Scholars, advocates, and activists seeking to make the U.S. a more responsible global partner.
Human Rights
In Guatemala, A Mass Grave for the Truth

In Guatemala, A Mass Grave for the Truth

by | Apr 23, 2013

In a week of remarkable events and reversals in Guatemala, the genocide trial of former dictator Efraín Ríos Montt came to an abrupt halt on April 18 as a judge ruled all proceedings to date invalid. The witnesses who testified for the prosecution—dozens of survivors of mass rape and massacres—would have to testify again if the trial were to proceed. Meanwhile, death squads are again operating in Guatemala, eliminating indigenous leaders, union leaders, women’s rights activists, and others challenging the status quo and asserting their rights.

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A Legacy of Rogues in Afghanistan

A Legacy of Rogues in Afghanistan

by | Apr 16, 2013

Faced with an impending withdrawal deadline and ineffectual Afghan security units, U.S. planners have pitched the Afghan Local Police (ALP) program as an affordable short-term fix to fill the country’s security vacuum. Yet despite some success in achieving security gains, ALP units have been accused of committing serious human rights abuses against local populations with apparent impunity.

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Our Osmotic Border

Our Osmotic Border

by | Apr 11, 2013

In the U.S. immigration debate, we have thus far focused our attention on the symptom—Mexicans crossing the semi-permeable barrier into the United States—and treated the crossing itself as the problem to be solved. In other words, policy makers have been preoccupied with figuring out how to make the border less permeable. But this is a fool’s errand. It’s time to start looking at the pressures that drive unidirectional movement instead of at the symptom.

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