, unable to learn even the basic reading and writing skills, they are at risk of losing their futures and missing out on the opportunity to contribute to their economies and societies when they reach adulthood,” UNICEF Chief of Education Jo Bourne said.
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13/01/2016
African Union–UN Mission Calls for Restraint in West Darfur as Tensions Rise over Recent Violence
Human Wrongs Watch
The African Union-United Nations Mission in Darfur (UNAMID) on 12 January 2016 expressed concern over continued tension in El Geneina town and around Mouli village, 15 kilometers south of El Geneina, West Darfur, after an armed attack on Mouli village.
A landscape view of El Geneina town, the capital of West Darfur, Sudan. Photo: UNAMID/Hamid Abdulsalam
“Receiving reports of continuous unrest and sporadic firing across El Geneina and in Mouli with an undetermined number of casualties, UNAMID calls on the government authorities to exert their utmost efforts to contain the situation and investigate the incidents,” the Mission said in a press statement issued on 11 January 2016.
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